I've been watching this contest all morning, and I still don't know what to make of all of this.

For starters, if you were to ask me, between contests and trainer battles, which is the most similar to the Pokémon games, battles would be the easy answer. The basic structure of a battle has at least carried over, and there's a natural ebb and flow to it that's somewhat akin to the back and forth of in-game. Knowing type advantages and weaknesses is a huge benefit as well, because they are identical to what was present in the games. Yes, there were a thousand different things that one had to account for, like moves not being consistently the same, customized moves, type of terrain, and being able to dodge and counter attacks, and using the surroundings to your advantage, but most of those made sense. On the other hand, contests may have well been in a different galaxy than what they were portrayed as.

Firstly, the appeals stage isn't Pokémon dress-up. In fact, it's more for the coordinators to dress up, considering most of them are wearing formal clothing like tuxedos and dresses, to match their ridiculously well-groomed Pokémon.

That includes ones that I didn't think were possible to make look nice. The latest contestant is an older man with his Rhyhorn, so polished that it looks like it's an artifact in a museum, rather than a rough and tumble Rock-type Pokémon.

I watch as the man commands his Rhyhorn to use Rock Blast to send multiple balls of stone flying into the air. He then orders a Rock Polish and finally a Fury Attack. Rhyhorn doesn't let a single one of them hit the ground, in an impressive display of agility for a normally slow Rock-type, darting under each stone ball and splitting them in half with its horn.

I give him a golf clap as the crowd murmurs and discusses his performance, and the judges praise coordinator and Pokémon. I think this encapsulates point two pretty well. Literally any Pokémon could be brought to compete in the contest, regardless of their overall popularity, or visual appearance. I had gone in assuming that most of the Pokémon would be cute, pretty, or otherwise appealing. Wallace, probably the most famous coordinator, has a Milotic for his signature Pokémon, and Dawn seems to only catch cutesy looking Pokémon, judging by her Buneary and Pachirisu. But people were bringing any and every species of Pokémon to try and show off their unique qualities.

Finally, there were no rules or restrictions at all for what could be done as an appeal. The judges gave you total creative liberty on what performance you wanted to give, meaning there's a humongous spectrum in terms of what I am seeing.

Some of the appeals are rather familiar in nature; one coordinator, wielding a baton to complete his ringmaster outfit, has his Sealeo balance on a large ball while it bounces another ball on its nose, much like something that you might see in a circus. The next coordinator has her Kricketune show off its swordsmanship whilst flying, cutting and slashing precisely, all while flitting around in midair. Following that is a man with a Magmar, that lives up to its name by spitting fire all over the arena, including one spiral of fire sent skywards that surpasses even the ceiling of the open roof arena, which really gets the 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the crowd.

That must have been what Dawn figured Charmeleon and I were doing yesterday. I watch a firefighting tag team of a Golduck and a Wartortle put out all the flames from the ground, and the invisible psychic barrier protecting the audience being renewed by a staff's Meowstic before the next contestant is announced.

"Next up is Dawn, from Twinleaf Town!"

Hmm, good timing. Dawn runs out in a pink dress and Ursula style curly hair. Their spat had become very personal, so maybe this is the opening salvo?

"Pachirisu, spotlight!" Dawn sends out her squirrel in a weird giant blue ribbon that has me rubbing my eyes. This place has some crazy special effects. The squirrel discharges blue energy and shatters the ribbon into a thousand sparkles that have the audience cheering already.

Pachirisu lands on its tail, and then the gravity of the situation hits it in the face. I can see on the big screen hovering from the ceiling Pachirisu starting to grow fearful as the Electric-type takes in the amount of people watching and waiting for it to perform. Pachirisu drops to all fours and starts to scurry around in fear, screeching to a halt and reversing directions every time it looks up and sees another wall of faces confronting it.

Dawn at first tries and fails to calm down her Pokémon with words, but I can almost see when the lightbulb goes off in her head. She pulls out a Poffin, the scent of it immediately wafting over to Pachirisu, causing it to stop moving and sniff the air for its favorite food. Dawn throws it up into the air, and Pachirisu goes right for it, lunging upwards covered in electricity to catch the treat in its mouth and stuff its face, just like the fellow behind me, who has been munching on chips loudly all morning.

I bet his crumb covered face looks the same as Pachirisu's right now. At least Dawn's Pokémon has gotten over its stage fright, but I'm not sure why the announcer feels the need to comment on this.

"Wow! It's always amazing to see how a coordinator knows exactly what to do to reach her Pokémon!"

Seriously, lady? I know your job is to be supportive and all, but don't pretend like Dawn meant for that to happen.

The Twinleaf native has her mojo back. "Pachirisu, Discharge!" Her Pokémon sends out an even larger version of the attack I had seen last evening. The electric tendrils from the attack collide with each other at their apex, flaring into fireworks.

"And Pachirisu's Discharge lights up the Floaroma Stadium!"

Dawn quickly follows up with the next part of their appeal. "Now use Sweet Kiss!"

Pachirisu creates a bunch of hearts in front of it and smacks them with its tail, breaking them into smaller hearts and sending them all flying, until the whole stadium is covered in tiny hearts as each Sweet Kiss knocks into each other. That gets a massive roar from the audience, and Dawn and Pachirisu give matching bows.

I give her another golf clap and pull my legs to my chest until my knees pop, really wishing that there was any type of break between these appeals. But all these need to be done before lunch, since the contest battle phase is in the afternoon.

The three judges give their comments. "Pachirisu and Dawn's talent truly shined through in their performance!" the first one, a middle-aged man in a gaudy red suit says.

His counterpart, a shorter, bald man agrees with him. "Indeed! A remarkable display!"

I want to throw a dictionary at this guy's head. Say something other than 'remarkable' in one of your comments, dammit!

Finally, a local Nurse Joy gives her opinion, the most critical of the three. "It's not how you start, but how you finish. That was a magnificent turnaround."

Jeez, all these guys do is praise every contestant who comes out. Come on, give me some insight on who is doing well and who is doing poorly. Lucas, sitting next to me and noticing my less than impressed reaction, chuckles dryly.

"You sure would be a tough judge, Luna. I haven't seen an appeal impress you all day!"

That's because this appeal thing has me scratching my head. "How am I supposed to know what's a good appeal and what's not? They're all so different! How are you even supposed to judge these things? Everything is so arbitrary!"

He drums his finger on his armrest, contemplating as the next coordinator is announced. "I suppose it is a matter of taste. I do know that audience reaction matters, as well as the teamwork between coordinator and Pokémon."

Where that left Dawn, I don't know, though I expect she'll get through, being a protagonist and all. This next contestant, the first of the final three, usually has no such luck.

Because next up is 'Jessilina' or Team Rocket's Jessie, now apparently a coordinator, though that is only known to me. Her stage alter-ego seems to be playing the part of a country bumpkin, with her hair put into pigtails, gaudy orange and yellow glasses that definitely did not match her magenta hair, a burlap sack of a dress that probably had seen some use on a farm as a bag for potatoes, and worn leather boots.

I scan across the arena, settling on her two comrades all the way up in the nosebleed section. James is usually amazing with disguises, but his bright lavender hair lets me pick him out easily. He hasn't put much effort into this one, just turning his shirt inside out to hide the giant red R, while wearing the mustache, fake nose and glasses combo that one might get from the dollar store. Next to him is a Meowth, Kanto edition, though quite a few people have their Pokémon out of their Pokéballs to watch the contest, so Meowth doesn't look out of place.

I snicker as their conversation ends with Wobbuffet popping out of its Pokéball and saluting, causing them both to flinch forward. Meowth quickly grabs a Pokéball and returns Wobbuffet to its ball. I would have figured that James and especially Meowth would be up to no good, scheming to steal some Pokémon while everyone is attending the contest, but I guess even Team Rocket shows up to support their teammate in her contest quest. It's weirdly wholesome.

Ash and Brock must have shelled out some big bucks to get front row seats, several rows to the left and in front of me, but they don't react at all as Jessie sends out her Seviper, which emerges from a cloud of purple smoke.

How did I lose to an idiot like this again? Even I know that Jessie has a Seviper, the one she infamously beat up barehanded, but somehow Ash and Brock can't even put two and two together to suss out Jessilina's actual identity. No wonder all those ridiculous traps and disguises that Team Rocket use work every single time.

I don't know if Jessie intended her act to be a comedy routine, but it has me cracking up in laughter at the end of it. She chokes on her Seviper's own Haze attack, gets angry and chases it all over the arena, eventually grabbing Seviper by the tail like she's Steve Irwin and trying her best to tie her snake Pokémon into a pretzel. In her final act, Seviper gets the best of her, wrapping around Jessie like she was prey, and chewing on her hair. Still, it has the whole stadium howling with glee, and the judges, while trying to suppress their giggles, give her a very favorable critique as well, praising the "wonderful acting between Pokémon and coordinator." James and Meowth are hugging each other in happiness at Jessie's popular appeal. Aww. How heartwarming.

I wipe a tear from my eye as Jessie, not understanding why the audience loved her performance, blows kisses to us the whole way out. How can you not love Team Rocket? They never fail to put a smile on my face.

The girl from yesterday with the odd-looking Weezing is out next, which meant that Ursula would be the final coordinator in the appeals stage. I feel like it would be a benefit, going last, because of the whole 'prisoner of the moment' effect, where the judges may rate your performance higher, simply because it was the freshest in their minds. Assuming, of course, your appeal was remembered for the right reasons. As complementing as these judges could be, there's always the chance something could go exceptionally wrong, and you could be jeered off the stage, and laughed at in countless TV rooms for the next several weeks.

I eye this Weezing with some confusion. I know you're allowed to use anything, but the Koffing line, in my opinion, was a strong fourth in terms of Pokémon families that didn't have any business being in a contest, right after the Trubbish, Stunky and Grimer lines. Koffing and Weezing are known for emitting noxious gasses, which is only slightly better than being a stinky skunk or made of literal trash or toxic sludge. The Weezing starts off producing gas, which has me concerned until I realized that it isn't Poison Gas and instead is some kind of pleasantly smelling steam. The coordinator then calls for Aromatherapy, which definitely is not a move that the normal purple Weezings that I am familiar with can use, considering they smell gross. But the Aromatherapy settles in with this strange gas in my nostrils, causing me to feel very, very relaxed, and somewhat hungry as well.

The judges, in their slightly buzzed state, are very kind with their remarks. Who knew stoning an entire arena would make you super popular?

Once everyone has come down, so to speak, from the previous appeal, it's finally time for Ursula to reveal what her master plan to make it through to the second round actually is.

Our resident coordinator stepped to the spot in a different outfit than her usual day one, the one that made her look like she was about to play host to a tea party. This one was far simpler, with a black top and a layered red skirt, but it seemed more natural somehow; much more in line with the fiery personality that she sometimes displayed, than the porcelain portrait that Ursula worked so hard to maintain.

"She hasn't told you what the appeal is going to be?" Lucas whispers to me from my right.

"Nah. It's gonna be with Surskit, and using Bubblebeam and Icy Wind. She's sure been talking it up like it's going to be amazing." That was an understatement, with the way she guaranteed she would make it to the second round so that she could crush Dawn into a million pieces.

"Now Surskit! Showtime!" She says, twirling and throwing her Pokéball, releasing the water skater in … a flurry of musical notes? How are all these coordinators making all these special effects when they release their Pokémon? No one else seems to think it's out of place, so I keep my mouth shut.

"Use Bubblebeam!"

The bubbles from the move are the charged-up ones, that are far larger than a condensed spray that a Pokémon would use for attacking. They start to float, eventually hanging in suspense all around the arena. The light shining from the open roof catches them, causing rainbows to appear in most of them, leading to some murmured praise from the crowd. I suppose it's a fine start.

Ursula did seem to have more up her sleeve, ordering Surskit to jump on top of the closest bubble, managing not to burst it because of the Bug-type's natural ability to skate around on water. My eyebrows start to go higher and higher as I watch Surskit perform an elaborate dance on the bubble, almost like a spider weaving a web, twisting and manipulating the bubble, breaking every single rule of water tension, until finally the round bubble has become a bubble rose.

Surskit leaps to the next one, and the next one, continuing to work its magic on each and every one, as the brunette announcer praises the two of them gleefully. "Wow! An homage to the city of flowers, in the Floaroma contest no less!"

I don't know about all of that. It seems like some ass kissing, teacher's pet nonsense to me, creating a bunch of flowers in the spirit of Floaroma Town. But it makes Ursula and Surskit instantly popular with the hometown fans, so what do I know? If audience reaction carries a significant amount of weight in the judges' minds, she'd be well on her way to the second round.

Ursula doesn't want to leave any room for doubt. "Bring them all together, Surskit!"

The bubbles start to converge, with Surskit on the top, furiously working to shape and mold as every bubble makes the conglomeration larger and larger. The guy on the other side of me clenches his armrest nervously, as if he was on stage performing and feeling the pressure. "It's too much," he mutters. "That thing is going to burst, and she'll blow the whole appeal."

Lucas and I exchange a glance. We both know what's coming next.

"Icy Wind!"

Finally, she uses the strategy that she and Surskit had learned from watching and training with me for all these weeks. Surskit freezes the rose from a water bubble into a massive ice rose by breathing on it with the Ice-type attack. After a second of pause, the whole audience rises to its feet and gives her a standing ovation, us included. It seems that following us around has paid off, because I don't really see any way to keep her out of the second round, unless all of her conspiracy theories about favoritism and whatnot are accurate. Especially considering the excellent review that she gets from the judges.

The announcer states that the results of the appeals stage will be announced in forty-five minutes, and that the battle stage will begin fifteen minutes after that. Immediately, people start getting up from their chairs to stretch their legs, take a bathroom break, and grab something to eat before the battles begin. I see some people moving down to the coordinators' waiting room, including Ash and Brock.

Lucas follows my line of sight. "They're allowed to have visitors in between rounds. Did you want to go support Ursula?"

I mentally shudder at the thought. "Nah. Ursula's head has probably gotten so inflated that someone had to push her through the doorway. No way she doesn't make it through after a performance like that."

Besides, I can just imagine what it's like down there. All those catty coordinators sniping and belittling each other as they all try to convince themselves that they'll be one of the finalists for the ribbon. Better to just avoid all of that mess. Instead, I cringe as I turn and see all the bags of chips the guy had left behind me, no doubt having gone to find even more food to stuff his face with all afternoon. I don't want to waste money on this arena food, but this guy had to be getting his chips from a vending machine... that sounds like a prime opportunity for me to get some healing lemonade.

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… Meanwhile, in the coordinator waiting area…

"We're fine. We're fine!" Dawn chanted to herself, head buried in her hands as she tried to convince herself that everything would be alright, and that she would make it through to the next stage. Still, despite her Piplup and Pachirisu's best efforts, her stomach seemed to fall further and further down with every single coordinator that came after her, culminating with Ursula's grand appeal, that had the Floaroma crowd on its feet, and had all the other coordinators in the room murmuring her praise. Had the pink-haired girl not flat out insulted her, her Pokémon, and all the hard work she had put in since starting her journey, Dawn might have done the same. As it was, she suppressed any admiration for this display, until the only emotion she felt was jealousy. Jealousy, and a desire to put that rude excuse for a coordinator in her place.

"Dawn?"

The blue-haired girl looked to her right. "Oh, hey guys!"

Brock looked her up and down, nodding his head as if confirming something. "I thought so. Come on, you'll be just fine. You really wowed them in the end!"

Ash pumped his fist in agreement with his longtime friend. "Yeah, all three judges loved it. And your Pachirisu was so cute, especially when it used that Sweet Kiss." The Kanto native sits down next to her. "No need to worry. I know that's your line, but I really mean it. Right, Pikachu?"

"Pi-Pikachu!"

Dawn couldn't help but smile at the encouragement from her friends. "You're right, Ash. I hear you loud and clear. Oh?"

The television turned back on at that precise moment, showing the brunette hostess speaking into her microphone. "This is it folks! The moment you have all been waiting for! Eight talented coordinators will move on to the Battle Stage, to determine the winner of the Floaroma Town contest, and the winner of the coveted Flora Ribbon!"

Dawn knew that the lady's job was to get the crowd excited and drum up drama for the contest, but part of her just wished that she could just see the results already!

"Our judges have deliberated, and here are their results!" The hostess said, the camera panning to the big screen above her, with eight grayed rectangles signifying all those who would advance. "These are the impressive coordinators moving on to the next round! Give them a big hand!"

Each rectangle flipped over to reveal a coordinator and when Dawn saw her face revealed on the screen, she jumped up off the couch, giving a big whoop. "I made it!" she cheered, as her friends looked on in content.

"I told you no need to worry!" Ash exclaimed.

"It's a lot more fun when you're through." Brock added, smiling widely.

"No kidding," Dawn breathed, turning her attention back to the screen to see her competition. Ursula was there, much to her chagrin, as was the oddly familar Seviper lady.

"Now, let's see our matchups for the second round!" The faces on the screen turned around to show red cards instead, which were stacked into one and then put back into eight, flipping over to reveal the matchups. She was in the final pairing, matched up with none other than Ursula, in the very first round, no less.

The older girl was standing but a few meters away, intently looking at the results of the appeals round. There was serious concern on her face, which slowly faded away as the screen displayed that she had made it through, and who she would be facing.

Dawn was considering trying to extend an olive branch to the older coordinator, seeing as she had been just as worried about advancing as Dawn was herself, but decided against it, at least not yet. She would do it after she had beaten Ursula and her Pokémon soundly. As if feeling someone's gaze on her, Ursula turned to face the trio of friends, sneering at her upcoming opponent, though the pink-haired teen did not say anything

Feeling frustrated, and her temper rising, Dawn challenged her quarterfinal matchup. "Got something to say?"

"Of course not!" her rival replied, curling her lip. "What purpose would there be bandying words with the judges' last overall selection?"

"They don't reveal the scores from the judges, and the matchups are selected randomly," Dawn grated out, trying not to explode like last time.

Ursula gave her a withering look. "It must truly be a joy to lead such a gullible, naïve life," she said condescendingly, speaking every word slowly as if explaining to a small child. "Do you not know how lucrative contests are, especially ones in the major circuit, such as this one? Everyone who watches these contents wants the most spectacular finish possible. The judges would not dare pairing the strongest two coordinators against each other in the quarterfinals, when they could have them meet in the finals instead."

Dawn would never admit it, but that did make a certain amount of sense. But acknowledging her point was correct would only lend more credence to Ursula's other theories, specifically the one where Dawn's mother was intentionally or unintentionally influencing her own contest results because of the prestige she had gained years ago. "That doesn't matter one bit," she replied stubbornly. "Everyone starts from zero in the knockout rounds, and I'll prove to you, and to everyone watching, that I'm the better coordinator by winning our match."

The other girl didn't back down at all, glancing at Piplup and Pachirisu before returning her gaze to Dawn, both coordinators looking at each other with mirrored expressions of dislike. "I do hope you pick a proper Pokémon then, and not this pathetic Pachirisu you used in the appeals stage. It will be a dreadfully quick and boring match if you bring that unruly excuse for a Pokémon to our battle."

"Why you!" Dawn started, fire in her eyes, with Pachirisu just as angry at the insult. But before Dawn could defend the newest addition to her team, the other girl tossed one pigtail and pranced away, obviously pleased with how she had riled up her upcoming opponents.

"Ugh! I can't stand her! Pachirisu and I will show that bigmouthed brat what a real coordinator battles like!"

Brock raised one hand helpfully, not wanting to bring Dawn's wrath upon himself. "It might not be a good idea to use Pachirisu in the quarterfinals, Dawn."

The former gym leader flinched back as he was whirled upon by his angry companion. "Because?" Dawn snarled.

"Because, while Pachirisu would match up well against a Water-type like Surskit, we don't know what other Pokémon Ursula has. It might be better to bring your Buneary, with the variety of moves it knows," Brock replied hurriedly.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"I asked Nurse Joy yesterday about the Meowth Ursula had, and apparently it's a Dark-type," Ash added. "Buneary's Jump Kick would give you two a real advantage."

Dawn's anger faded, realizing that her friends were just looking out for her. But they were trainers, not coordinators, and they didn't approach things the same way she did. "No need to worry about that. This is about Pachirisu as much as it is about me, and we're going to show her that our combination can't be beat!"

----------------------------------------

"Ursula against Dawn in the first round?" I say incredulously, as the matchups are revealed on the big screen.

Lucas doesn't look nearly as stunned as I do. "Well, at least it will give them a chance to settle their rivalry. But all the matchups have a twenty-five percent chance of occurring, so why are you surprised? There was always a chance this could happen, right?"

Technically speaking, he is correct, but that doesn't take into account main character syndrome. The main matchup should always be between two central characters. Either that meant Ursula was indeed a nobody, and would get thoroughly trounced by her new rival in the first round, or it mean that somehow Jessie, who had the much more favorable side of the bracket, with no one I recognized, is actually a decent coordinator, and is destined to make it to the finals to face Dawn. But that's ridiculous. What's even the point of bringing Team Rocket to the finals, when the inevitable loss to Ash or one of his friends is coming.

I settle in as the first matchup is about to begin, featuring the coordinators with the Sealeo and the Magmar that I had seen in the appeals stage. The two coordinators' faces appear, along with a yellow circle right underneath, surrounding a picture of the Pokémon they were using, and a five-minute timer.

"So whoever's yellow circle thingy is lower by when the time expires is the loser?"

"Pretty much."

"Then what happens if a Pokémon faints and is unable to battle? Do they wait and see if it manages to get back up before time expires?" I ask, not understanding what seemed like a gaping hole in the rulebook.

"No, a Pokémon being knocked out is an instant defeat," Lucas explains. "Coordinators are usually looking to show off their Pokémon's moves in creative ways, and still make their Pokémon look appealing while doing so. They don't go for maximum power moves. You might see Pokémon knocked out towards the end of battles, but rarely right at the start."

Something is still irking me. "Hypothetically speaking, someone could turn up with a super-powerful Pokémon and just win by quickly knocking out all the opposing Pokémon."

"They could. It wouldn't earn them many popularity points, but it's not the worst strategy in the world. Assuming they managed to make it through the appeals phase first." He looks at me sideways. "Are you planning to enter some contests?"

I shake my head. Knowing me, I'd probably end up with a worse appeals record than Ursula, with my lack of creativity. There's zero percent chance that I could come up with anything even half as good as that bubble appeal.

"Magmar, use Flamethrower!" The right coordinator orders, gesturing dramatically. His Pokémon makes a big show of sucking in air before launching a river of fire.

His opponent is quick to react. "Sealeo, use Rock Tomb to block it!" He says, sweeping his baton at the ground. The Ice-Type gathers a purple orb of energy in its mouth before sending it straight at the ground, causing a jagged formation of rock to spring up, blocking Magmar's fire.

"Now, Waterfall!" Sealeo gathers water around itself and then fires ahead like a Pokémon torpedo, crashing through its own Rock Tomb defense, causing some of the rock to get caught up in the attack. Magmar keeps up the torrent of flame, but Sealeo blasts right through the attack, with its natural resistance and an impenetrable shield of water and rock, at least to a fire attack, protecting it.

"Wow! Sealeo is totally ignoring Magmar's attack with its strong defense and offense combination!" the announcer says, as the Fire-types' coordinator's points start to drop, nearly a quarter of the way down.

I frown. "The attack hasn't even connected yet. How's he losing points for that?"

Lucas answers without peeling his eyes from the battle. "It's because he was able to counter the attack, by making Magmar's Flamethrower look weak. So Magmar gets docked points for looking bad."

Clearly not pleased with the way things are going, the rightmost coordinator tries for a different tactic. "Focus Blast!" The Spitfire Pokémon creates a ball of blue energy between its palms and hurls it overhead at the oncoming Pokémon, though the ringmaster just smiles, pointing his baton forward.

"Don't stop, Sealeo!" he calls confidently. A moment later, I see why. When Focus Blast connects, it only breaks up the chunks of rocks that had come off of Rock Tomb, and does not actually stop the Sealeo itself, so Waterfall crashes into Magmar for a massive blow that drops the coordinator's bar to half.

"Wow! What a clever use of Rock Tomb, both using the attack itself and the shards of it as a shield! That really shows off how talented both the trainer and Pokémon are!"

"Magmar, go for Thunderpunch!" its coordinator orders, desperation apparent in his voice, not having reduced his opponent's points at all.

"Frost Breath, Sealeo!"

"Push it back with your flames!"

Magmar takes off running but has to slow down and breath fire to protect itself from the powerful Ice-type attack. Magmar slowly makes progress, closing in on Sealeo and delivering a thunderous blow to the blubbery belly of the seal.

"And time!" The orange-haired lady announces. "The winners of this match are Alan and Sealeo!" Alan the ringmaster and his Pokémon both dip their heads to the audience, while his opponents clap graciously, knowing that they had been outclassed.

Has it really been five minutes already? A look at the clock confirms it. "Alan was using Frost Breath to stall for time, knowing that there was no way he could lose all those points if he just ran the clock down," Lucas explains to me. "Having a time limit allows for you to use some different strategies."

Interesting. Not just the time limit, which is a cool wrinkle to a battle, but there's something about how these coordinators use their moves that's sticking in my head…

Jessie is next, against some dude who went near the beginning of the appeals that I'd forgotten about completely. The young man sends out a Hippopotas, which definitely would have matched up well against the Poison-types that Jessie favors. But of course, she sends out something else entirely.

"Cacnea! Let's finish this quickly!" A short cactus, complete with a yellow flower and two long spiny arms appears, raising them menacingly. Must be nice to borrow your partner's Pokémon for your upcoming contest. Or more likely, knowing Jessie, she just probably ordered James to lend her Cacnea, and the poor guy was too scared of her to refuse.

Whatever the method she used to obtain Cacnea, it works wonders in the match, which is a total blowout in Jessie's favor. Hippopotas's natural ability to summon a sandstorm is totally useless in this battle, since it just activates Cacnea's Sand Veil, which makes the Grass-type faster and nearly impossible to hit. Cacnea peppers the sand hippo silly with Pin Missile after Pin Missile, before sending it flying with a powerful Needle Arm attack. I can see James wiping his eyes furiously behind his goofy glasses, while Meowth pats him on the back. I mean, he might as well enjoy this victory, since they are so few and far between. Jessie is not exactly a humble winner, posing like a supermodel even in her ridiculous outfit for the cameras for as long as she can before finally, she is ushered out, promising she'll be back to wow her fans even more the entire way.

What was Jessie's dream before she joined Team Rocket again? Becoming an actress? A model? Either way, her love of the camera clearly hasn't diminished one bit.

The third quarterfinal is a back-and-forth affair between that girl with the Weezing, using a Corsola for this round, and a coordinator with her Poliwhirl. It is a very close affair that is decided only because Corsola is able to use Recover, while Poliwhirl is only able to heal itself by getting hit by a Water-type attack due to its ability, a mistake that is only made once throughout the battle. While healing yourself doesn't restore your points, it does provide crowd appeal, especially appealing moves like Morning Sun and Moonlight, which drops the opponent's points. Healing's main purpose is to keep your Pokémon healthy, so they're less likely to be knocked out before the five-minute timer expires. With three of the semifinalists through, it's time for the main event, at least for me, the grudge match that had been brewing for nearly twenty-four hours.

The orange-haired announcer, despite being required to hype this up as a part of her job, somehow seems even more enthusiastic for this one than the previous three matches. "Get ready, audience, because it's time for the final match of the quarterfinals! To my left is Dawn, and to my right is Ursula! Coordinators, choose your Pokémon!"

"Pachirisu! Spotlight!"

"Gible, it's showtime!"

I've just seen Jessie and the previous girl bring different Pokémon, so I know you don't have to stick with the same one the whole time. Dawn must have been dead set on bringing Pachirisu against Ursula to prove a point. To be fair, it probably would have beat down Surskit, but Gible is going to eat that squirrel for lunch. Piplup and Buneary, while not having a true advantage one way or the other, would at least provide some wiggle room for you to improvise a win. What could Dawn actually do other than hope to confuse her opponent by using Sweet Kiss? Everything else I've seen in Pachirisu's arsenal, namely Thunder Fang, Spark, and Discharge, would have no effect on a Ground-type.

"Man, what a letdown. I was hoping for a really exciting match, but this one is going to be even more one sided than the one between Cacnea and Hippopotas."

"You shouldn't underestimate Dawn," Lucas warns. "She's brilliant, and has been thinking of contest strategies her whole life. And remember, this isn't a regular battle between trainers. There's more than one way to win here."

Contest, shmontest. I know Dawn's a main character and all, but surely, even that didn't change the fact of how lopsided this matchup is. Unless Ash and Pikachu gave Dawn their secret sauce on how to demolish Ground-types with an Electric-type, I can't see how this could be won. Still, I settle back in my seat and do my best to keep an open mind.

"Let the battle begin!"

"Gible, use Slash!" Ursula calls, not wanting to waste any time.

Dawn's a Sinnoh Native, and I can tell she knows what typing Gible is, being the pre-evolution of Cynthia's signature Pokémon. That doesn't mean she's ready to back down. "Pachirisu, Quick Attack!" she orders, using a move that will at least damage the opponent.

The Electric squirrel is much faster, charging straight into the land shark. That drops Ursula's points marginally, but it's Pachirisu who cries out from the impact of the attack, not Gible. Its pain is compounded when Gible smashes his glowing claws into the squirrel's Belly, sending it tumbling back, and losing Dawn double the points that her counterpart did.

"Pachirisu strikes first, but Gible hits back much harder!"

"Gible's Rough Skin ability damages any Pokémon that makes contact, so physical attacks are going to be risky," Lucas murmurs thoughtfully next to me.

Dawn uses one of her only remaining options next. "Pachirisu, Sweet Kiss!" Her Pokémon blows a series of hearts at the Dragon-type, but Ursula is ready for it, as the clock hits four-thirty.

"Dig, Gible!" He easily evades the attack underground, and Dawn's points drop once again.

"Jump to dodge it! Dawn calls, staying calm despite losing almost a quarter of her points, but Ursula is happy to keep up the pressure.

"Don't let it get away!" Pachirisu jumps into the air, but Gible launches itself from the ground like a cannonball, easily making up the distance to plow into his opponent midair for a massive hit.

"Wow! Gible can jump even higher than Pachirisu!" the announcer says in glee. Both Pokémon land on the ground, though Pachirisu falls on its back and is slow to get up.

"Pachirisu!" Dawn cries, as her yellow circle goes down to sixty percent.

"Let's put them out of their misery, Gible!" Ursula taunts gloatingly. "Use Dragon Rage!"

As Gible opens its mouth to launch a massive orb of blue fire, the worry lines of Dawn's face clear, as if she has just had an epiphany. Is this where the turnaround begins? "Pachirisu, use Thunder Fang!"

Ok, maybe not. This the supposed strategy that Dawn has been dreaming of since she was a schoolgirl? Even if it isn't straight into an attack, Thunder Fang wasn't going to do any damage!

The squirrel's mouth crackles with electricity, as it throws itself with no fear at the oncoming Dragon Rage. I could not explain to you what Dawn is thinking; I have no idea what her plan is, because this seems like it was going to end disastrously.

To her credit, the blue-haired coordinator has a confident expression. "Now, spin Pachirisu!" What kind of command is spin?

Pachirisu seems to understand, starting a chain of high-speed somersaults that turn the squirrel into a demented electric buzz saw, which cleaves through the Dragon Rage, whirling straight into Gible, who's knocked back several feet. Although he doesn't look any worse, Ursula's points take a significant hit because her attack was ruined, and for Dawn's impressive move. My mouth opens in surprise; glancing around quickly, I can see everyone else is as stunned as I am at the creativity and cleverness of that last attack. Barring Lucas, who gives me a knowing look.

Ursula disagrees. "That was just a fluke!" she grits, perhaps feeling the momentum starting to slip away. "Use Slash!"

"Hold on Pachirisu! We just need to wait for the right moment!" The squirrel hunkers down, enduring the repeated Slash attacks from its Dragon-Type opponent, each one causing Dawn's points to slowly drain away.

Lucas nudges me with an elbow. "Pachirisu is glowing," he points out. I take a closer look. It is glowing, albeit faintly, and a white color, which would make it difficult to spot unless someone was closely observing it. White energy usually signified a Normal-type move, which meant that Pachirisu was getting ready to unleash another damaging attack. But would there be enough time? It's getting close to the end of the five minutes, and Dawn is down to one third of her points remaining.

"Your charade is up!" Ursula declares, not having noticed that Pachirisu is preparing for an attack. Or perhaps she is blinded with visions of the finish line and a victory parade. Would that be her downfall? "Finish this with a Crunch attack!" Gible's jaw unhinges, really looking like an actual shark about to devour something whole, and he goes in for what Ursula hopes is the final blow. But Pachirisu and Dawn are finally done waiting.

"Pachirisu, go for it!" Just as Gible tries to chomp down with its gleaming fangs, Pachirisu shines like a floodlight, throwing her body right at Gible and blasts the Dragon-type back with all of its stored energy, sending Gible tumbling end over end until he is face down on the floor, where the landshark struggles to get back to his feet.

"Gible darling, you have to get back up!" Ursula pleads, as the announcer drowns out her voice with her microphone enhanced one, as the pink-haired coordinators points are cut down to just one-quarter, less than what Dawn has currently.

"Amazing! Dawn's Pachirisu was enduring all those assaults from Gible to unleash a powerful Bide attack, totally turning the tides of this battle! With only forty-five seconds left, can Ursula and Gible regain their lead?"

Gible manages to pull himself together enough to get up, but precious seconds are the cost. Ursula must know that she has to land an attack to try and take away some of Dawn's points before time runs out on her, but it seems that she has totally lost her cool. "Use Dragon Rage!" she screams, pointing venomously at the opposing Pokémon.

Unlucky stuff, Ursula. You had this thing in the bag just based on matchup alone, and now you're on the precipice of losing to your rival, in a grudge match you instigated. That could shame someone into retirement, though Ursula seems like the sort that would instead be hell-bent on getting her revenge.

Dawn can tell her opponent is on the ropes, as she confidently calls for the same counter. "Spinning Thunder Fang again!"

"Stop and use Sand Tomb!" Ursula growls. Twenty seconds is all she has to work with. This is so dramatic! Gible stomps on the ground and dirt particles from the hole caused by the earlier Dig attack as well as some loose dust from the battlefield start to converge around Pachirisu, wrapping around its arms and legs so it can't do anything but struggle in place.

"Pachirisu, use Spark to try and free yourself!" Dawn says worriedly, as her Pokémon covers its body with blue electricity, but to no avail against the Ground-type attack.

"Go! Dragon Rage!" Ursula roars, as the seconds continue to tick away. The blue orb of fire is launched like a shell from a mortar, raining down on Pachirisu and exploding upon contact with the Electric-type, obscuring it from everyone's view as it's consumed by the Dragon Rage. The clock counts down agonizingly, but when it hits two seconds, Pachirisu is finally revealed, flat on its back, eyes unfocused, and totally out of it.

"A last second victory!" the proctor proclaims loudly, as the remainder of Dawn's yellow circle turns totally gray. "Gible's Dragon Rage just managed to knock out Pachirisu before time expired, which means the winners are Ursula and Gible!"

Ursula looks very pleased with the applause that is showered down, but I can't help but think that most of it is for Dawn, who had a magnificent performance, almost winning despite her terrible matchup, until Ursula managed to pull it out at the last second. I know I was impressed; the girl has serious talent, top coordinator mom or not. I'm still in disbelief that was a quarterfinal match; with the sheer excitement of it, I can't help but think that they should've met in the finals.

"We are going to take a quick break, so our coordinators and their Pokémon can be all refreshed for another round of intense battling, so don't go anywhere folks, because we have two amazing semifinals coming right up!"

These contest battles are something else. You really need some mental strength to be able to battle again after such a strenuous one the round before. They really don't give you a whole lot of time to prepare in between them either. All one can do is watch their opponents battle and try to formulate a strategy on the fly.

After a quick break, the first semifinal is between Jessie and ringmaster Alan, and while Alan decides to use his Sealeo, yet again, Jessie calls upon another Pokémon that I'm pretty sure doesn't belong to her, judging by how it's another carnivorous plant, the Sinnoh version of Victreebel, if you will. You'd think James would get tired of these fanged Grass-types by now and invest in a Jumpluff or a Whimsicott instead. Whimiscott especially would fit Team Rocket. I know firsthand what a troublemaking demon that thing is.

"Sealeo, use Rock Tomb Attack!" Alan says, once the battle timer starts to tick down.

But Jessie is ready for it. "Send that back with a Power Whip!" Carnivine twists its glowing green arms into something resembling a baseball bat, spinning in a circle and knocking the purple ball back towards its owner like a home run, instantly dropping Alan's points and reducing them again when Sealeo is hit with its own attack.

"Now use Bullet Seed!" Jessie orders, fist clenched, as Carnivine opens its mouth wide and spits out rapid fire seeds in a wide spray, causing Sealeo to cower in pain from the super-effective attack.

"Sealeo, use Aurora Beam!" The Ice-type manages to pull up its head, despite the barrage of seeds, and fires off a rainbow-colored beam.

"Dodge that!" Jessie demands, but Carnivine is a bit too slow, choosing to stop firing Bullet Seed first, which costs it precious seconds of movement. Aurora Beam connects, dropping Jessie's points so that they are even with her opponent, causing the announcer to sing praise about Sealeo's resilience as the clock hits the halfway point.

"Give me a break!" Jessie angrily says, stomping her foot in frustration. "Grab that Sealeo with your Vine Whip!

"Use Aurora Beam again, Sealeo!"

"Knock it off! We're trying to do something here!" Weirdly enough, instead of grabbing the seal, Carnivine's vines whack Sealeo upside the head, interrupting its attack, even though Jessie hadn't directed to.

When I think about her command, Carnivine might have interpreted it as to use the move Knock Off. I'm not sure Team Rocket even knows that their Pokémon can use that attack, judging by how Jessie looks as surprised as the rest of the crowd. But she sure knows how to kick someone when they're down. "Keep doing that!"

"Every time Sealeo tries to do something, Carnivine is making life difficult! Jessilina has this battle fully under her control!"

I watch Carnivine annoy Sealeo to no end by either slamming its vines into the top of its head or under its chin. Each smack is mirrored by Alan's points slowly being sapped away, meaning that the ringmaster has to pull something out of his hat, urgently, since time is running out on him. "Grab those vines, Sealeo!" The next time the vines make a pass near the seal's mouth, the angry Pokémon grabs them, biting down and taking a chunk of Jessie points as well. "Now pull! And then use Body Slam!"

''Don't let that thing pull you!" Jessie orders in frustration. Carnivine tries to dig in its plant legs, but it is easily overpowered, and Sealeo starts to bring the Grass-type towards itself. The seal Pokémon raises its bulk in preparation for the Body Slam.

"Carnivine, do something! Bullet Seed!" As it's being pulled towards its opponent, James's Pokémon opens its mouth and fires off another Bullet Seed barrage, but Sealeo pushes through the pain of the attack, slamming its full weight on top of the carnivorous plant, making it so Carnivine can't do anything but squirm underneath the seal uselessly.

"And time!" The announcer calls. I look up in surprise, so focused on the battle that I had again lost track of the time, which indeed says zero. Looking at the points, Jessie has lost a lot, to where she was around one-quarter, but her opponent barely has any remaining. A second later, her face and Carnivine's are put on the big screen by themselves, as the winners who were advancing to the finals. James and Meowth have jumped out of their seats and are throwing confetti everywhere in sheer glee.

"She looks pretty tough, don't you think?" Lucas asks me, as the stage staff is able to pry Jessie away from the cameras to prepare for the next match.

I shrug in reply, not knowing what to say. This is how it always goes, right? Sure, she might be doing better than I expected, getting to the knockout stages and even advancing to the final, but Team Rocket always starts out by catching Pikachu. They just never close the deal, and I didn't have faith that Jessie would do so here.

"Now, for our second semifinal, between Ursula on my right and Emily on my left! Contestants, choose your Pokémon!

Ursula sends out her Gible again, while Emily sends out her Weezing from the appeals stage. I'm surprised Ursula picked Gible again, seeing that he had taken a few knocks last round, but he appears totally healthy. Contest battles really aren't as damaging as regular ones, huh.

Ursula calls for the first move as soon as the timer starts. "Dragon Rage!"

"Weezing, use Payback!"

The floating Pokémon glows dark ominously before rushing straight at the incoming Dragon Rage with nary a scratch, dropping Ursula's points a smidgen, and then much more significantly as the powered-up move connects.

I'm so curious about this thing. I'm not supposed to use my Pokédex here, but fuck it. I zoom in as far as I can to get a decent picture. The Pokédex shows me two Weezings, and I select the one known as Galarian. Turning the volume down to its minimum setting isn't enough for some people, sadly, as someone yells at me over the Pokédex speaking.

"Hey! We're trying to watch over here! Quit using that thing!"

Of course, it's the guy who's been chomping loudly on chips all freaking day. As if he has any room to complain about disturbances. I give him the middle finger without turning around, ignoring a scandalized sound from Lucas as I scroll down.

Ah. This thing is a Fairy-type. When I watch Ursula call for a Sand Tomb, Weezing easily floats out of range of the attack, apparently still able to levitate. Forget weak to Stone Edge Togekiss and can't do enough damage Bronzong. Galarian Weezing is the best Garchomp counter in the Pokémon world. And it's on full display in this match.

"Weezing, Sludge Bomb!"

"Dodge it with Dig!"

"Up in the air!"

Gible does avoid the explosive poison pellets, but when it tries to replicate the earlier trick against Pachirisu, by launching out of the ground, Weezing simply inflates itself and floats out of harm's way. Gible lands heavily on the ground, and Ursula's points drop again after yet another failed attack.

This isn't looking good, considering Emily still has a pristine yellow circle of points with less than two minutes to go. I'd say this is impossible, but I thought the same for the battle between Gible and Pachirisu, and that ended up being a photo finish. Does Ursula have anything up her sleeve to flip this battle around?

She clenches her fists. "Gible, use Slash!"

"Weezing, use Strange Steam!"

Guess not. Strange Steam sounds a bit odd, but Weezing inflates before breathing out a concentrated spray of pink steam, the same attack that was used in its appeal earlier. It's clearly a Fairy-Type move, and the Super-effective attack sends Gible tumbling backwards.

Ursula tries to get her Pokémon to attack again, but it's like Gible can't even hear her voice. The pink-haired coordinator puffs up to yell louder, but the leftmost judge, then one with the red suit, mutes his mic and sternly tells Ursula something that has her deflating like a balloon. She drops her head and recalls Gible with thirty seconds remaining, forfeiting the match right there.

I can hear murmurs around me about how disappointing this is for a semifinal. My thoughts are more about Dawn and Ursula's rivalry. Results would say that Ursula beat Dawn head-to-head, meaning she was better than Dawn. But in reality?

To be clear, I don't fault Ursula for losing in a near impossible matchup, and I'll never say this out loud… but hypothetically, if Dawn had taken Ursula's place in this battle? She might not have won, but I doubt it would be anything like this result.

What that means for the future, I don't know. For now, it's just time to enjoy the final match of this contest.

----------------------------------------

"We're down to just one minute remaining! Which of these fabulous coordinators will rise above the competition to claim the Flora Ribbon, and book their ticket to the Grand Festival?"

As confused as I was at the start of this, I've been totally drawn in, now on the edge of my seat as the final battle winds down. Despite all my doubts about her, Jessie, finally using one of her own Pokémon, is just about tied with her opponent as the clock starts its final countdown.

"Corsola, use Flail!" The pink coral Pokémon throws itself at its flapping opponent, a mistake that Jessie is happy to punish.

"Dustox, Whirlwind!" The moth flaps its wings powerfully, and despite being a Rock-type, Corsola is lifted straight into the air.

"Hang in there, Corsola! Bubblebeam!" Emily calls, and Corsola's face sets in determination before it fires a spray of bubbles over the Whirlwind and at Dustox.

"Poison Sting!" Dustox shoots every bubble down with a purple needle spray, letting the spray of water shimmer over it prettily, which the announcer gushes over.

Both coordinators go for their final attack. "Dustox, Psybeam!"

"Ancient Power!"

The rainbow beam from Dustox meets with a shimmering ball of energy from Corsola in the middle of the battlefield, exploding and covering the entire arena in a cloud of white smoke.

"Time's up!" the announcer declares, as the smoke clears, revealing that both Pokémon are still upright. I look at the yellow bars next to the coordinators faces, and I can't believe the result. But the impossible has happened. "That means our winners are Jessilina and Dustox!"

Jessie's face, along with Dustox is plastered hugely on the jumbotron, and Jessie can't help but hug her Pokémon and jump up and down in a heartwarming display. She eagerly runs up to the judges table, where much like when I was offered my gym badge, she is presented her gleaming ribbon on a platter. Jessie picks it up with a girlish laugh, admiring it before raising it to the sky and posing for the crowd.

The judges offer some comments, one of which is asking Jessie if this is her first ribbon, something that she does not take too well, though her happiness of winning eventually shines through. Speaking of which, what are James and Meowth's reactions? Are they dancing in glee with pom-poms or something?

Actually, their reaction is the mellowest of anyone in the crowd. I can't tell what expression James has behind his disguise, but I'm sure he looks the same as Meowth, who seems absolutely dumbfounded, like he can hardly believe that Jessie managed to win a contest. Fair and square too!

You and I both, Meowth. Jessie managed to win. A major contest, no less! Now Team Rocket can book their tickets to the Grand Festival, and as actual participants! What kinda timeline am I living in?

We all rain applause down on Jessie once more as she poses again and start to file out as she starts getting interviewed about her performance, quite happy to give all sorts of quotes and one-liners, mostly about how amazing she was, to the cameras.

Just like everyone else, Lucas and I discuss the contest whilst leaving the arena. "The timer really adds to the intensity of the battles," I muse. "Every single move seems magnified because there's so little time to correct your mistakes."

"It does set up for photo finishes, with only being one Pokémon each, and with both sides needing to act on instinct, since there's so little time to formulate a strategy. It can be chaotic, but contest battling is always exciting. This is just early on in the circuit; I'm sure we won't see as many one-sided matches like-"

"Like what, hmm?"

Lucas and I blanch as we whirl around to see Ursula in her usual outfit, arms crossed and drumming her fingers on the opposite arm impatiently. "Uhhh, like that one match between Cacnea and Hippopotas!" Lucas deflects nervously, though both of us can tell by her face which match we were thinking about.

"You can go ahead and say it," she informs us. "After all, that useless excuse for a judge rudely suggested to me that I should concede for the sake of my Pokémon, with how poorly the semifinal was going."

"It was a terrible matchup," I offer. "Neither of us would have done any better against that Weezing."

She remains silent, and I continue awkwardly. "I guess this is goodbye then. I know you really thought that the water and ice trick would lead you to a victory…"

Ursula interrupts me right there. "Actually, I am somewhat satisfied with my performance. I demonstrated to those blithering moronic judges that my appeals performances are easily worthy of advancing, and I defeated that legacy, spotlight stealing runt of a coordinator in the quarterfinals."

Now it's my turn to not speak as she reminisces about her near loss against Dawn, perhaps not remembering it the way I do. Though anger flashes over her face, and I might need to take back what I just thought. "All that remains is to make it more decisive, to eliminate every shred of doubt in anyone's mind," she mutters darkly to herself.

Well, I suppose that settles the question of if this rivalry has ended or is going to continue to grow. "Besides," she finally says, "There are far worse people to accompany on a journey."

I roll my eyes at the last statement. "Likewise. Well, we're headed to Eterna City, for a gym battle." Lucas catches my eye, and I know what he's thinking. Hopefully, we'd learn more about Team Galactic there as well. "Does that work for you?"

Ursula shoves a flier into my hand. "As long as we stop right here. This small town is on the way and is holding a contest. I still want to taste victory, after all."

"Anything you need to do here before we leave?" I ask Lucas, who shakes his head.

"I'll try for a Pokémon in Eterna Forest. There's a couple there that might be interesting to research. Besides, as much as we've been able to accomplish here, it feels like it's time to move on."

He's right about that. I never would have believed so much would happen in Floaroma Town, but hey, that's life. "Alright. Back to the road first thing tomorrow morning."

Onwards! To Eterna City!