One and a half days later, we arrived in Shamrock City.

As we entered the sprawling city, I was shocked to remember that this was considered small. The tall corporate buildings shimmered in the sunlight. Despite this being a city, there was greenery everywhere, and I knew that was due to the gym leader. She was a grass-type specialist, so her city would be covered in plants. Vines crept up what should've been clear-glass modern buildings and trees and bushes grew from every available crack and crevice everywhere. Since the gym leader in a city or town was considered higher in the rankings than even a mayor, they had the last say.

There were lots of people walking the streets along with heavy traffic, as a large city would have. Shamrock City was popular with new trainers and sometimes they got stuck fighting Lottie, the gym leader, so it was a very trainer-centered city. They also had a Contest Hall where I would perform in a week. I shivered at the thought. As I watched Wink prance the streets, eager for the attention he was getting from other trainers, saying he was adorable, I knew my partner would be fine in a contest situation. I was honestly surprised by this, given that he'd been in a small town his whole life like me. That was my entire issue. I've only ever spoken to the same, like, fifteen people. Now, jumping into an industry like Eirelia's contest one? It was a terrifying thought.

I was sprung from my mind by Chloe speaking. "I'm going to sign up for my battle against Lottie now. It'll end up being in a month or something if I wait too long," she told me. I nodded silently and she gave me a worried look. "What are your plans? Do you want to come with, or..."

"I'll go get us rooms at the nearest center," I responded, not feeling like entertaining my best friend when I had things to worry about. She reluctantly agreed, telling me to text her the address when I arrived.

--

Wink and I were cuddled in a center bed about twenty minutes later, our eyes glued to my phone screen. My wooly Pokemon was already a pro at flicking his electricity switch off so I could touch him without getting shocked.

Since social media is such a popular construct in Eirelia, a couple of platforms are widely used, mainly PokeTube for battle and performance recordings and SpeakChain for a network of forums that people use to talk about popular trainers, coordinators, and anything they want. I was relatively active on SpeakChain posts, mainly because I had my eyes on current top coordinators.

There were three that had my interest. Namely, the Contest Queen of Eirelia. Her name is Aileen Fletcher and they call her the Flower of Eirelia. That nickname derived from the fact that her starter had been a Flabebe, now her Florges, and because she was beautiful and kind. I didn't often watch her performances from a performer standpoint myself, just as a fan. As much as I wanted to be the Contest Queen someday, the Flower's reign hadn't come upon her in her first year. She worked tirelessly for three consecutive seasons before she surpassed the previous Queen.

The other two coordinators I actively kept an eye on were Lily Dox and Genevieve Fendler. Lily was a second-year coordinator. She already had a full team and a seventh. She had gotten her Carry License after the typical extensive questioning of her Pokemon on her treatment of them and watching her performances. Carry Licenses let you carry around more than six Pokemon. She wasn't very active on social media like typical coordinators, but she was one of the best performance-wise and a possible contender for a future Eirelian Contest Queen. Genevieve Fendler was a first-year like me but was proceeding quickly with the help of her insanely rich family. She had only started a month before me and was already two towns ahead, in Classis Town. Her team was still small, consisting of her starter, a Roselia, a Snubbull, and a Galarian Yamask. I couldn't even fathom the amount of money getting that shipped here would've cost.

That was one of my biggest concerns, I had money saved up from my work. My parents weren't helping to support me financially like most successful coordinators, so I'd need to work with what I had, like Wink. Mareep wasn't something you saw succeed in a contest environment, but I was determined to make it work. Assuming I'd ever be able to perform.

I watched one of Genevieve's performances, engrossed in the combination of Energy Ball and the hearts created from Charm. Roselia and Snubbull were her best combination currently. I couldn't do combo moves like that until I caught a second team member, though.

I watched Genevieve and Lily's videos until there was a knock at my center room door. I knew it was Chloe so I instinctively hopped up and let her inside. As soon as she entered the room she let her Cubone out of her ball, who immediately ran to greet Wink when he hopped off my bed. "I'm all signed up!" she exclaimed eagerly, that competitive glint in her brown eyes she always got when thinking about gym battles. "My battle is scheduled for next Monday at three o'clock PM. It's a good thing it's not the same day as your contest," she told me, although her eyes darkened when she mentioned the contest I was supposed to be signing up for. I had my Contest Pass- I could do it.

I merely smiled at Chloe. "I'll sign up, don't worry. Do you want help looking at Lottie's past battles?" I asked, referring to the gym leader my best friend would face in a mere six days. She beamed at me and agreed, leaving us to stay in my center room for the rest of the day before she left to sleep.

--

"Wink, use Double Team!" I ordered, sweeping my arm out in the smoothest, prettiest motion I could manage. I'd been practicing that for ages. Clones of my Mareep spawned all around him. "Okay, Thunder Wave, then Agility!" Wink immediately expelled small sparks of electricity all through his body, freezing the fidgeting clones around him in place, and then broke out into a run, speeding up into a yellow and blue blur. "Run through them, Wink!" He did as I asked, surely remembering the diagram I had drawn before. I watched as his wool got charged with subtle yellow and orange sparks of electricity that only I could notice, due to knowing him well. It would be cool to make those sparks more pronounced though, like an armor of sorts that was also pretty. I put that thought in the back of my mind and refocused. "Okay, Electric Terrain!" Wink froze where he stood in the center of a now-gone circle of Double Team clones and blasted the stored-up electricity into the ground, letting it crackle and take shape into a loose circle around him. "Cotton Spore and Thunder Wave," I called. Wink detached a bunch of small hunks of wool from himself and used Thunder Wave in an outward-extending circle around him to hit the cotton surrounding him. As soon as the electricity hit the chunks, they began to spin around Wink like he was the sun and they were planets in orbit. I left them floating for a moment, appreciating the encouragement from Delta and Chloe, our audience, before ordering Wink to use Thundershock. The electricity from Electric Terrain whooshed into his body and the eerie yellow tinge to the land was gone. Then it all blasted out of his body, renewing his wool and creating a blinding light. When my eyes were able to refocus again, I realized that finally, after the fourth try, my idea had worked! Tiny flecks of staticky wool floated in a puff around Wink and the training field, taking the form of rain, just like we visualized. I squealed when I realized that we'd done it and bolted for my partner, who eagerly leaped into my arms. I ignored the sharp jolts of static upon touching Wink's wool, too proud of him to care.

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"We did it, Wink! Your control is amazing," I praised, beaming at my Pokemon.

"Maaa- reep!" he exclaimed eagerly, thanking me.

Chloe jumped up from the grass nearby, hugged me, and patted Wink on the head, not getting shocked due to Delta clinging to her leg like usual. The ground-type Pokemon just absorbed all of the electricity, although her skull mask crackled a little bit. "Now you just need to sign up," Chloe told me eagerly. She'd never understood my roadblock with stage fright. She told me I'd be a fantastic coordinator and would probably make the top sixteen in my first contest, although I knew that was wishful thinking and she was biased. "Maybe," I responded softly. Deep down, I wanted to just... do it. But I was terrified of embarrassing myself. What if I tripped or called the wrong orders, or I was underdressed? Or what if they made fun of Wink for not being a conventional contest partner?

"Alina, I can see you overthinking," Chloe grumbled, her brown eyes locked on mine as she grabbed my shoulders. "You just performed for me no problem, and your ideas are amazing. Let's go sign you up, okay? I'll go with you." I shivered anxiously but was unable to protest as she dragged me off to go to the Contest Hall.

--

I was officially signed up and registered for the Shamrock City Contest on this Saturday. It was Monday, so I had time to prepare myself mentally, thank goodness. Immediately after signing up, I'd opted to go for a run with Wink to calm my nerves and now I was standing on a bridge, looking down into the clear water. Wink was across the stream running through the city on a Pokemon Playground, playing with a few other trainers' Pokemon. He wasn't concerned about performing at all. His only worry was me being okay, and he'd tried to stay with me on the bridge, but I encouraged him to go have fun. Moping wouldn't do my little star any good. I quickly shot my mom a text to tell her I'd be on TV on Saturday. I knew they probably wouldn't watch, but it was the thought that counted. My parents were occupied with my younger siblings, after all. I decided that tonight, I should look at the people competing against me in the contest and figure out who to watch out for in case I got that far.

After letting Wink play for another half an hour, I called for him and we jogged back to the center I was staying at. When I arrived, I knocked on Chloe's door, but she must've been out training because she didn't answer. I went to my room then, opting to go at my studying like Chloe and I would for a gym leader. Every contest registry had a list of the trainers' IDs and their Pokemon, so figuring out who was who would be relatively easy.

Wink attempted to stay awake for a while, but he ended up falling asleep pretty quickly due to being tired from our run and his playing. I focused on the contestants, deciding that five coordinators were the most likely to make it to the top sixteen. Of course, some people have never competed yet that would make it too, but the biggest threats were the more experienced ones, not that any of the ones I'd spotted out were well-known anyway. One had a Swirlix, a Tepig, and a Sunflora, and with the latter two, they made a beautiful team, and secondly one had a Meowth and a Nickit that worked together seamlessly. Me beating... anyone was up for debate when I had only Wink on my team.

The way the contest industry here worked was there were Contest Halls at every settlement where there was a gym, so people would go through all the towns and circle back to the easiest gym leader through to the hardest one to beat unless they were very skilled coordinators, in which case they'd stick to the later towns for the most experienced people to compete together. This meant that most people competing in Shamrock City were those who had turned back from the high-end Contest Halls and new trainers.

--

I slept restlessly for the next week, becoming more and more terrified as we approached the contest date. The Friday before, Chloe and I went to a restaurant for dinner to celebrate my signing up. Before I even sat down, though, Chloe had jumped up onto the table of our booth, shocking the patrons in the relatively fancy place. Most of everyone here were families and people our age on dates. "Everyone, this is my best friend. Her name is Alina Maxon and she wants to become the Eirelian Contest Queen!" she declared loudly, bringing everyone's attention to her as she pointed down at me. I flushed bright red and sucked into myself, my whole body taut with tension and anxiety. "That's her Mareep, Wink," Chloe added with a giggle as Wink hopped onto the table with her and reveled in the 'aww's he was getting from the patrons. "Wink and Alina want to give you a taste of what they can do so you'll be rooting for her during the contest tomorrow, right Alina?" Chloe asked, giving me the most supportive and encouraging glance I'd ever seen from her as she held out her hand. I glared at her, making sure she knew she wouldn't be easily forgiven, but this was unavoidable. I'd ruin my potential reputation if I didn't do this. I joined her and Wink on top of the table, suddenly able to see and feel everyone's eyes on me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I realized people were recording. I ordered my pulse to slow in my head and opened my eyes again, choosing to keep my eyes locked on the beautiful blue eyes of a sweet little boy to ground myself. He beamed at me and I smiled back, feeling courage then. He couldn't have been more than two, but talking to just him felt easier than to the entire restaurant.

"Yes," I murmured, my voice cracking. I quickly cleared my throat, my face burning. "Yes," I said again, this time louder. "Wink and I want your eyes on us," I said it softly but repeated it louder when Chloe encouraged me to do so with a nudge on my arm. "Wink," I breathed softly. My Mareep looked up at me adoringly and pridefully, and I smiled down at him. "Wink, use Double Team and Thunder Wave." I counted my breaths, three exactly, as Wink summoned his clones all around and froze them in place, where children eagerly leaped up to pet the fluffy clones. "Agility, Wink. Don't hurt any of them," I whispered, referring to the children. "And don't absorb the electricity." With a blink, all of the clones were gone in puffs of sparkles. This was a trick we used to use back when we first started training.

My first "performance" was a success.