Pokemon The Force - Volume 4: A New Journey In Hoenn Chapter 122 18: Pokemon Contest In Slateport City

Soul and Ash’s friends were currently inside a waiting room. Right now, they were waiting for it to be May’s turn to perform in the Pokemon Contest here in Slateport City. And May was nervous, too nervous, in Soul’s opinion. It could affect her performance.

Soul: You have the right to be nervous since this would be your first performance, but you shouldn’t let it affect your performance.

Ash: Soul’s right, May, if you’re nervous, your Pokemon would also be nervous.

All kinds of encouragement words were given to May from Ash and the gang as she was still nervous, but not as much as she was before.

Soul stood to the side as he leaned on a corner while looking at the screen. So far, the performance those contestants made wasn’t that good, or it might be because he saw too much of Pokemon XY, and XYZ Pokemon Contest.

Then suddenly, a guy with green hair and Roselia came up and showed some pretty good performance. And it seemed like Ash and the gang knew about him.

Soul: ‘So his name is Drew, huh?’

He started his performance off with having Roselia use Petal Dance, as Roselia released small pink petals around the area with silver sparkles, making a first good impression on the audience and the judge.

Ash: That was okay, I guess.

May: It was beautiful.

Soul: ‘It was pretty decent from me. All Roselia did was jump out of the ball, using Petal Dance and then land on the ground. At least they could do some spin or dance along the way.’

Next, Drew told Roselia to use Stun Spore as Roselia spun around while orange mist came out of its roses. After that, Magical Leaf was used as white leaves could be seen flying along with Stun Spore as other silver sparkles were added to the scene.

May: That really is pretty.

She said with a smile as she looked over Drew’s performance with Beautifly. Soul felt some kind of cringes from some of the scenes. It wasn’t that it’s bad, but some of the postures were not to Soul’s taste, or maybe it was just him who didn’t understand any of it.

For the last performance, Drew told Roselia to use Petal Dance as Roselia disappeared from normal people’s eyes. This amazed both Ash and May, who didn’t know what had happened entirely. After that, Magical Leaf was used once again as it cut Petal Dance into small bits, sparkles came out of nowhere once again as Drew and Roselia gave out a bow to the audience. He was awarded with 29.4 points, which is currently the highest point yet.

A break came in after that as Soul left the waiting room and head to the counter as he got a brochure about all of the locations of where, and when the next Pokemon Contest would be held. The next one would be held in Fallabor Town. After he beat Lavaridge Gym, he would go there, and after that, he would head to Petalburg City.

The break came to an end as Soul watched the next coordinator as he had learned what they are called. To his surprise, a Milotic was going to be used in this round. The coordinator’s name was Robert, who told his Milotic to use Safeguard as a green aura surrounds it.

Being near it, Soul could already feel calm as he smiled a bit. This, of course, didn’t go unnoticed by Anubis who didn’t know why his master was smiling at that Pokemon, who had just released a small calm aura.

Its tail fins then moved as four of them could be seen as Milotic started waving its tail to the audience, saying hello. And, of course, Robert and Milotic went to the next round.

The last coordinator before moving to the next round was May, who Soul clearly saw was nervous. When she was about to release Beautifly, May’s foot slipped as he almost fell if it wasn’t for Soul, who used Psychic to help her back up without any being suspicious.

She tried again as she didn’t fall this time and released Beautifly from its Poke Ball. She then threw a pink frisbee while telling Beautifly to use String Shot. As the frisbee flew, a shot of string came out of Beautifly mouth and repelled it back to May, who caught it.

May: Again!

Another round was done, and another one. Even though it may seem ‘simple’ to some people’s eyes, Soul actually liked it since the rest of the coordinators he had seen so far didn’t do anything with their Pokemon. Instead, it was only their Pokemon who performed the show for them.

As for May and Beautifly, both of them are in this together as they performed together, and that’s what made Soul like their performance.

Anubis was even more confused as to why his master was happier than before. Looking at the scene, he could only see a human and a Pokemon throwing and catching frisbee at each other. What is so special about it?

It continued until May told her Beautifly to use Gust, which would increase the speed of the frisbee. She almost didn’t catch the frisbee. Their performance would be a waste if she didn’t catch it.

Letting out a sigh to which he didn’t know he held, he saw that May and Beautifly made their next move as she told her Beautifly to use Silver Wind.

May: Go into a spin!

Beautifly spun around as it created a spiral of Silver Wind with sparkles.

Soul: ‘Now that’s what I’d expected from a Pokemon Contest. I’ve remembered that Ashley told me about it from Kanto, but it had a different name for it, what was the name again?’

The next round begins with May advance to the next round along with seven other coordinators.

And the first round was May versus Drew, but, alas, May lost terribly. Even with the type advantage, Drew’s Roselia managed to overcome her Beautifly.

The aftermath was unexpected to say, at least, for Soul. May was really down as she cried for having screwing-up over the battle as if she was the reason why they lost.

Soul: May this was your first performance, even if you’re screwed up in the second round, did anyone blame you for that? Besides, you should take what you have today learned, what your strengths, your weakness, everything is. And when you meet Drew again, you would be a better coordinator than before, maybe even beating him. That is if you don’t give up yet.

With that, Soul left a shocked May and the gang alone as he went to take the familiar route again to Mauville City.

May, who was touched by Soul’s words, felt determined to become stronger and learn from the losses she got today.

May: Soul’s right, I shouldn’t be crying over something like this and moving forward.

Hearing May’s words, who looked at her friends with a determined look, Ash, Brock, and Max were surprised at first but also smiled as they supported her.