The Contest in Snowpoint City was my last chance to earn my fifth ribbon. Well, it wasn't necessarily my last chance, but it was my last easy chance to do so.
In addition, this would be one of the last times Robin would take the field. I had selected two Pokémon on my team I hoped would make a worthwhile show.
For every other Contest I'd been a part of, I had entered the building and changed into my Robin outfit inside. No one ever saw Robin leaving or entering the building, which helped add to their mystique. This time, I decided to switch it up.
I was already changed in my room in the Pokémon Center. We had a few days to prepare, so I had gone out to purchase a few rolls of cloth from around the town. I made sure to go in disguise to make sure it wouldn't be tracked to me, and I even purposefully bought extra items to try to hide my purpose.
It was fun making this bonus disguise as my entire team worked on it. Rapidash and Gardevoir helped raise sheets of cloth into the air for easy assembly, Whimsicott added clumps of his own cotton, and Togepi merrily added decorations of her own design, each one subtly representing the Fairy Type in its own special way.
The final creation was a tall cloak that dragged on the ground. One half of it was a bright yellow, while the other half was a blue so dark it almost looked black. It fit in well with my divided Robin outfit, as even though the colors weren't pink and purple, the half-and-half theme properly matched.
Not too long before the Contest was set to start, the cloak was thrown over Gardevoir to make him look like a hunched over figure. I hated we had to do this, but he was a bit too recognizable after everything that happened with Chance, so it was imperative to disguise his species to not fully reveal his identity.
Gardevoir kind of looked like a ghost. There weren't any hoods or openings for his face, rather, it looked like a tarp had been thrown over him. The bottom of it had masses of cotton hastily glued on while Togepi's own contributions made it look like a child's creation. The entire thing was horrendous in its own special way. Gardevoir looked overjoyed to wear it.
A faint glow caused the tarp to sway unnaturally in a not-present wind. I sent a smile to the rest of my team before returning them all, moved closer to Gardevoir, and donned the mask and braided wig.
I disappeared from the room.
Robin appeared outside the Contest Hall.
As it stood, there were a few people already making their way in to watch. The crowds hadn't become too large as there was still time before it was scheduled to start. People gasped and pointed excitedly towards me. My head felt warm, not from anything I was personally feeling, but from Gardevoir trying his best to share his amused reactions with me.
Robin strode into the Hall with the thing at their side. I went up to the counter, signed in to confirm my registered placement, and began to walk to the waiting area.
I was interrupted by a red-headed woman in a beige pantsuit rushing over to my side. An overweight man holding a camera hastily followed.
"Robin! Robin! I'm Rhonda from Sinnoh Now. Do you have the time to answer a few questions?"
For an instant, I wanted to glance toward Gardevoir, but I realized doing so would be out of character. I stared directly Rhonda for several long seconds, purposefully dragging it out to add to the drama. I could see the excited look in her eyes begin to waver.
Right when she was about to call it, I dipped my head into a nod.
I moved off to the side of the room to make sure we wouldn't block the path as Rhonda straightened her blazer and gained a big smile on her face for the camera.
"So, Robin," she started. "You're a rather mysterious figure that's captured the hearts of many. Few Coordinators choose to disguise their identity in such a... showy way like you have. What inspired you to do so?"
Honestly, I probably should have better prepped myself for this interview, but I'd thought enough about this in the past to have a good idea of what to say. Still, it took me a few moments to properly work out how Robin would say this, not Alex.
"Everyone wears a mask. I simply choose to display mine."
The interviewer waited for me to elaborate. I stayed silent.
Annoyed, she moved on.
"Your Pokémon, too, are the stars of the show. Their level of power and control has far outpaced most of your opponents. I know after the Wallace Cup Florges had received quite the following of her own." Rhonda laughed. "How did you manage to get your team up to such a level? Do you have any tips for Coordinators looking to make it big on their own?"
"I listened to my Pokémon. We planned everything together. Teamwork is the key to any form of success."
Rhonda nodded, happy to get such an answer. Then, however, she gained a glint in her eyes that rubbed me just the wrong way.
"Now, Robin, you don't tend to be available for interviews before or after Contests that often. The only major recordings of such were from the Wallace Cup. However, everyone is dying to know one thing in particular: What do you have to say about the allegations you copied your team from the Mega Evolution Master and Fairy Type specialist, Alex?"
The world skidded to a halt.
"What?"
I was thankful I had the voice changer. I definitely broke character there.
Rhonda smiled, looking like she had just gained the story of a lifetime.
"Almost every Pokémon you've used has had its twin in one of Alex's show battles," Rhonda said. "We all know how much the League has been pushing the new phenomena, which you're no stranger to, either. However, rumors have been circling that you've specifically designed your team to copy the much more famous trainer. So, are you riding Alex's coattails, or are you just the victim of an unfortunate circumstance?"
I was blown away that my disguise had somehow spiraled out of control this far. Such allegations were far outside my expectations. To actually say that Robin was copying Alex?
"Trainers are allowed to use Pokémon of the same species," I said. "I am not copying Alex. My team joined me on their own."
At that, I took a step back to walk away.
"Now, please excuse me. I must get ready for our Contest."
"O-Of course."
I gave her a polite nod then tried my best to maintain a normal pace down the hallway deeper into the building. The moment we were out of view, I paused, then exchanged a look with the still-obscured Gardevoir.
We both immediately broke out into laughter.
"Oh, this is too good," I squeaked out.
The sounds of Gardevoir's laughter and gentle telepathic warmth told me he agreed.
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As this Contest had been delayed, the number of Coordinators competing were somewhat higher than normal. That, combined with the last minute rush of Coordinators trying to get one last ribbon, meant I had quite the number of challengers that could potentially block my way.
Still, I didn't see anyone I recognized, which was disappointing on one level or another.
I kind of wanted to be able to face someone from the anime on my (potentially) last Contest, but there wasn't anyone here. Not to be dismissive of the rest of the Coordinators, but it was just hard to get past that mindset that certain people would be more likely to win.
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As if to prove me wrong, one trainer marched up to me while the announcer went over the basic introductions.
"I should have known you'd be here," she said.
I blinked under my mask and glanced her way. She couldn't have been more than a teen. She wore a dark top with a frilly red dress and had her hair up in pigtails.
She jabbed her finger toward my chest. With my relative height in my disguise, she only poked my stomach.
"Now you listen here, and you listen here good. I know your win in the Wallace Cup was rigged. There's no way such a perfect finish would happen normally. You against Lisia, with two Mega Altarias? Hah!"
She smirked while I motionlessly stared her way. Honestly, I was reeling inside.
"The Snowpoint ribbon is mine. Don't you forget that. I would wish you luck, but it's clear doing so won't make a difference."
She huffed then threw her hair back before marching back to join the rest of the crowd in silent observation. I still didn't react. That random girl hadn't even told me her name.
As things stood, she actually went up before me. She had the cocooned Wormadam as part of her performance, which demonstrated its capabilities through controlling its Rock Type moves all around it. It was certainly impressive, especially since it had conjured up a Sandstorm to support its performance. Though, I wasn't sure if it was enough to get to the next round.
The girl, who the cameras called Ursula, looked directly at the camera with a haughty wink. I felt as though she was bragging. I wasn’t intimidated in the slightest.
Soon enough, it was my turn, so I left the room and headed towards the field.
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The audience was laughing before I took my spot on the stage.
I pretended not to know why as the announcer stated Robin's name and said to begin.
Like usual, my normal routine of having a Pokéball appear in my hand with a hidden pocket occurred, but when I tossed the Pokéball forward, no Pokémon came out.
I stopped my foot in anger and quickly turned around.
There was nothing there. The audience laughed.
Pretending to get a clue, I snapped my head the other way to see if anything was now behind me. The audience laughed even harder.
Unsure of what to do, I crossed my arms and tapped my foot in annoyance. At that, Whimsicott floated down from behind my head and patted my shoulder as if to comfort me.
I sent him a nod in tha—
My movement stilled.
I slowly turned to face my head towards Whimsicott.
He covered his mouth and giggled.
Pretending to be angry, I tried to lunge at him, but my hands wrapped around a cotton-puff Substitute instead. Grabbing it, I turned around to face the laughing Whimsicott and chucked it right at his face.
A quick flash of Protect caused the Substitute to bounce right off. I brought my arms back then purposefully gave chase.
In what amounted to a slapstick show, I ran around the stage "chasing" Whimsicott. As if he had a bag of tricks, he would conjure up a move, consider it for a moment, then toss it away in disappointment.
A casually tossed ball of fire created a Sunny Day that enhanced his Chlorophyll. A weak Moonblast, Energy Ball, and Shadow Ball created three brightly colored spheres that he threw off to the side. A few clumps of cotton from Cotton Spore were loosely thrown at me, but each one hit the ground instead of my legs.
Eventually, I stopped chasing him and placed my hands on my legs. I made very purposeful, exaggerated breaths to pretend the short chase took everything out of me. The audience was greatly enjoying the show, for which I was glad for, but what I was really happy about was that Whimsicott got to show off his wide range of skills in such a short amount of time.
Prankster really was a blessing, as Whimsicott wouldn't have been able to train and practice so many utility moves without it. Similarly, the performance wouldn't have been any good without it.
However, we weren't done just yet, as a few seconds remained. I planned to make the full use of our time.
I leaned back up into a standing position and glared at Whimsicott. He pretended to be pacified by my "withering" stare. I held up a hand and snapped my fingers, commanding Whimsicott to use one final move.
A Grassy Terrain overtook the stage. However, it wasn't just a normal use of the move.
As we ran, Whimsicott had made sure countless spots were being held down with cotton, and, even more, patches of Stun Spore were lingering on the ground.
The cotton held down the grass, and the Stun Spore was launched into the air by the sudden growth. With the sun from Sunny Day up, the powders sparkled to make the pattern Whimsicott made stand out even more.
Our chase wasn't just a random chase. We had laid out a pattern. A winking face had been drawn out on the stage, with both Whimsicott and I right in the center.
The two of us took a bow. Out of all our performances, this one was the most complicated, though Ninetales and Mawile had pulled off some pretty advanced ones on their own as well. Just like every other performance, I had properly shown off my Pokémon's skills while making sure the audience was entertained while doing so.
Whimsicott floated down to hang off my shoulder. We waved to the audience one last time before walking off the stage. It wouldn't be too long now until the Coordinators moving on would be announced.
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I and fifteen others made it in.
As the Snowpoint Contest had extra participants, the final rounds were extended to have twice the normal amount of people. I noticed Ursula had moved on, too, but that didn't matter in the face of the extra battle our Pokémon would need to go through.
Whimsicott wasn't battling. Instead, I used a Pokémon that was interested in Contest battles but not the performance rounds.
Rapidash handily won all his matches while Togepi cheered him on in the audience.
A lot of the Pokémon here proved that the majority of competitors were locals. The first two matches involved Ice Types, after all.
The very first battle was between Rapidash and a Glalie. The large snowball creature focused on Snowscape to maintain a small flurry of snow moving around it as it floated over the field. Rapidash sent embers of Mystical Fire at it, but each attack was consumed by its personal storm.
A strong defense against ranged, special attacks like that meant Rapidash was unable to use his super effective move. However, the Glalie's own snowstorm was its downfall.
Glalie actually had more points than us towards the end of the match, so I called out an order to change the strategy. Rapidash shifted to using Fairy Wind, aiming not at Glalie but at the spiraling snow itself. Pink, sparkling mist was sucked up and sent into the storm, tinting it a light red. Glalie had no choice but to let up its control to not be worn down by the near constant stream of Fairy Wind, allowing Rapidash to use Sunny Day and melt the snow away.
We just barely eked out a win based on points than anything else. That Glalie was an impressive opponent, one that definitely could have gone all the way. I personally liked how it controlled a miniature Blizzard in a radius around it, but in a non-Contest battle, doing so would require too much focus to be viable.
Still, I kept it in mind for Ninetales, just in case we wanted to use such a thing for training or a surprise strategy later.
The second match was also a local's Pokémon, and this one was a bit special.
More common in Contests than elsewhere, Coordinators frequently had unevolved Pokémon on their team that had no intention of evolving. Dawn's Piplup was a good example of that. Since Contest battles were more about points and style than raw damage, such Pokémon were skilled enough to keep up against even the toughest of foes.
Case in point: the second match's Snover.
Snover was a simple Pokémon; it was the snow-covered, pre-evolved form of Abomasnow. It really was just a little guy.
The battle was quick to shift into melee, with Rapidash charging in with Agility to get closer. Snover seemed to welcome the towering unicorn getting close to it, as it held its position and didn't make any defensive moves.
Rapidash went for a quick Stomp with his front hooves to see how Snover would react. The much smaller Pokémon nimbly ducked out of the way, not unlike how Azumarill moved at times with Splash.
For a short while, the battle was nothing more than Rapidash trying to land one of his melee attacks against the small Pokémon. The sky was clear thanks to Rapidash's Sunny Day contesting Snover's Snow Warning ability, making it so neither side benefited from any weather.
Eventually, Rapidash managed to turn things around, pointwise, by conjuring a Mystical Fire but not releasing it. Simply holding the Fire Type attack around his body heated up the space and slowed down Snover.
With his enemy weakened and rapidly tiring out, Snover was lifted up into the air with Psychic. Even though its dodges had been impressive, it was unable to escape, and the buzzer soon buzzed to mark the end of the match.
Rapidash was returned, and both Coordinators left the field. In a normal Contest, this would have moved us to the final round, but we had one more opponent in our way before we got there.
"So you are the opponent we must face to collect our Ribbon. Suiting."
Ursula stood across from me with a smug look on her face and her hands on her hips. I stared forward and repressed a sigh. She still seemed quite bothered by the fact I had won the Wallace Cup.
"Through your defeat, we shall prove who truly should have won! My Gabite, take the field!"
She sent out her Dragon Type Pokémon, which was impressive to have, but she was going up against the wrong trainer to use it. Rapidash hit the field with a huff and a whinny as the time began to count down for our match.
Still using our strategy from the Wallace Cup, I flexed a finger to tell him to go on the offensive. Rapidash loyally charged forward.
"Sandstorm," Ursula ordered.
The bipedal Dragon Type brought its head back and opened its mouth, revealing rows of shark-like teeth. All around it, streams of sand and dust picked up to whip across the field. As they blew around it, however, Gabite's body became obscured in sand, making it hard to see its exact position thanks to Sand Veil.
"Now, Double Team," Ursula said, smirking.
Countless copies of Gabite appeared within the weather, each one also being obscured by the winds. I flexed the finger to tell Rapidash to "hold" as he slid to a halt.
Rapidash looked around. Ursula called out one last move.
"Aerial Ace!"
In an instant, every single Gabite leaped forward, the sheer number of duplicates making it seem that the Sandstorm itself was going after Rapidash. Despite that, he confidently stood still and waited for Gabite to get close.
After only a second, Rapidash's head locked onto where he detected Gabite was coming from. As a Pokémon that had been training his mental detection skills since he was freshly hatched, Gabite would need to do more than just hide its form.
Rapidash reared up and smashed a hoof right into Gabite's face. The Aerial Ace never landed as Gabite was sent crashing into the ground instead. The illusions faded away with Gabite unable to maintain them, but even with that attack the battle wasn't quite done.
"Dig!"
Gabite, from its prone position, hurriedly brought its sharp claws into the dirt floor to sink beneath the sands.
As it stood, we had quite the lead, so I was expecting Ursula to try to pull something desperate. I was proven right when the floor shifted beneath Rapidash's feet.
"Sand Tomb!" Ursula yelled.
The battlefield collapsed inwards, forming a twisting pit not unlike the ones I'd seen some Trapinch maintain back in Hoenn's desert. Rapidash was caught in the middle, his legs sinking into the ground and trapping him in place. Our points significantly ticked down, and Ursula looked far more confident in herself.
"Wonderful. Now Gabite—"
Rapidash was panicking a bit since he wasn't able to get out. Sands churned and shifted around him, threatening to bury him alive at any moment. His eyes glowed a brilliant blue as Gabite was ripped out from where it was hiding underground. Ursula never got a chance to give her next order before Gabite was flung wildly in the air across the field.
The last of her points ticked down.
"...Gabite?" she asked.
Her Pokémon groaned from the impact, unable to continue.
With the battle over, Rapidash slowly made his way out of the no-longer maintained pit before I returned him. Ursula recalled Gabite and stormed off the stage.
The final match was a disappointment. Despite having three incredible battles, it seemed the opposing Purugly had exhausted itself in the previous match.
The battle consisted of Purugly trying its best to manipulate Rapidash’s actions. Its Swagger proved to be a more effective way of stopping Rapidash’s attacks than hiding like Gabite had done, as there were several tense moments where he collapsed to the floor in confusion.
However, due to Purugly’s own exhaustion, the battle was eventually decided by Rapidash managing to drag the cat closer to him with Psychic. It tried to resist the move by digging its claws into the ground, but Rapidash was stronger. One Stomp later, and Purugly laid unconscious on the ground.
That match signified the end of the Contest. Rapidash proudly trotted over to my side for us to both bow. He was tired but relatively uninjured. Using Morning Sun between battles helped with that.
As part of our victory, we were presented with a white and pale blue ribbon, the Snowpoint Ribbon for this Contest. This marked our fifth and final one we earned, and as a result, we would be heading to the Grand Festival.
There was only a month left for this season, and there were only two weeks until the festival itself. Still, though, this was one thing off the checklist of things still needed to be done. Our next stop: Sunyshore.