I only wished I had shifted gears sooner.
Announcing my new goal of taking the Grand Festival by storm had sent my team into a training fervor I hadn’t seen in a long time. Ninetales practiced swirling her snow around her, Florges perfected the movement of her petals for tomorrow, Mawile worked on being less clunky with her movements, and Whimsicott and Dedenne brainstormed ways to trick their opponents when they fought. Ponyta, on his own, ran circles around the small forest clearing we were in with his hooves sparkling with the electricity from Wild Charge and his mane illuminated by embers from Mystical Fire. While he might not have been interested in the performance round, I couldn’t wait to battle alongside him.
However, our determined work ethic didn’t last, not due to a sudden loss of energy, but simply because we ran out of time. Night fell, and we were forced to retire to rest. I cursed myself for focusing so much on battle practice with Steven’s Pokémon. We could have spent more time training for the Contest than we did.
The next day, I was met with crowds and crowds of people making their way into the large lakeside arena that would host the cup itself. The bridge that led to its location over the lake’s water was full to the brim, containing both the incoming visitors and a number of vendors selling souvenirs and confections. My eyes wandered between the jubilant festivities and the colorful items for sale, which meant I was caught off guard when a group of people suddenly ran over to me to ask for my autograph, calling out my name.
It took me a few moments to reform my expression of shock into a smile, and when I moved to sign the fliers they happened to have on them, I paused. I couldn’t stop the twitching of my eye when I saw the fliers were the ones from Veilstone that advertised me as a Mega Evolution Master.
Eventually, I split off from the crowd to move deeper into the arena building and into a side passage blocked by some staff wearing bright cyan t-shirts. I flashed them my Contest pass, and with their eyes widening upon realizing who I was, they let me into the hallway where Coordinators could get changed. I disappeared into an available room, only for Robin to emerge and make their way to the waiting area, where the rest of the competing coordinators were awaiting their scheduled performances.
There were a few surprises waiting for me there.
First off, Dawn was competing, of course, but at her side was both Zoey and, unexpectedly, May. May was Ash’s traveling companion from both Hoenn and his trip to the Kanto Battle Frontier, yet, somehow, I had forgotten she showed up here. Nearby, Jessie from Team Rocket, disguised as Jessilina, bragged to anyone that could hear her about how she would sweep the entire cup.
Another familiar face listened to her, nodding along more out of amusement rather than agreement.
In no way did I expect that Lisia, Wallace’s own niece, would be present here at the Wallace Cup. She was wearing that same puffy, blue and white Contest outfit she had on when she beat me in the Lilycove tournament, and her face was locked into an expression of confidence. I really should have realized she would be here with how much she idolized Wallace. I had only ever thought of her in relation to Hoenn, so she had completely slipped my mind.
I also recognized a handful of other trainers from the Contests I’d competed in in the past, but none I had ever learned the names of.
Like the other Contests I’d been in, this room had several screens set up so the waiting Coordinators could watch the shows. However, the Contest organizers had gone all out in practically every aspect.
The room was the size of a ballroom, and it was filled with amenities that made it feel like just being here was the main event, rather than the actual Contest occurring only a hallway away. There were armchairs and couches for rests, a full complimentary buffet, and even several attendants that were willing to assist contestants if needed.
Honestly, the sheer luxury of the room would probably help make up for the fact that the vast majority of the people here wouldn’t be returning tomorrow. People had relaxed looks on their faces, but the air was tense and there was a palpable sense of nervousness that lingered throughout almost every action.
I meandered about to see who else was competing. While I didn’t recognize any other face, I was at least able to see the outfits people were wearing. Like usual, there were a lot of ballroom-like outfits, but this time, foreign coordinators were present that threw off the whole theme. Coordinators from other regions wore outfits that tended to expose more skin or covered them in bright colors. Just Lisia’s idol-like outfit alone was nothing like anything people wore in Sinnoh.
Curiously, just like me, there were a few other contestants that wore masks. Most of those Coordinators had on simple domino masks that obscured their eyes and cheekbones, and a few others had masks that covered one half of their face. However, the only other trainer that was hiding their full identity like I was was one that wore a decorative Liepard mask, styling their entire facade after the Dark Type big cat.
After the room filled in with the Coordinators that were scheduled for morning performances (people would be filtering in and out all day), the monitors flashed and all conversations dropped in favor of watching what would come next. The screens turned on to start the stream of the opening ceremony. Marian, the master of ceremonies that had run the first Jubilife Contest, the one I had competed in, was here standing on the main stage. The seats overlooked it in an oval, and the stage had a bit less space to stand on than usual but had a large pool of water out in front of it in exchange. It was technically larger than what Contests usually provided their Coordinators, but only if their Pokémon was able to move over or through the water.
I didn’t plan to use it for our performance today, but it would make an interesting twist for the battle stages.
“Welcome, all, to the incredible Wallace Cup!” Marian shouted.
The audience screamed in excitement, and the camera cut to show the thousands of people present. I couldn’t help but to chuckle when I noticed that the vast majority of them were wearing imitations of Wallace’s white hat.
“I’m Marian, your master of ceremonies for this Contest, and today, we’re proud to host Coordinators from around the world! Each one will send out a Pokémon to dazzle you with their wonderful performance and be judged by our just as wonderful selection of judges! Come on, then, introduce yourselves!”
The judges’ introductions were a lot more subdued than Marian’s loud yelling, mostly just consisting of statements of their names and who they were. Present for the Wallace Cup was the owner of the resort in the first chair, the Pokémon Fan Club President, Mr. Sukizo (whose comment about this Contest being “remarkable” sent the crowd into a frenzy) in the second chair, and the local Nurse Joy in the third. Once those three finished, Marian smiled and stared directly at the camera.
“And of course, that’s not all. Presenting the namesake of the Cup itself, a marvelous Gym Leader, Coordinator, and Champion of Hoenn alike, Wallace himself!”
The crowd flipped out. The cheers were so loud that I could hear them inside the Coordinator’s waiting room.
The camera cut to the main stage, where the water suddenly bubbled in the center then exploded outwards into a massive, vertical waterfall that reached the sky and glistened in the sun bearing down through the open roof. An absolutely beautiful (and familiar) Milotic burst out of the spiraling geyser and controlled the water to crash onto the stage Marian had just hurriedly backed off from. The water then wrapped around itself in a sphere momentarily before a directed song by Milotic sent that water outwards on impact, revealing Wallace posing in the space underneath.
Wallace laughed loudly, now clearly visible to all here, then tore off the white cloak covering his outfit and threw it into the crowd.
Several people reached for it as it drifted down towards them, but one person nearby snatched it out of the air with the help of their Murkrow companion.
“Hello, Lake Valor!” Wallace shouted.
The crowd cheered.
“As the primary benefactor of the Wallace Cup, I’m here as the fourth and final judge to see which Coordinator will have the most appeal! Sinnoh is a beautiful region filled with beautiful people, and I can’t wait to see whose performance rings the most true!”
More cheers rang out.
“Of course, there are some rules to go over, first,” Wallace continued. “First of all, like normal contests, Coordinators will have a limited time to perform in the performance rounds. However, for the Wallace Cup in particular, performances will last a full minute instead of only thirty seconds!”
I nodded. This was expected.
“Additionally, to allow the most number of people the chance to show off their Pokémon, we’ll be allowing an incredible thirty-two people into the second round! From there, the battles will persist until only one trainer is left, but this time around, there’s a twist.”
Wallace smiled.
“Coordinators are allowed to Mega Evolve their Pokémon.”
That caused more cheers to ring out, but I froze where I was standing. The only Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution prepared to compete on my team was Mawile, but we hadn’t worked Mega Evolution into our strategy at all. Not only that, but if anyone else here had Mega Evolution, they’d be that much more of a threat if they used it in the battles.
Power wasn’t everything for contest fights, so a non-Mega evolved Pokémon could pull off a win if they outshone their opponent, but this still wasn’t a twist I expected. It honestly made any opponent my Pokémon encountered that much more threatening.
With everyone watching the screens, I turned my head to look at Lisia. She had beat me in the Lilycove tournament to earn a Key Stone and Mega Stone for herself. Perhaps she would use her Mega Altaria here as well?
There weren’t any other major rules for Wallace to go over, so the announcements ended and the first performances began. A few people left the room to either ready themselves to go out or to be on standby, and I found a chair to rest in to wait.
I closed my eyes and leaned back. My mask made it seem as if I was simply staring ahead, making me appear eerily still. I was too focused on my thoughts to pay those nervous glances any mind.
I needed to think about the implications of Mega Evolution. I could use it to my advantage, but mistiming it would just mean I would be tired for any battles afterwards. However, not using it would mean my opponents might be able to overpower whatever Pokémon I had out on the field.
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However, if one of my Pokémon managed to outmaneuver a poorly controlled Mega? There was more to consider than just raw power.
I smiled.
This kind of required thinking was exactly why Contests were so great.
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Zoey stopped me in the hallway before I went up. We had time to chat since I only needed to be near the stage on standby, rather than to go up and perform right this moment. She herself had already gone up, and had shown off a recent addition to her team in the form of Finneon. The butterfly-like fish showed off its ability to manipulate the wind with its moves and caused the pool to violently crash over itself, all while swimming without the chaotic movements affecting it at all. Its Safeguard and impeccably polished scales made it shimmer in the light of the arena, which made everything it did look that much better.
She would definitely move on to the next round.
“Robin,” Zoey said as she approached. “I want to apologize.”
Honestly, I had to do a double take at that.
“What?” I asked, shocked.
Zoey paused momentarily before continuing. I hadn’t had the voice changer in my mask last time we spoke, so she was clearly caught off guard.
“I was too focused on perfecting my own ability as a Coordinator through Contests alone,” she said. “I was projecting my self doubts onto others. I’ve learned that you can’t just treat battles as solely Contest battles or trainer battles, each one informs the other.” Zoey shook her head. “If only I had realized this sooner.”
“What brought this on?” I asked.
Zoey chuckled and scratched her face.
“Ash. Nando. People who competed in both just as you do, yet somehow perform incredibly well. Contests aren’t everything, but neither are battles. They’re just two different ways to interact with Pokémon that I need to learn from.”
I nodded slowly.
I wasn’t expecting this kind of turnaround, but at the same time, Zoey wasn’t someone I heavily focused on in the anime, and several months had passed since we last talked. I supposed I missed practically all of her encounters with Ash and Dawn, so she had probably learned quite a bit from them. I had honestly assumed she would have been less standoffish at a later point, but apparently, she figured it out in the middle of the year.
I wasn’t one to judge. Dawn practically convinced me to realign my goals for my time in Sinnoh with a single conversation on her own.
“I get it. I think I have to apologize as well, then.”
“What for?” she asked.
“I don’t think I was taking Contests seriously before now.”
Zoey frowned.
“Contests were originally just a way to force me to think outside of the box and learn new tricks for my Pokémon. I was motivated primarily by the interest of two members of my team, but I was being unfair to them by competing without putting my heart into it. Sure, we won two ribbons together so far, but I haven’t been putting the same effort into Contests that I put in for trainer battles.”
I paused briefly to collect my thoughts.
“Honestly, my reasoning might seem simple, but it works well for me. My thought is this: Why not? I mean, why not put in the effort to try to push to the top? Why not plan, train, and dream to win the Grand Contest? There’s nothing holding me or my Pokémon back from doing so, and my team and opponents alike deserve far more than just a casual effort. Zoey, I plan to win the Wallace Cup just like I plan to win every other Contest I’ll compete in. You should prepare yourself.”
Zoey looked shocked at first, but slowly, as I continued, her face turned into an expression of excitement. She gained a cruel grin that wouldn’t have been unusual to see on Azumarill’s face, then pumped her fist once I was done.
“Yes! That’s the kind of language I like to hear! Same goes to you, Robin! Just because you suddenly want to try harder doesn’t mean I’m going to be any less of a threat!”
I smiled at her but then realized my mask was blocking my expression. So instead, I silently held out my hand to clasp Zoey’s own, and after, I walked off to move into position for my and Florges’s performance.
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There weren’t any tricks when it came to releasing my Pokémon this time. Similarly, I didn’t bother using any stickers to make it especially showy. Instead, Florges simply appeared in front of me with a basic flash. If we were going to progress to the next round, we were going to progress solely through demonstrating Florges’s absolutely incredible capabilities.
When Florges appeared, she held out her arms and spun in place. I moved to stand next to her and brought my hands together behind my back. I took a deep breath, stood up a bit straighter, then nodded at Florges to let her do her thing.
I didn’t know how to dance. Florges didn’t know either. She had her favorite move, Petal Dance, but that movement wasn’t the kind of dance a human would perform. So, with a sharp movement, I clicked my shoes together and turned to face her. Florges floated in the air high enough to be at my head level, and we both tilted our heads forward in a slight bow.
Then, we began to move.
I took a step to the left. Florges shifted to her right.
I took a step to the right. Florges shifted to her left.
Both of us swayed back and forth in our spots in a simple, easy to do movement. It looked like the initial steps of a dance, but it would never progress to something more complicated than this, at least for me.
Florges stared intently at my mask then held her arms out. From her mane of flowers, petals began to drift out and spiral around us. They moved like individuals in a line of ants, organized and placed in a row. Each one shifted up and down while constantly drifting forward.
There was a momentary delay, and Florges increased the pace to cause more petals to drift out of her mane. This time, they moved to flow in the opposite direction of the first, and they shifted up and down alternating between the rest. Quickly, a second ringed layer of petals formed around us.
Florges picked up the pace even more and continued. A third ring formed, then a fourth.
Her movements shifted to be more complicated, her arms thrown out and her entire body turning and bending. I continued my own simple movements to not cause a strange delay, swaying as every splash of pink and red Florges controlled moved with her will.
This was our strategy. There wasn’t any major extravagance, nor was there any kind of trick involved. Florges would display her sheer power and control to the judges and the world, and everyone would be gobsmacked at what she could do.
I know I was.
More and more petals flowed out of Florges as we continued our dance. The flower petals flowed with such fury and such grace that the resulting rings were formed in the same amount of time as the rest, except much larger and containing much more petals.
A fifth formed. A sixth.
The ever-present shifting of the petals made us appear to be in the center of an organic machine, and Florges threw her arms back to tilt up at the sun. Her flowers glowed with Synthesis to let her regrow the petals, then a storm was sent out to form the seventh ring.
Our record was eight, but based on the look in Florges’s eye, she wasn’t going to stop there. Her entire body was thrown into elegant, graceful movements that forced her to chaotically dance around just to keep the mass of petals in the air. More and more fluttered off her body and rushed to assume their positions, forming an eighth.
Then, she paused, and almost every petal held still. I stopped, getting her hint.
Florges closed her eyes as the audience held their breath. They had been cheering before at the sight of the moving array of rings under her control, but now, they wanted to see what happened next.
It took her a moment to use it with so much of her concentration being put into maintaining her Petal Dance, but, at her command, green energy pulsed out to form a Grassy Terrain underneath us. I could tell Florges was barely keeping the dizziness she experienced from dancing under control, but her eyes sharpened when the audience cheered, any potential confusion not taking effect through her sheer determination.
Our dance restarted, and with the boost from Grassy Terrain, Florges was able to create a ninth ring of petals.
The audience cheered even harder.
Florges’s eyes were closed in strain, and she was throwing herself around so chaotically in her dance I was forced to stop just to not get in her way. We would lose points based on my sudden stillness, but I doubted it would even be that much with how impressive Florges’s display was. The rings practically covered the entire stage with their sheer size, hanging over the pool of water; but there was still room for a tenth.
Florges was going for it.
More petals left her mane, but not at a rate fast enough for her to finish before the time was up. We still needed to do the final flourish, and it seemed Florges understood that.
For the second time in the performance, every petal held still as Florges paused the dance to use a different move.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the colors of her body shifted away from whites and reds to shades of green, allowing herself to gain the colors of the visible grass in the dead center where we were. I had advised against using Camouflage before, since it would mean the audience would take their eyes off of her, but at this point, Florges needed the boost of becoming a Grass Type to form the tenth and final ring.
The audience’s cheers quieted down once more as everyone watched. The momentary pause lasted only a second longer before Florges practically exploded out in petals, sending out waves of the paper-like material all around her at once, settling in to form not a ring, but a thin dome over the entire field.
The Camouflage and Grassy Terrain combined had let Florges go above and beyond.
And then, while the audience was still cheering, Florges flicked her arms upwards. Every single petal was sent sky high.
Florges let all her moves drop at this point, exhausted and shaking from the energy expenditure. I placed my hand on her back in a sign of support that would simultaneously assist her in staying upright, and the two of us took a bow.
The petals rained down from above like pink confetti that covered the stage. The Grassy Terrain became hidden under their cover, and the water of the pond was dyed pink and red to match Florges’s own flowers.
The buzzer buzzed. Our time was up. Florges and I walked off the stage.
After we left, the stage was cleaned up by the resident, assisting Pokémon, and the performances continued. They would last all day, and until everyone had gone up, we wouldn’t know if we were moving on. The decision was to be made tonight, but deep in my heart, I knew we would move on.
I doubted there would be anyone here that wouldn’t be impressed with Florges.
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We could have stayed in the contestant waiting room, but I chose to leave instead. Just like my show battle with Maylene, there was a room that hung above the field that served as a private viewing box, but this one was solely for friends of the competitors and people Wallace specifically invited.
I had been informed I would be welcome in that room, so I changed out of my jester-like Robin outfit and went upstairs. The second I entered, a freezing, snow-white blur crashed into me as Ninetales practically jumped on me in excitement after Florges’s performance.
“I take it she did well then?” I asked to the room as I ran my hand through Ninetales’s long mane.
Steven stood up from where he was seated to approach.
“Indeed,” he said. “Our elevated position lets us see the entire stage from above, allowing us to observe every inch of each performance. The constant growth of petals was a sight to behold. I personally have to complement her over her control. Not a single petal touched the ground until the end. It was an absolutely marvelous performance.”
He paused and glanced behind me. I had come up alone. Ninetales wanted to watch all the performances so I had left her with Steven, but the rest of my team was with me. Florges wasn’t out of her ball.
“Where is Florges, might I ask?” Steven added.
“Sleeping. She’s in her ball. A performance like that took a lot out of her.”
He nodded, understanding. At this point, a second familiar face approached from the seats. It seemed that Lisia had come up here the same as I did when she performed herself before me.
“I should have known you were Robin!” Lisia exclaimed.
She rubbed her chin and looked me up and down.
“I mean, now that I think about it, it’s pretty obvious. You two have a similar build, though the heights are different.”
“You didn’t think it strange we have the same team?” I asked.
Lisia waved her hand.
“Please, Alex. Different trainers are allowed to use the same species of Pokémon.”
“Really? I guess a mask makes more of a difference than I realized,” I mumbled.
Lisia laughed but stopped when Marian’s voice rang out. Our conversation temporarily halted to let us watch a different Coordinator go up. This person was a chubby man in a blue bowtie with a Munchlax as a companion. His performance consisted of him chucking food in random directions while Munchlax ran forward to grab them. It was more humor focused that played up Munchlax’s gluttony, forcing it to use moves in creative ways to reach the food before it hit the ground. It demonstrated the skill of his Pokémon alongside of its basic traits, but honestly, it just looked like Munchlax was more motivated to eat than anything else.
I was unsure what to think of it.
“Soooo...” Lisia continued. “Are you going to have your Altaria compete here?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “He wasn’t as motivated to compete in Contests as the rest of my team, so we haven’t practiced together. He’s strong, but when it comes to looking good for a performance? He’s a little goofy.”
Lisia giggled as she most likely remembered some of the things Altaria had done during our battle together. I personally recalled his tendency to act like he was crashing to the ground only to stop right above the floor.
“I want a rematch,” Lisia suddenly said. “Your Mega Altaria versus my Mega Ali. If we go up against each other in the tournament rounds, I promise you I’ll use him.”
I hummed in response.
Almost every time I’d lost recently, it was when someone had challenged me to a match on their terms. When my opponent set the rules, when my opponent strategized against me, I tended to lose. I couldn’t help but to think of both my battle against Paul and my first match against Byron. I was getting similar vibes from Lisia’s challenge.
I needed to get better. I owed it to my team to be a better trainer. Even if this challenge would put me in a fight that was on Lisia’s terms and not my own, I needed to learn how to adapt.
So, I accepted anyway, mistake or not.
“Let’s do it,” I said.
I would need to convince Altaria, but I had no doubts he’d be interested in battling in a rematch against another Dragon Type. In a Contest battle, however? I probably needed to spend tonight training and practicing just to make sure he wouldn’t lose too many points.
This would be our match, regardless.
With our challenge settled, Lisia and I exchanged a few stories about some of the Contests we had been in (she had far more than I did) before we parted ways to return to watching the show. Steven had already said goodbye to return to his seat earlier, so I moved to sit in the empty spot next to him. Cynthia just happened to be to my right as I did, and when I sat down, she looked at me as if she had been expecting it.
Silently, she reached into a bag at her side and placed an object in my lap. When I glanced down to see what it was, I stilled.
Cynthia had just given me an inch-tall stack of paper absolutely filled to the brim with miscellaneous questions about my otherworldly experiences and knowledge. It was a full questionnaire that included queries about my old world that ranged from commonly eaten meals to the structure of the government. I was shocked to see she even had several pages dedicated just to essay questions.
I slowly turned my head to face her, only to be met with a barely contained manic grin. It was honestly the most terrifying look I’d seen in my entire life.