When it came to the team members interested in competing in a Contest, Dedenne and Whimsicott were super excited to show off to a crowd, whereas Ponyta seemed more interested in the Contest battles than anything else. Altaria acted as if he could go either way, but for Azumarill and Carbink, who were back in the ranch alongside Florges, they weren’t interested in competing at all.
One Pokémon that I didn’t expect to be interested in Contests was Mawile. That assumption created an awkward situation where I was about to send her back to Sycamore’s ranch but asked if she wanted to compete. After thinking about it, she nodded, which meant I had to send Florges back instead even though I knew she wanted to help develop performances.
(I could have sent back Kirlia, but I honestly felt uncomfortable sending him away after that deal I made with him. Although I had sent him to the ranch once before, I didn’t have a choice then, so I wanted him to stay on the team as much as possible since he would just be mindlessly training, anyway. He was warming up to us a bit, at least.)
So, in total, that was three more (now five) of my Pokémon who wanted to compete, one who was only interested in the battling rounds of Contests, and one who was only maybe interested.
We traveled east from Canalave City, passing over Jubilife and Oreburgh in the process. Altaria carried the basket for multiple hours a day and, frequently, Dedenne would release himself from his Fast Ball to hang out with us. No one else could really fit in the basket, but on the first day, Kirlia did spend a few minutes out to practice with the Iron Ball before returning to avoid the chilling wind, and Whimsicott hung out (literally) on the edge of the basket and would even conjure a short Tailwind to speed up our travel time every so often.
The main reason I asked for everyone's thoughts about Pokémon Contests is because I wanted to compete in at least one before we reached Veilstone.
After charting out a path, I decided to stop in Sage Town, which was a small community located just north of Hearthome City, near the center of the region. Its location meant we had to pass over Mount Coronet. The unfortunate part of doing so was that I had promised Carbink we'd go through the mountain together after that disappointing trip through Oreburgh Gate, but I was already pressed for time, so we were forced to fly over this time. This southern section of the mountain didn't reach quite as high of an elevation as the rest of it, and it had a few low passes we could fly over. Once we traveled north to reach Eterna City and Snowpoint City, the mountains would be too tall to safely pass over with flight, so we'd have to go through the caves instead.
With Altaria's flight skipping over Sinnoh's hilly terrain and dense forests, we actually made faster time than I expected.
Sage Town was one of those miscellaneous towns located off of the main route where a small number of people lived. Some of them resembled larger cities, but the vast majority of them were only small villages that barely had enough people to warrant both a Pokémon Center and a Ranger outpost. These towns usually had one or two special goods they exported, and here in Sage Town, its special good was.... sage.
They had a few greenhouses where it was grown. It wasn't even exported in that large of an amount, either.
The Contest Hall for this place served as a Contest Hall, a major arena, an assembly hall, a performance center, and basically anything else that required a large room and a decent sized audience. Based on how large the building was, I expected the audience to have a few hundred people in it, which for a town of this size, was a lot.
The hall still had the classic entrance lobby like all the rest, so I made my way over to the counter to register to compete. Dedenne and Whimsicott would be performing alongside me, although I had some worries about Dedenne's upcoming performance. We had a few days until the Contest itself thanks to the unexpectedly fast travel time, so I planned to retrieve Florges to let her help Dedenne plan it out alongside Ninetales.
Unfortunately, signing up didn't go as uneventfully as I’d like.
“I knew it!” a young voice called out.
I turned my head, hoping he wasn't talking to me, but he very obviously was. The voice belonged to a young kid, most likely in his early teens, with spiky red hair and a smug grin on his face. He made his way over.
“So Alex the Mega Evolution Master is actually the mysterious Robin, hm?”
The nearby person behind the counter giggled. He'd had a much more subdued reaction when I said who I was signing up as.
"Please keep it quiet," I whispered. Thankfully, only a handful of people were here, and they had been too distracted in their own stuff to fully process what this kid was saying. “I’m not a master. I’m not capable of what a master can do. Call me a Fairy Type specialist instead.”
The kid held his hands out, then shook his head while clicking his tongue.
“Not even denying it? For shame.”
“...You’re coming across awfully hostile for someone I just met.”
His smug grin grew into an arrogant smile, and he moved to point a finger at me.
“That’s because I’m going to beat you! I saw you compete in Dee Dee's Contest, so going against you will better help me prepare for going against her!"
He leaned forward conspiratorially as the sinking sensation of who he was set in.
"And hey, we both might have lost to Zoey in our first Contests, but I can already tell it’s going to be one of us,” he said. “It's just not going to be you."
At that, he took a step back to recreate the space between us. I needed to take a moment to process what was going on.
I knew who he was. I just needed him to introduce himself to confirm it.
"You have my name, but I don't have yours,” I said. “Also, are you going to tell me who Dee Dee is?"
"Yeah! I'm Kenny, Dee Dee's rival and childhood friend! You probably know her as Dawn, though."
I rubbed my head.
He's so much worse in person and when he’s not calmed by Dawn's presence.
"Anyway, I need to go... practice," I said. "The Contest is coming up, so I need to make sure my soon-to-be-debuting Pokémon are prepared. Good luck with your own preparations, Kenny."
"What, don't want to exchange tips as fellow coordinators?"
I was already walking out of the room. Too bad Kenny was right on my heels.
"No, not really. Maybe another time, but I still need to work the basics in with the Pokémon I mentioned. I'm not sure if I'm going all the way to the Grand Festival, either."
Kenny stopped in his tracks.
"Wait, you aren't going to the Grand Festival?"
"Like I said, I'm not sure. Contests have been great to help me figure out new tricks and strategies, but competing in the Grand Festival requires me to actually spend a lot of time practicing for Contests in particular and seeking out Contest Halls like this one. I'll try to earn a few ribbons, but I might not get all five I need to compete."
Kenny stared at me, frowning.
"But you're still competing in Contests. Your performances are great."
"Yeah. Ninetales and Florges love Contests, and other members of my team want to try them out as well. I'm not sure if we're going to compete in them forever, though. I’ll know in time.
“I'll see you around, Kenny. Let's talk another time."
I took a quick turn around a street corner to avoid needing to talk to him any longer, and, thankfully, he didn't follow. Instead, Kenny just stood on the side of the road and watched me walk away with a confused frown on his face.
----------------------------------------
Since Florges and Ninetales dedicated so much of their time to helping train Dedenne and Whimsicott, I bought them tickets to sit in the audience.
It wasn't unusual for Pokémon to watch a Contest on their own, but it didn't happen often. Generally, there'd be a person or two in the audience to sit with them, but for Florges and Ninetales, they just sat there in their own seats due to their size.
Humorously, both of them got bandanas to tie around their head and sets of dark glasses to wear on their face to hide their identities. It looked a bit ridiculous, and I thought it was obvious that it wouldn't work.
It did.
No one paid them any mind.
There were times where things in this world didn't match my expectations, despite the fact I'd been here for over two years at this point. This was one of those times.
In the waiting room, once my Robin persona had been donned, Kenny was there in a teal matador outfit, complete with bronze shoulder pads and a small cape. He noticed that “Robin” was present and almost took a step towards me to talk, but he must have thought better of it because he stayed away instead.
There were actually a decent number of Coordinators in the waiting room, which meant there would most likely be eight Coordinators total reaching the final rounds. Based on how their performances went, I could tell today would be a tough competition.
The first Coordinator to go up was partnered with a Tentacool that sat on the ground and formed a floating Whirlpool that sucked it up alongside its Acid and other Poison Type moves. The end result was a spiraling, psychedelic canvas of a multitude of colors that never quite mixed and certainly impressed the judges.
A Rapidash (the Kantonian form, a pure Fire Type) demonstrates its Solaceon pedigree by running around the room with Agility while maintaining several different Fire Type moves around it. A Sunny Day illuminated the arena and made its moves even more powerful, which added to its performance.
One trainer actually used a Cascoon and spent the entire performance chucking items of increasing weight at it to show how sturdy it was after several Hardens. It wasn't able to do much on its own outside of a weak String Shot that shifted it in place, but at least the judges were impressed.
Kenny's turn was up soon after that guy, and he sent out a Breloom.
His performance was quite an interesting combination of Breloom's Fighting and Grass Types, where he had his Pokémon use Spore to create a cloud of dust, and then he had Breloom shadow box in it to show off its fighting skills.
It maintained the cloud of powder around it, and in the light of the arena, the moves sparkled. Each of Breloom's attacks sent waves of the spores forward to show just how much power was behind its attacks.
The stage was almost entirely covered with its powders when they ran out of time. Notably, none had touched Kenny.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
After a few others, it was my turn.
Or more specifically, Robin's.
Today's performance was a bit different than usual, since I felt like Robin's dramatic appearance was drawing some attention away from my Pokémon. My goal was to be the "victim" of Dedenne's pranks while he showed off both his cleverness and control.
In the process, I’d hoped he'd also show off his power, but it wasn't quite there to match stronger Electric Types just yet.
To start the show, I once more retrieved his Fast Ball from my gloved hand and, notably, it had a bunch of yellow lightning seals on it. I held it out to send him forward, but nothing came out of the ball.
The audience murmured, confused. I very purposely held the ball back to look at it exaggeratedly.
As I did that, the long hair of my wig moved a bit as Dedenne scurried out to sit on my shoulder. I very slowly turned my head over from where I was looking at the ball to look at him instead. The audience laughed.
Dedenne rubbed the back of his head with a mischievous grin on his face, but that didn't last long.
I grabbed him to hold in one hand, then threw him forward into the air as if I was annoyed.
The audience gasped, but Dedenne and I had practiced this so many times I knew he'd be safe; plus, he actually enjoyed sailing through the air like he was now.
He purposely did a flip using the momentum to reorient himself and face at the floor.
Dedenne started properly by using Electroweb to create a line of solid-ish electricity connecting to the floor. Demonstrating his dexterity, he ran down the web to move to the ground and sat to face me.
He was shaking from excitement. Not exactly what we wanted, but hopefully that wouldn’t mess with anything.
Our next stage was simply me pretending to fail to control him. I would point towards one side, but Dedenne would purposely aim the opposite way and release an Electroweb that way. The audience laughed a bit as I purposely pretended to get mad, and I even saw one of the judges hide a smile. The floor slowly became littered with Electrowebs, but it wasn’t exactly going to plan.
Dedenne had a huge grin on his face since he was enjoying performing for an audience so much. The issue was he was putting a bit too much in his attacks. The Electrowebs needed to be small and specifically placed, but he was making them larger and trying to shoot them as quickly as possible, which meant our timing was off with attacks coming out before I actually pointed.
Our goal was to make the shape of Dedenne on the floor out of Electrowebs, but as it stood, it looked more like a blobby egg.
I planned for part of the performance to consist of a pause to let the audience take in the Electrowebs’ shape, but it seemed like that wouldn’t be happening. When Dedenne jumped to turn around to face the audience for that pause, I snapped my fingers instead to tell him to continue to the final step, Discharge.
Rather than doing that, Dedenne turned his head to glance at me, confused. Thankfully, the audience thought it was part of the performance and laughed, but he was actually just generally confused about my sudden shift.
I felt my face turn red from the mistake, but my mask hid it. I snapped again, purposely exaggerating it and pretending like this mistake was planned.
Dedenne looked shocked—genuinely shocked—at my order, but continued onwards to release the Discharge like I wanted.
The issue was that since the Electrowebs were larger than we had planned, the attack wasn’t quite as impressive as it could have been. His spread-around strings of electricity still burst, and the chain reaction from that meant the ones on the edges successfully “popped” like the rest. The end definitely wasn’t exactly what we planned, though.
Dedenne scurried up my pant leg and onto my shoulder as the last bit of Electric Type energy sparks faded away, but his face wasn’t quite as happy as it could have been. He clearly realized the mistakes he and I made in our performance. It was still impressive, at least.
I bowed, and Dedenne ran to stand on the back of my head to bow as well.
With the time up, we returned to the back of the stage.
“That was good, Dedenne,” I said once we were out of view. My mask’s voice changer unintentionally caused my voice to be hidden.
Despite sitting on my shoulder, he looked away, a little upset.
“It was your first performance, and you don’t have the hundreds of hours of practice that Ninetales and Florges had when they first performed. A few mistakes were expected.”
He let out a sad squeak. I continued.
“Did you hear them laugh? It was great! It might not have been what we expected, but we can definitely use this performance again. Pretending to upgrade it to be like we originally planned could work in a future Contest.”
Dedenne nodded, but he wasn’t very happy about it. He had wanted this Contest to be perfect, but it hadn’t quite gone his way. He’d definitely learned about sticking to a plan, at least.
----------------------------------------
We got to the final round, but only just barely.
Out of the eight people to be announced to continue, Robin was called out last. That wouldn’t have meant anything, except the order of the people was different than before. That change implied I was a last minute decision.
I could only hope I’d prove the judges correct in allowing me in.
For the battle rounds, Whimsicott was fighting alongside me. The purpose of Contest Battles was to make yourself better than your opponents, and today, we were trying out a different strategy.
Usually, battling like it was a normal battle would be good enough, since dodging and withstanding attacks better than your opponents would make them look worse off. That was what I had done in the last two Contests I’d competed in with middling success.
Here, though, I wanted to make full use of Whimsicott’s status conditions and protective moves.
Against our first opponent, the Rapidash from the first round, Whimsicott showed his stuff. Not only did the Rapidash’s sun moderately speed up Whimsicott with his developing Chlorophyll ability, but a sneaky Prankster-enhanced Stun Spore meant Rapidash’s speed was a lot worse off.
Leech Seed would have been a help to keep Whimsicott healthy against super effective attacks, but we couldn’t risk Rapidash using a Fire Type move to burn away the seeds and cost us points. Instead, right when our opponent had Rapidash use an Overheat to try to greatly damage Whimsicott, I had him cover himself with Protect and force Rapidash to repeat the attack with Encore.
Now, normally, that wouldn’t have been too bad, since Encore would have just meant Rapidash was using the same move back to back. Overheat in particular was an exhausting move, however. Not only did Rapidash lose points for the repeated use of the same move, but Overheat forced a Pokémon to draw out all of its heat at once. As a result, Rapidash’s attacks got weaker and weaker to the point where Whimsicott stopped using Protect and Substitute to withstand them, and he instead let the super effective flames wash over him while not taking any notable damage at all.
Rapidash didn’t run out of points, but we did end the round with a significant lead, granting us the win.
The second round was a bit different in that we had to go up against a Stantler.
In the previous round, this Stantler did something similar to us in that it used a combination of Hypnosis and Confuse Ray to cause its opponents to fight something that wasn’t actually there. The hypnotic deer was able to stand still and yawn as if it were bored while its opponent wore itself out.
Once it was obvious Stantler’s opponent wasn’t able to snap their Pokémon out of it, the loss of points were accelerated until Stantler was the clear winner.
With our last battle being against a Fire Type, I put a lot of effort into helping Whimsicott recover. He spent a lot of energy in that match, but a Super Potion and an Ether helped him regain what he expended in between rounds.
When it came to the Stantler fighting us, unfortunately for it, we had the perfect combination of two things that helped completely shut it down.
Substitute and flight.
Whimsicott was able to tear off a chunk of his fluff to act as a Substitute, which let him block the effects of both Stantler’s Hypnosis and Confuse Ray. The Pokémon wasn’t even able to charge in with its melee attacks, since Whimsicott was in the air. It did at least have the backup strategy of using Charge Beam, of all moves.
The TM move would have been effective against airborne Flying Type opponents, but Whimsicott was a Grass Type and able to resist it.
Its trainer looked excited when Whimsicott’s Substitute finally broke. That smile faded when Whimsicott just used the move again.
To add insult to injury, Whimsicott yawned in the same way Stantler did against its enemy in the previous round. That wasn’t planned, but the mocking act cost them points.
When it came to Contest battles, Whimsicott was simply the perfect Pokémon to use, since his mastery over utility moves made him difficult to deal with while maintaining an appearance of being in control.
After the Stantler lost, we were up against Kenny.
Kenny's Prinplup had performed incredibly well in the previous rounds, even going as far to withstand a Thunderbolt from a Unovan Coordinator’s Eelektrik using Metal Claw. If he had countermeasures to withstand Electric Type moves, I was worried that he would have countermeasures for Whimsicott’s Grass Type moves.
However, Whimsicott was yet to actually use attacking moves this Contest, so I hoped it would work out.
When we took up sides opposite to each other on the stage’s battlefield, Kenny had that same arrogant smirk on his face as when he first called out to me. His Prinplup stood in front of him with its arm out, and Kenny kept a fist on his hip confidently.
He didn’t have any words to exchange, however.
I had already gone over a strategy with Whimsicott in the private room provided between rounds, so he knew what to do when the match started. Kenny called out for his Prinplup to use Bubble Beam, and Whimsicott dropped to the floor to hide in a quickly used Grassy Terrain.
Kenny had a brief moment of surprise at Whimsicott’s sudden disappearance from the sky, letting my Pokémon completely dodge Prinplup’s attack. He lost a few points from that, but not much overall. In all honesty, it seemed he and Prinplup lost more points from their brief surprise than from their attack missing.
Prinplup eyed the tall grass carefully as Kenny gave it a new command.
“Tear it out with Metal Claw! Watch your sides.”
Prinplup acknowledged its orders with a brief “Plup!” in response and charged forward with both its wings glowing. Ephemeral grass was cut away and faded into green motes as Prinplup carved a line through the terrain.
Whimsicott didn’t reveal himself, choosing to continue to hide and use Grassy Terrain, forcing grass to regrow where Prinplup had just removed it.
Kenny grunted in annoyance as his points ticked down. Cutting the grass was a useless action that wasn’t helping him.
“Alright then, two can play at that game! Prinplup, use Mist!”
I cursed at that move, since Mist combined with Grassy Terrain would completely obscure the field. It was a risky move on his part since its usage meant the judges wouldn’t be able to see anything to actually score, meaning we could potentially be at a standstill, or even worse, both of us would lose points from inaction.
I decided to take that gamble, however. I didn’t have Whimsicott take to the air, choosing to remain silent. I refused to let Kenny control the field.
With this combination of moves, the battlefield turned into a still, moderately motionless scene. Faint, icy mist drifted through the grass and obscured everything in between. Occasionally, a dark figure could be seen within it and a few wobbling blades of grass signified one or both of the Pokémon’s positions. Eventually, a gray light took the field as Whimsicott jumped back to narrowly avoid a well timed Metal Claw.
“That’s it! Bubble Peck while it’s caught in the air!”
I’d never heard of Bubble Peck before, so I was caught off guard, thinking it was a new move. However, it turned out it wasn’t a new move, but rather a combination of two.
Prinplup opened its beak to send a cloud of floating bubbles out around it as part of a weak bubble beam. As those bubbles drifted there, it followed that up by holding its flippers out and twisting.
A light engulfed Prinplup's beak as its body blurred into a fast, spinning motion, the bubbles from Bubble Beam wrapping around it like a defense.
Prinplup soared in the air towards Whimsicott, who was only barely able to pull off a Substitute to stop the attack. Even though Prinplup’s movements were ceased, its momentum carried forward the bubbles, which popped against the rest of Whimsicott’s unprotected body.
I was shocked at just how many points that combo had cost us.
“Energy Ball!” I shouted under Robin’s voice changer.
Whimsicott didn’t use the move in the classical way, but as Prinplup pulled back from the floating Whimsicott and began to fall, a green ball of Grass Type energy struck it from behind. Kenny gasped as another Energy Ball formed and stuck Prinplup in the wing, throwing it off balance and causing it to fall with a thud.
“Use Mist again! Obscure your position!”
“Leech Seed,” I ordered.
Prinplup emanated more thick mist out of its body’s feathers, only for Whimsicott to send several seeds forward. A Bubble Beam blocked one of them, but the three seeds were arranged in just the right way that the first popped several bubbles, the second cleared a further path, and the third landed and wrapped its vines around Prinplup.
Prankster was coming in handy.
Normally, Leech Seed was just good for weakening Whimsicott’s enemies and passively healing him, but there was a faint light component, too. The condition did glow red slightly when it drained its foes, and a few motes of healing light would leave the vines every so often.
What that meant is that within the Mist, Whimsicott could see it.
“There! Poison Powder and begin your assault!”
Whimsicott sent a quick purple puff forward that floated down in the air where Prinplup was. The Water Type penguin, realizing it could be detected, tried to dash to the side to avoid it, but the thing about Whimsicott’s Poison Powder was that it covered a much larger area than it seemed.
Prinplup was poisoned, and that alongside the Leech Seed meant it was now slowly losing health at a faster rate. The Mist faded slightly with Prinplup unable to keep up the same energy expenditure under the pain, and Kenny glared at Whimsicott.
“We need something big. I know we’re still working on it, but I believe in you, Prinplup. Go, Hydro Pump!”
Prinplup opened its mouth and the fog twisted. Moisture from the air was sucked in to support the move, and water already started to dribble out of its mouth even before the move was used. Its position was revealed and evident, but, even with pain in its eyes, it was properly using the powerful move.
Pressure built in its throat to release the attack. Whimsicott used this moment to get in a sneaky Energy Ball used by Nature Power.
The attack struck Prinplup in its stomach. The Pokémon bent over from the surprise impact and its Hydro Pump was sent forward regardless. The improperly controlled move sent it flying back from the impact of the ground, causing it to make a rather embarrassing blubbering noise.
The audience was a mixture of laughs and gasps at that before they burst into cheers.
I turned to look at the points again. Kenny had been steadily losing points from Whimsicott’s actions, and now, with that, we had won handily.
Prinplup managed to land on its feet at least, but its interrupted Hydro Pump had cost them the battle. Injured and poisoned, Kenny was forced to return it to its ball before its conditions could cause it any more harm.
He whispered a few words to his Pokémon in its ball. As I silently patted Whimiscott’s horned head affectionately, Kenny locked eyes with me.
He didn’t say anything. Instead, he just seemed disappointed. Not in himself, but with me.
Kenny left the stage, and the announcer rushed up next to me. Quickly, like the last Contests I was a part of, the awards ceremony took place. I was presented with Sage Town’s ribbon, which was colored sage green, appropriately, and even had an inscription of a sage leaf in the central gold-colored plate.
I gave the audience one last bow, with Whimsicott at my side, and when I came up, I noticed that Dedenne had released himself from his ball to bow as well. He looked a lot happier than before now that we had won.
I was proud of these two as I glanced over the audience to see where Ninetales and Florges were. I hate to say it, but since they were wearing their disguises, I actually had trouble finding them.
Florges was cheering loudly, which I hadn’t expected. At the same time, Ninetales was sitting next to her and looking a bit jealous.
She’s probably upset we didn’t win the Contest she first appeared in, but Dedenne and Whimsicott did.
I left the field once everything was done with the intention of changing and meeting back up with the two members of my team in the audience. Dedenne sat on one shoulder while Whimsicott hung off of the other from behind. We made our way to the back hallway, only to see Kenny waiting for us.
“Hey. Congratulations,” he said.
He didn’t sound too happy.
“Thanks. You did a good job.”
It was a little weird talking like this without trying to put on a character, but the voice changer in my mask meant my voice was modulated regardless.
Kenny had his arms crossed and he glanced away briefly before turning back to face me. The hallway was empty except for us.
“Why don’t you plan on competing in the Grand Contest? Your team is strong, and your showmanship is extremely capable. You’d have a solid chance to make it far.”
“I just don’t know if it’s in the books. I spent two months training on Iron Island, so my schedule might be a bit tight when it comes to traveling for the rest of the league. There’s only six months left to earn six badges, you know.”
“Just... think about it,” Kenny said. “I don’t want someone who beat me like that to not compete in the Grand Contest. It’s a bit insulting, y’know?”
I went silent for a few moments.
“Zoey had a similar feeling to that.”
“Her? Yeah, I imagine she was a bit meaner than me when she said it, though.”
I laughed, but the mask changing my voice made it sound a lot more horrifying than it actually was. Kenny actually flinched.
After straightening out his matador outfit, he started to walk down the hall, waving to me as he left.
“Anyway, seeya later, ‘Robin.’ Hopefully I’ll catch you in the Grand Contest after all.”
Kenny left the hallway and I returned to making my way out to change. I wasn’t sure if I did actually want to compete in the Grand Contest, but Florges and Ninetales definitely would.
Maybe this is something to put further thought into.