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Contest Tie (Contestshipping)
- Thread starter Encyclopika
- Start date
R
Riyu
Guest
Oh my goodness, I love it when another character comes in and make the girl jelous!!! So cool!!! *_* and the fluff with the rose was the toping on the cake! ^_^ You rock!!!!
Encyclopika
The Queen
Episode 7 - Norbrown City! Return of Medicham!
Rated PG
Norbrown City is one of Contesta's big northern cities. It's known primarily for the contest it holds every few weeks. Large skyscrapers and buildings reach high into the sky as they tower over the little streets and cars below. The sun looks upon itself in the glass skyscrapers all day long until it decides the day is done. Below this high canopy of concrete and steel, life continues down below on the pavement.
......................................
May and Drew arrived in Norbrown, eager to finally enter the contest. The sidewalk ahead of them stretched out far, lined with buildings, stores, and other places that housed working people. The Pokemon Center came into view, its red top glisening in the sun light. Despite the sun's glaring upon the city, it managed to keep cool. There was no breeze at all.
"Good afternoon, Nurse Joy," May greeted the red headed nurse.
"Why, hello! Are you two coordinators?" Nurse Joy asked them.
"Yeah, we are," Drew told her.
"That's good, then you should sign up for the contest," Nurse Joy said and handed them a piece of paper clipped to a clipboard.
Drew took it from her from across the counter and signed. He handed it to May who did the same, and she handed it back to Nurse Joy.
"And that's that!" she explaimed happily, "The contest will start the day after tomorrow at twelve o'clock sharp."
"What?" May whined, "It's like it's never going to come!"
Drew looked down at her as she slumped on a chair to the side. Nurse Joy went back to what she had been doing.
"I can't believe this! That kid beat me again!" a familiar voice yelled into the hall.
May and Drew looked up to find a tall woman with maroon hair come into the Pokemon Center. She wore a yellow belly shirt with blue, baggy pants. They didn't cover her ankles and her shoes were brown. Her hair was up in two long pig tails.
"What's wrong, Grace?" Nurse Joy asked concerned.
The woman walked up to Nurse Joy and leaned against the counter.
"That kid is just too good!" she said, "How am I ever going to beat this kid in the PokeBlock making contest if I can't even beat him in practice? What's more, he's got a team coming in, and I have nothing! Everyone is so afraid to lose, no one wants to be on my team!"
"That's really too bad," Nurse Joy told her.
"I know. But I can't just give up. I'm so not letting him get away with first place without a fight first," Grace added.
May got up and walked over to Grace. Drew stayed behind, remembering what a beating he had gotten way back when in Hoenn from her. He didn't like her too much.
"Grace?" May asked inspecting the woman from behind.
"Huh? May? Is that you?" Grace asked, stunned to see her, "Oh! I haven't seen you in such a long time!"
Grace gave May a big hug and May took it best she could. She hoped that Grace would stop before she couldn't breath anymore.
"How have you been?" May asked in a friendly tone when Grace let go of her.
"Good for the most part," Grace answered, "Lately I've been bummed out because this kid keeps of kicking my butt in PokeBlock making."
"I didn't know PokeBlock making was a sport," May told her.
"Oh it isn't much in Hoenn, Wardy, or any other region, just Contesta. That's what I love about this place!" Grace said enthusiastically.
Grace thought for a while and then exclaimed, "Hey, May, would you like to be on my team for tomorrow?"
May couldn't resist but join her long lost friend.
"Ok," May agreed happily.
"Oh wait, that kid is having two friends coming. We need another person," Grace told her, becoming saddened again.
"Well," May started, "How about Drew?"
May pointed to Drew who was relaxing on one of the chairs. He looked at her evilly.
"There you go, volenteering me for stuff," Drew said annoyed.
"Oh stop it!" May shouted into his face when she walked over to him, "We haven't seen Grace in a long time, be a pal and let's help her!"
"What made you think I wanted to?" Drew asked her, calmly.
"Because I said so!" May told him.
"Oh yeah, there's a good reason," Drew snapped back.
"Hey, I know you," Grace started as she walked over to the little fight, "You're the kid I beat in the Fallarbor Contest. I guess you must be scared I'm gonna beat you again. Ha!"
Grace started laughing uncontrollably.
"Yeah, well that's not going to happen in this Contest. I have more experience and Pokemon now," Drew told her, "I'll beat you this time. You just got lucky last time."
Grace kept laughing, "Yeah, right! Well, for your information, I have a new Pokemon too."
"Really? You do? Can we see, Grace?" May asked as she clasped her hands in front of her.
"Sure just come outside and I'll show you," Grace told her and then went back to Drew, "So, are you joining us?"
"Sure, why not?" Drew told her, "I'd love to get an edge on my opponent."
...
Grace led them outside. The sun was shining down, but its warmth was no where to be found. It was chilly. Behind the Pokemon center was a grassy backyard. A few coordinators were practicing with their Pokemon, but there definatly weren't enough of them to fill the contest hall. Grace mentioned that most of them will be entering the PokeBlock making tournament the next day, so they weren't practicing with their Pokemon. Grace stopped in the middle of the yellow green field. She first let out Medicham for a nice reunion.
"Medi!" the maroon purple pokemon cried.
"You guys remember Medicham, especially you, Drew," Grace sneered to him.
Drew glared at her and she giggled evilly. He knew as long as she stuck around, he'd have the memory of her wiping the floor with him in Fallarbor keep coming back clearer and more precise than it had been. He had managed to only remember it when he saw a Medicham or some psychic Pokemon, but now Grace was pushing it.
"I also have two others," Grace said and released one.
Out of the Pokeball came a Kadabra.
"I got that when I visited Kanto," Grace said, "Even though they were still building the contest halls. I believe they will have halls in Fusia and Celadon, but there won't be a Grand Festival there."
"I see you've been collecting Psychic type Pokemon," May pointed out.
"Yeah, after Medicham won a couple contests in Hoenn, I realized I really loved the way Psychic Pokemon's attacks looked," Grace told May, and then added, "That reminds me. I have another Pokemon I recently caught here in the Contesta region."
"Oh, won't you please show us, Grace?" May asked, excited to see another Contesta Pokemon.
Ever since she saw Team Gem's Pokemon and the starters back in Auburn Town, May became fasinated by them. They really were Pokemon for contests. Each one had an inner or outter beauty and cuteness that sometimes couldn't be found in other regions' natives.
"Speak for yourself, May," Drew said, uninterested in Grace's lineup anymore.
"Oh stop it! Aren't you just a little bit curious?" May asked.
"Well, it seems your curiosity to the world around you gets you in a lot of trouble sometimes. So I'll learn from your mistakes and not take my chances like you blindly do," Drew said smoothly, as though he had planning it.
"I can't believe you!" May started whining.
"Oh boy! I see what's going on!" Grace said, unable to keep her opinions to herself, "You guys are the cutest couple!"
Drew glared at her and started counting on his fingers.
"We're just friends, Grace," May assured her.
"Yeah right!" Grace added but then changed the subject and threw her Pokeball to the floor.
While this conversation was going on, Drew had realized that Grace was the fifth person to realize, imply, or say that they were a "cute couple" or something to that extent. Drew wished they'd all shut up, but was glad May was as dense as she was, always taking their status the way she thought it so seriously that she refused to take in what people said about them into consent.
"This is Dorjester(door - JESS - ter)," Grace informed, snapping Drew out of it.
(I suggest you all get to the sprite page NOW-_-
The Pokemon looked humanly, except for its mint green skin color. It had a perfectly round head on top of an oval body. It stood uright, like a person, on its thin, long legs. It's thin, long arms hung loosly from beneath its head. Covering its shoulders
and thin hips were purple frills that went all the way around its neck and the other all around its waist. Dangling from its thin arms were unproportional hands, that were very large and deep red. Its feet were that of a clown, also like its hands, big and deep red. What hung around its wrists and ankles were two rings, one larger in diameter that the other. On top of its head was what
looked like a sleeping cap, purple and it had the same rings that were on its wrists and ankles at the tip, floating in mid air from the Pokemon's psychic abilities. Its eyes were closed and its mouth was a little "o" that grew and shunk with the Pokemon's breathing in its sleep. May flipped out her Pokedex excitedly.
"Dorjester, the Lazy Jester Pokemon. This Psychic type Pokemon spends most of its time in a deep sleep, sometimes acting out what it sees in its dreams. It only moves around a lot when it is called for battle or is disturbed in its sleep."
"What a cool Pokemon," May complimented.
May hoped that sometime soon she'd get a Contesta Pokemon, one as cool, beautiful, cute, smart, and tough as the Pokemon she had witnessed so far. Furnisur with it's coolness, Heirking with its beauty, Foamite with its cuteness, Graibow with its smartness, and Liequartz with its toughness...Contesta Pokemon were very unique.
"Yeah, thanks," Grace said flattered, "What Pokemon have you guys caught since last I've seen you, well since the Grand Festival in Hoenn. I read and saw you had a Flygon and Masquerain," she looked to Drew and then looked to May, "And you a Bulbasaur and a Skitty."
"Not just them, I also got Munchlax from the Hoenn region," May told her.
"Wow!" Grace said loudly.
"Then I got an Icechik from the Wardy region," May told her and Grace got more excited.
"So? What about you?" Grace asked Drew.
He looked to her and said, "I caught a Flareitten during the Wardy region and then a Sawbura here in Contesta."
"So, you two still don't have Contesta Pokemon? That's so funny!" Grace said loudly and laughed uncontrollably.
Drew glared and May smiled nervously as she backed away from Grace, frightened she might get a smack in the head like she did when she first met Grace in Fallarbor.
"Hehehe, shut up," Drew mumbled under his breath.
...
After more conversation between May and Grace, Grace dragged them both to where the PokeBlock tournament would be held. It was an old, broken down Contest Hall, but it had been renavated for other uses. Grace explained that it was originally Norbrown's Contest Hall but something happened and they closed it down and built another one. A fire she suggested. The building inside had a wide open space filled with coordinators and PokeBlock specialists crowded around Berry Blenders. The floor was a grayish blue tileing that shone in the lights that hung over head. In the back of the large room was what looked like a stage. To their left was a door that went into a back room.
"Do they give us a Berry Blender, or what?" Drew asked Grace.
"I rented one myself, right next to that damn PokeBlock specialist's Berry Blender," Grace said, putting her fists up in fury and talking about the kid she was angery with at the Pokemon Center.
"Huh? A Pokeblock specialist?" May asked.
"Yeah, some of these kids arn't coordinators, they just specialize in making the best Pokeblocks. Then they sell them to coordinators who don't have the time or want grade 'A' Pokeblocks," Grace answered as they walked through the crowd.
"But I thought you said that was bad," May asked, remembering what Grace had told her about Team Rocket's phoney Pokeblocks.
"It is, when you buy it off the street," Grace went to continue, "But these guys are going to become millionaires someday. They not only tell you what berries they used, but also how they made them, and even make them on the spot for you if you're still iffy."
"Wow!" May exclaimed.
Drew knew these kinds of people, some of his family had been PokeBlock specialists, not coordinators. He was the first to use his Pokemon in a coordinating fashion and not for cooking techniques. My would Grace and May be surprised when they saw his secret skill. PokeBlock specialists liked to be called Blockers. They searched far and wide for all kinds of berries, even taking in Apircorns from the Johto regions as a special bonus. They used their Pokemon's special abilities to help make the PokeBlocks by hand. Skilled Blockers, like those in his family, refused to use Berry Blenders, saying it took away from the homemade taste that raised conditions higher than a Berry Blended PokeBlock. Instead, though, he remembered watching his uncle use a Houndoom's Crunch to chop up the berries.
Grace lead them to the back room where there were lockers for everyone particapating in the tournaments. Grace came to one and started to dial her combination into the locker. It opened and they could see many berries inside that Grace must have collected.
"It's a good thing you guys don't have any berries with you," Grace said, "Because in the taournament, they give you berries to work with, so you can't use your own. We'll practice with mine though."
"We do this with only berries?" Drew asked, taking this as the judges took something away from Blocking.
"Well, what else would we make them with?" May asked, unaware of the sport in PokeBlock making.
"Ah..." Grace said, starting to figure Drew out, "You must've known some Blockers in your day to ask a question like that. Yeah, I'm sure they give us the ability to bring things in for it."
"Oh good," Drew said mysteriously.
"I guess me and May are very lucky to have you on our team then. You could probably beat that Blocker at his own game," Grace complimented.
Drew smirked and May took this as a good chance.
"Don't compliment him too much, Grace, he won't be able to fit his head out the door," May said cutely.
Drew dropped his head and sweatdropped. Grace laughed.
"I'm not going to say it, but you know what I mean," Grace said and walked back out the doors to the crowded room.
Drew's sweatdrop slipped down further and May laughed nervously, but didn't care, maybe not even notice.
...
May and Drew followed Grace out the doors to the main hall. As they passed people, they found that PokeBlock making was quite the competition. Everyone was using the Berry Blender, giving Drew ideas on what he was going to do. People were also using their Fire Pokemon's flamethrower to burn or crisp the PokeBlocks for extra kick. All too well known by Drew. Others were using strange combinations of berries. Others added in there own common spices and other trinkets that made Drew feel like he was at his uncle's house again. Not home though, this, never at home... Grace came to an empty Berry Blender and set the berries down. There were two Bluk berries, one Pecha, three Pomeg, four Pamtre, three Grepa, and one Lum berry in ther bundle.
"Ok, now the trick to making PokeBlocks is you dump some berries into a Berry Blender and push this button when the pointer comes to you," Grace said putting her hand to the red button in front of her on the Berry Blender, "The faster the spinner goes, the better the PokeBlock inside."
That was only the basics, there were so many other possibilities that could be done if they didn't use the Berry Blender, but Drew didn't know the requirements, so he kept his mouth shut. Some other kid, though, took the words right out of his mouth. Well, sort of.
"Please! There's more to it than that!" a young, English accented voice said from behind Grace.
Grace released a big red "x" on her head and became enraged. May and Drew wondered who the kid was. He was short and wore a blue school uniform. Its buttons were buttoned all the way to his neck and his pants here the same boring blue. His shoes were shined, and black. His hair was blonde, split by a part in the middle and hung down over his ears. He wore thin framed glasses, and his eyes were big and blue. Fangirls stood behind him, looking as if they were forcing themselves to keep in a cheer for him.
"I see Grace found some friends to play with as she tries to beat me in the PokeBlock making tournament, unless she's paying you," he said snottly to May and Drew.
"Listen, Peter! I'm not in the mood right now! I'm teaching basics! Go away!" Grace yelled.
Her voice was already loud, but now that she elevated it to "angry", her voice boomed throughout the hall.
"Hm? Oh, I think I know you!" Peter said as he directed his attention away from Grace and over to May, "You're that famous coordinator from the Wardy region, yes?"
"Um, I won contests there and won their half ribbon, but I'm from Petalberg in Hoenn," May said nervously.
"You are quite the coordinator," Peter said taking her hand and kissing it.
Drew didn't like this, but he knew he knew Peter from somewhere and decided that's as far as it would go. It was in Peter's English blood and nature to do such a thing anyway.
"Grace, maybe you could take a few lessons from your stunning friend, or employee," Peter egged.
Grace became mad again. She let it go right over her head though. Peter walked away and his little cheerleaders followed.
"Why does he only bother you, Grace?" May asked, recovering from the awkward position.
"I don't know, he must have figured out that I hate how he always won the practice rounds," Grace answered unsurely.
Drew stood there in deep thought, trying to figure out where he had seen a stuck up, English kid before in his past journeys. That knowledge could help them in the competition, especially against him. Grace showed and taught May how to use the Berry Blender and practiced with them. They had a lot of fun and Peter didn't come around anymore.
...
Later that night, Grace stood outside with May and Drew. She pleaded with Drew to stay in the Pokemon Center and he soon gave in. He just couldn't stand her whining, especially at such a high octive. She told him it would be better for them to meet up, because Nurse Joy doesn't give wake up calls. She comes to the rooms and doesn't leave until you're out. That way, May and Drew wouldn't sleep in and miss the competition. Drew told her that would be the reason to stay in a hotel. You don't have a serigate mother coming in to beat hell out of you until you're up and out at the crack of dawn. Grace laughed uncontrollably and ignored him. Grace and May also had a practice battle, in which ended in Grace's victory, her using Kadabra, May using Skitty. It got late fast and soon the sky was dark. May decided to head into the Pokemon Center to rest Skitty and get some sleep herself. Drew stayed outside, Flareitten on his lap enjoying a stroking as he sat on a bench outside. Grace was praising her Kadabra on a job well done. She then went over to Drew. She smirked before she even said her line.
"So...how long have you two been going out?" Grace asked.
She was having a lot of fun teasing him. He was like a little brother that you just want to beat the crap out of and then tease them about a fake love life. Drew just glared at her. He knew her intentions.
"We're not going out. Leave it alone," Drew ordered.
Grace wanted the whole story, though.
"Yeah, right," Grace said, getting hyper again, "How come guys are such bad liars?"
"I'm not lieing!" Drew shouted.
"What are you going to do about it?" Grace was serious now.
She ignored his last statment, seeing it as if she took it seriously he wouldn't realize it and talk to her about it. She just hoped he was stupid enough for that.
"I don't know," he took the bait.
"Well," Grace started, "You better figure it out before someone else does."
Drew took this in as she walked away. So far, May had been hit on by a drunk, a rapist, and an annoying English kid. Quite the competition. Who knows who else is out there who will take her seriously like he was and actually try to get to know her? It was tough. He didn't want to take it fast, that's annoying. Taking it slow would make too much room for someone else. Then he snapped back to reality and wondered why Grace would care. He shook her advice away and looked up to the black sky. Stars twinkled as they did every night. He was gratful for them, though. He looked at them for a long time until he could see the pictures again. He found May's "Cheap
Fish", a skull, and a snowflake. It was funny how he only saw specific pictures at specific times, and they didn't come annualy. May's fish was located near the skull, the snowflake was above them. He didn't take the fact that the skull had appeared lightly. It meant that someone was in danger, like how he had seen it at Turning Lake next to May's fish and she had been in trouble. He hadn't noticed the snowflake then though. He realized it meant a certain area.
"Fla?" Flareitten asked in his lap.
The fire cat saw its trainer was in deep thought and knew better than to leave him in that state.
"Let's go in, Flareitten," Drew said.
He got up when Flareitten jumped to the ground. He walked back to the Pokemon Center, Flareitten at his feet.
...
May got up early. She and Drew shared a Pokemon Center room. She sat on the bottom bunk of her bunkbed and looked across the room at Drew in the bottom bunk of the other bunkbed. The window's blinds had been left open last night. Now the gentle rays of the morning sun crept in through the transparent window and touched everything it could. It outlined the bed's poles and creases. It lay upon Drew who was sleeping with the covers almost off. His purple jacket hung on a hook above his head. Since he hadn't bothered to return it, Flareitten lay curled up under him on the floor. It's fly like wings were folded on its back. May watched him dream. Her evil side came out and she got a great idea. She crept over to her backpack. She fished around inside for a while and emerged with Skitty's calming stick. She then tiptoed over to Drew's side. He was cute asleep, too bad someone had to wake him.
"Oh my god, Drew! An Ekans got in and is crawling in your bed!" May wailed as she touched Drew with the stick.
He jumped in fright, flipped over and stared at her angrily. He noticed she had the stick. He got up and grabbed her head.
"Why, May? Why so early in the morning!" Drew shouted playfully as he held his arm around her neck.
She broke free and ran to the door. Drew followed quickly. She was out in the hallway now. He grabbed her arm, spun her around and clasped her to the wall vigorously. The playing stopped when they could feel Grace staring at them.
"Let me guess," she started, laughing on the inside, "It's not what it looks like."
Grace had a hand on her hip and looked down, knowing whatever lie they had wasn't going to cut it.
"She, she woke me up," Drew studdered as he backed away from May.
May had her hands to her mouth, trying to hold back laughter.
"What a great response," Grace said sarcatically, "You're supposed to keep that inside the bedroom."
"What?" May cried.
Drew just gave her a look and went back inside the room. He locked the door. May looked back at the now closed door. She ran up to it and started pounding on the gray door.
"Drew! Drew open this door right now! I need my stuff!" May called, but there was no answer.
Drew snickered to himself inside, "The joke's on you now."
He took his jacket off the hook and slipped it on gracefully, ignoring the pounding and protesting at the door.
"C'mon, May," Grace said, "Let's walk around for a bit."
May followed Grace and left the beaten door to Drew. He was still sitting on the bed when they left. He was staring at the floorboards, breathing heavily after the morning's events. He thought about the competition coming up. It's been quite a while since he entered one of these PokeBlock contests. He looked over his memory of Peter the other day. Something didn't add up. He knew the kid from somewhere, but where? He got up, still thinking, and unlocked the door. He then made his way back to his bed. Then it hit him.
"That's where!" Drew shouted to himself.
Flareitten looked at its trainer in confusion, but decided it nothing and went back to its nap. Drew rushed over to his bag and looked around in it. He came out with a piece of notepad paper and a black pen. He started writing things down on it, excited.
"One second, Grace, I need to get something," Drew heard May's voice from out in the hall.
He continued to write as she came in, grabbed her bag, gave him an angry stare, and leave. May shut the door behind her and walked to Grace. They walked a little down the hall when the door slammed open. Drew came rushing out with the piece of paper in his hand.
"Well, looks like the evil troll decided to come out afterall," Grace said.
"Yeah, yeah," Drew said quickly, "Look, I need you guys to get these things and meet me with them at the PokeBlock contest."
"Huh?" Grace asked confused as Drew handed her the slip of white paper.
"No time, just do it," Drew said quickly.
"Where will you be?" May asked.
"I need to go get something myself, just go," Drew told her and rushed out of the center.
Grace and May stared at each other. Grace looked up and down the list.
"A grocery list?" Grace asked, but decided that Drew must know what he's doing.
May followed her out to the market.
...
It was twenty minutes to twelve and Grace and May stood at their Berry Blender, anxious and worried about Drew's location. It wasn't that Grace cared of Drew's well being to the extent May had, she just didn't want her best team mate to miss the tournament. Peter had his two buddies with him. He looked over to Grace and May as his friends planned without him in the background. He walked over to them.
"I see you have a lot of supplies, but, also it looks like a team mate of yours has bailed on you. How sad," Peter told them.
May stayed calm, but Grace answered him, "He'll be here, you just watch."
"I don't think so. Everyone knows me to be the PokBlock Master. He probably Torchiced out," Peter egged her on, but she managed to keep a level head.
"You'll be the one crying like a Marill when I'm done with you," came Drew's voice from behind Peter.
His napsack dangled from is shoulder and he looked determined. Grace sighed with relief.
"Ha! You seem to not know who you're dealing with - the PokeBlock Master coming to mind?" Peter asked just as determined.
"Listen, I know how to beat you, so I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you. Don't be making any promises to your possy over there,"
Drew pointed his thumb to his cheerleaders and two friends at his Berry Blender. The cheerleaders were so hyped up and ditzy it looked like their heads would screw off and float away at any moment. His friends stood still as statues. Peter smirked, and walked to them. Drew put his bag at the edge of the Berry Blender on the floor. He then inspected the girls' job on getting everything he requested. It was all there. The clock read five to twelve and Blockers were still preparing their stuff at their Berry Blenders.
"So, what did you have to get?" May asked Drew.
"Just some stuff. I'll tell you later," Drew answered her.
The judges started to come out. They filed out of the back room, ready to begin the tournament. There were five of them. The first was tall and had pitch black hair. He had bright green eyes that shone through his hair that fell over his face. His face was soft, but stern. He looked old, in his late forties or so. He wore a business man's attire tat was blue. A Houndoom walked at his feet. The next person behind him was a gorgeous woman. She was young and small framed. She had long, brown hair that was clasped in a black pin behind her head. Her face was young and lively. Her hazel eyes were bright and jolly. She wore a gray blouse over a long black skirt. She had high heels on that were black. An Absol followed her from her left. The next one was also a woman. She was also young and pretty. She looked spunky and full of life. Her hair was blonde and short. She had on a dark pink blouse with a knee length, maroon skirt. She wore a diamond necklace around her neck. She held an Azurill in her hands. The man behind her was a little taller than her. He wore a striped shirt - white and blue - and had on straight leg blue jeans. He had on big glasses. His hair was a little long and messy on top his head. A Porygon followed close behind him. The last man to come out was a very muscular, but older man. He wore a short sleeve shirt that was dark green and wore army pants. He had a scruffy beard and scruffy hair on his head of the brown color. He looked mean. A Machoke followed him out and was the last to come from the back room. All the coordinators watched as they made their way to the top of the stage. The two women and two last men took seats as the first older man went to a microphone at the foot of the stage.
"Welcome all Coordinators and Blockers to Norbrown's ninty-fifth annual PokeBlock making contest," the man said, "Let me introduce myself for the new comers. I am Jack Verona. Many of you know me as a famous Blocker."
Everyone clapped to him. Most of the Blockers looked up to him as a legend.
"Now, turn your attention to these four who will also be judging your PokeBlock making skills," Jack said, "The lovely lady with the Absol is Serenity Fair. Sitting next to her is the equal as lovely Pany Newton. Over to my right, you have Dexter Tailor, and sitting next to him is Red Dangwit. We will all be judging on your abilities to make excellent PokeBlocks. We will hand you your berries and with your skills and supplies, you will be making PokeBlocks for our five Pokemon to test out. Then they will judge your PokeBlock on a scale of one to five, five being the highest. The team with the highest score wins!"
Evereyone clapped and cheered, eager to start the tournament. Drew looked at the Blockers who sat on top of the stage. He knew them all well, they were famous afterall. Serenity Fair was a famous Blocker from the Orre region in Agate Village. She became famous when she made the best PokeBlock the Orchida officials had ever seen out of common berries like Bluk and Cheri. Pany
Newton had come from Slateport city. She had been a newbie at PokeBlock making, but against all odds, she made the best PokeBlock for Pokemon entering the cute contest the Johto and Hoenn regions ever saw. Dexter Tailor was one from Fallarbor Town, and using his computer genius, made PokeBlock using HTML code so that he could give it his Porygon. Then there was Red Dangwit, who got into the World Records books for making a PokeBlock so sour, it almost challenged the sourness of sour consentrate. Then there was good old Jack Verona. He was the most famous of them all. He had won every PokeBlock tournament in Contesta, Hoenn, and Orre, and then went on to own a huge PokeBlock and Pokemon food industry called PokeBits. Jack wasn't just a really famous guy to Drew, though, he was his uncle.
"Start the first round!" Jack shouted into the microphone, "In this round, you will use only common berries with a Berry Blender to start things off. No other ingredients are allowed for this round."
As he said the rules, assistants went around giving all the teams Cheri, Bluk, Chesto, and Rawst berries. Grace, May, and Drew soon got their four berries. Drew knew pretty much what to do with them.
"And...begin! With two minutes on the clock!" Jack said over the microphone.
Everyone started fiddling with the berries. Drew took matters into his own hands and dropped the berries in the berry blender - Bluk, then Chesto, then Rawst, and then finally Cheri. He closed the cap. Grace and May looked at each other, but went with it. The cap started to spin its arrow. Drew, May and Grace pressed their buttons, trying to get the best scores. In the end, five purple pokeblocks with a red swirl popped out of the machine. They had a little time, so they looked at their scores.
"Wow, May, you're the best at this, you didn't miss one!" Grace exclaimed to her.
Drew was inspecting the PokeBlocks and looked satisfied.
"Raise the red and blue flags," he told Grace.
"You got it," Grace said and obediently raised a blue flag and then a red flag.
"Time!" Jack said over the micorphone and went off stage to the ground.
He looked around and went to every Berry Blender that had a Red flag raised. Those were the teams that had PokeBlocks that Pokemon entering a Cool Contest that liked Spicey tastes would be most effective. Serenity and her Absol went to teams with blue flags for Beauty, Pany went to ones with pink flags for Cute, Dexter to green flags for Smart, and Red to yellow flags for Tough. After leaving a table of girls, Jack made his way to Grace's team.
"Team number twenty five," Jack told them, "I see you're ready to have a spicey PokeBlock tested by my Houndoom?"
"Yes, we're ready," May told him happily.
Jack picked up one of the PokeBlocks and examined it.
"A nice touch I haven't yet seen," he commented, liking the swirls in it, "Reminds me of a PokeBlock I like to make out of these certain berries..."
He finished his commenting and fed the PokeBlock to Houndoom. He then lay a blanket decorated with five circles, each noteing a number from 1 to 5. Houndoom chewed the PokeBlock, inspecting every taste it could give. After swallowing, Houndoom lay its black paw on the circle marked "4".
"I nice score for the first round," Jack said, noteing Houndoom's score on a clipboard,"I'll tell Serenity you're waiting for her."
He nodded and went to Peter's group next to them.
"Wow! I didn't think we'd get a high score like that," Grace said to May and Drew, "The highest I got in the practice rounds was a two."
"It's ok Grace," May said, "If it were me, the Pokemon would spit them out."
"Hello, team twenty five?" Serenity asked, breaking the conversation.
"Yes, that's us," Grace said proudly.
Serenity picked up the PokeBlock and examined it. She too commented postively on the double colors, just as Jack had. She then fed the purple and red PokeBlock to her Ansol. Absol loved it right off the bat and also gave it an even "4". Serenity noted it on her clipboard and wished them luck in the next rounds.
...
The competition was fierce. Round after round did the Blockers and Coordinators endure tough critism, praise, and scoring. Each of the rounds was the same - use common berries to make the best PokeBlock with a Berry Blender. Then after the first round, the Blockers and Coordinators were allowed to choose which berries they wanted from a list. This is where the teamwork of May, Grace, and Drew came into effect. May kept their Berry Blending at a high speed, while Drew picked what order to put the berries, and
Grace chose which berries to use. Grace and Drew tried their best to make the best PokeBlocks from each condition. When round five was completed, the judges took their places on the stage.
"It is now time to let some of our teams go," Jack told the audience.
"What does that mean?" May asked and Grace was equally confused.
"It means they're going to disqualify some teams," Drew whispered back to them, "They're lowering the competition until they get only one winning team left."
"Team number twenty, you're out," Jack announced.
"What are they doing this by?" Grace asked, a little nervous that it was random.
"The five teams that have the lowest scores are going home," Drew assured her, but Grace was still nervous.
She never thought highly of herself in a PokeBlock contest, even though people told her she was great.
"Team numbers sixteen, seventeen, eight," Jack announced, "and...two, you're all out. But, thank you so much for participating. With your leave, please take these five boxes each of our PokeBlock."
"Well, that was nice," May commented quietly.
Grace and Drew nodded. Drew didn't expect less of old uncle Jack, he was a born giver, just like his sister, Drew's mother. Jack went off stage and Serenity stepped up to the microphone.
"It's time for Round two!" she said, "Is everyone ready?"
Coordinator and Blocker came together in a large cheer. Drew stayed quiet, but May and Grace were caught up in it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Peter sitting back as his friends went wild. Peter glared at him competitvely and Drew returned it.
"This round, we will be testing you on your skills with the spices you have brought in and how well they do against berries of all different tastes," Serenity informed them, "Any spice is allowed - salt, pepper, peprica, cinnomon, but no sugar."
With that, she signaled for the assistants to pass around the berries for round six. An assistant made it over to Grace, May, and Drew and handed them five Persim berries and three Lums. Again, the first round was random. They were small berries, and Drew knew neither of them was of the Spicey taste. The fact that this was all about spice, Drew knew, would mean everyone would think that they'd only be able to get points from Jack, and maybe Serenity and Red. He knew this trick and decided that the first couple of rounds, he would make it a priority to get Pany and Dexter over. He knew that Porygon and Azurill were all for bitter or sweet tastes, but they had
been trained to look for the right amount of spice.
"Five minutes! Begin!" Serenity called from the stage.
The Blockers started.
"So? What do you think?" Grace asked Drew.
"I'm thinking," Drew told her, trying to remember what Jack had done with a set like this.
He then picked up the Persim berries and dropped them into the blender. He picked up one Lum and put it right on top. He put the cap on and looked to May. She started the Blender and they soon became engaged in a PokeBlock game. When the game was over, Drew took the PokeBlocks quickly before they dried completely and sprinkled cinnomon all over them.
"Pink flag please," Drew said and Grace raised the flag.
"Time!" Serenity said over the microphone.
She then made her way down the stage stairs to the ground and went to the tables marked with a blue flag. Pany spotted May, Drew, and Grace's pink flag and scurried over, Azurill in her hands.
"This is the second time I'm seeing you guys, what have you for us this time?" Pany said playfully.
She inspected the PokeBlocks on the Blender. She put Azurill down on the Berry Blender and picked one up. The Pokeblock was pink, except for green and red dots all over it.
"I love the look of the PokeBlocks this team comes up with," she said kindly, "It's great for business and marketing, another aspect of Blocking."
"Thank you so much," Grace answered.
Pany then gave Azurill the PokeBlock. As her little blue mouse ate the PokeBlock, she set out the score blanket. Azurill enjoyed the treat so much, it hopped off the Berry Blender and landed in the "5" circle. May and Grace looked surprised and happy, but Drew thought no less. Pany and her Azurill were the easiest scorers of the five. He never once heard them give anyone less than a three. She wished them luck with the following rounds, and looked around to find not another table to have a pink flag. Grace took
down the flag and looked to Drew.
"I'm really glad I found you two," Grace told them, "I would've been out by now."
"Really?" Drew asked.
"That's so sweet, Grace," May said.
"Yeah, I know people keep telling me I make great PokeBlock, but it's nothing like the six you just came up with right now, Drew," Grace told him, "And I really stink at the Berry Blender game. Man, six year olds kick my butt in them all the time."
May laughed at her story, and Grace laughed with her. Drew snickered, and for that one moment, the competition was gone, and it was actually fun.
...
The following rounds continued, and Drew had Dexter come over twice to give him a three and four on Pokeblocks he figured were bitter tasting. He expected nothing more of him, though. Besides Red, Dexter was the hardest scorer. Grace made a really sour PokeBlock which got her a four from Red, which surprised her and Drew tremendously. May took her shot in the last round to making an ultra spicey PokeBlock for Jack and Houndoom, which got the team their only five in the round. Grace and Drew couldn't help but congratulate her. When the next set of five teams to go home came, Grace and May weren't scared of the outcome. They knew with the high scores they got, they wouldn't be going anywhere just yet. They were right.
"Teams six, twenty eight, fifteen, eleven, and nine, you'll be going home this round," Serenity said over the microphone,"Thanks so much for coming. Do enjoy the participation prize!"
When the teams disqualified left, Serenity took her seat next to Pany, who got up and went to the micorphone.
"Our next round will consist on using rare berries, ones most of you haven't been able to use yet in your journies. In this round, you'll be able to use any and all supplies you have brought with you." Pany spoke loud and cutely.
Everyone cheered for the round to begin, and Pany lifted her arm in signal for the assistants to pass out berries for the first, random round. They gave out Spelon, Liechi, and Watmel berries, all different amounts to each group. May, Drew, and Grace got five Watmel, two Spelon, and four Liechi. Drew went to reach for the berries, but Grace stopped him.
"Can I do this one?" Grace asked.
Drew backed away and said, "Sure."
Grace put in all of the Watmel berries. She then dumped some sugar in, followed by a teaspoon of salt, and three tablespoons of cinnomon.
"This is my signature PokeBlock," she added and closed the top.
May started the Berry Blender and they were in a blending game again. Half way through, Grace stopped the blender and allowed it to make the PokeBlocks with the badder inside. She then took the five, pink and green PokeBlocks from the machine and put Persim berry juice on them. It hardened on top and she was done.
"Wow, what a neat idea!" May told her.
Grace smiled proudly at her concoction.
"I'd like a pink and green flag please," Grace told Drew.
He smirked and drew the flags. Pany announced round six to be over and went around with the other judges to inspect the PokeBlock. She came over to their Berry Blender, excited to see what else they had in store for her and her Azurill. Azurill enjoyed the PokeBlock so much it gave a "5" immediatley. Azurill turned to Pany and begged her to try some.
"It's ok, go ahead," Grace told her.
Pany thanked her and picked one of them up and slipped in into her mouth. Her face became delighted.
"Wow, this is, like, the best PokeBlock I've ever tasted as far as any and all competitions go," Pany said, "You must must must give me the recipe! This must be your signature PokeBlock!"
"It is, and I'd be happy to give you the recipe," Grace said.
Pany got out a piece of paper and Grace told her the recipe. As they spoke, Dexter came up behind her.
"Now, shouldn't you be judging instead of swapping recipes?" he said as he poked her.
"Oh, would you go away? I'm getting the best of the best here. Better than anything you could do!" Pany said in response.
May giggled and went close to Drew.
She poked him on the shoulder and said, "Sounds familiar."
He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes as his face gave a little color. May giggled again. Dexter passed Pany and Grace and inspected the PokeBlock. He then, without saying a word, gave it to Porygon. Porygon tried it out, being critical about it, and gave it an honest four.
"Very nice," Dexter said, writing the score down.
"Wasn't it the best?" Pany cried to him, but Dexter just snickered and shook his head.
"This isn't a personal "let's get together". It's a serious matter and you and your Azurill should think about the score PokeBlocks really deserve instead of breaking little Blocker's hearts," he said to her quietly and walked away to another team that called for him.
Pany fumed, "I really hate that guy!"
May poked Drew a few more times, and he looked away, still showing color.
Grace giggled and said, "Ah, it only means you're pretty. Believe me, I think I'd rather that than a guy who'd go berserk over me."
Grace looked to May and they both remembered Brock at that instant.
Rated PG
Norbrown City is one of Contesta's big northern cities. It's known primarily for the contest it holds every few weeks. Large skyscrapers and buildings reach high into the sky as they tower over the little streets and cars below. The sun looks upon itself in the glass skyscrapers all day long until it decides the day is done. Below this high canopy of concrete and steel, life continues down below on the pavement.
......................................
May and Drew arrived in Norbrown, eager to finally enter the contest. The sidewalk ahead of them stretched out far, lined with buildings, stores, and other places that housed working people. The Pokemon Center came into view, its red top glisening in the sun light. Despite the sun's glaring upon the city, it managed to keep cool. There was no breeze at all.
"Good afternoon, Nurse Joy," May greeted the red headed nurse.
"Why, hello! Are you two coordinators?" Nurse Joy asked them.
"Yeah, we are," Drew told her.
"That's good, then you should sign up for the contest," Nurse Joy said and handed them a piece of paper clipped to a clipboard.
Drew took it from her from across the counter and signed. He handed it to May who did the same, and she handed it back to Nurse Joy.
"And that's that!" she explaimed happily, "The contest will start the day after tomorrow at twelve o'clock sharp."
"What?" May whined, "It's like it's never going to come!"
Drew looked down at her as she slumped on a chair to the side. Nurse Joy went back to what she had been doing.
"I can't believe this! That kid beat me again!" a familiar voice yelled into the hall.
May and Drew looked up to find a tall woman with maroon hair come into the Pokemon Center. She wore a yellow belly shirt with blue, baggy pants. They didn't cover her ankles and her shoes were brown. Her hair was up in two long pig tails.
"What's wrong, Grace?" Nurse Joy asked concerned.
The woman walked up to Nurse Joy and leaned against the counter.
"That kid is just too good!" she said, "How am I ever going to beat this kid in the PokeBlock making contest if I can't even beat him in practice? What's more, he's got a team coming in, and I have nothing! Everyone is so afraid to lose, no one wants to be on my team!"
"That's really too bad," Nurse Joy told her.
"I know. But I can't just give up. I'm so not letting him get away with first place without a fight first," Grace added.
May got up and walked over to Grace. Drew stayed behind, remembering what a beating he had gotten way back when in Hoenn from her. He didn't like her too much.
"Grace?" May asked inspecting the woman from behind.
"Huh? May? Is that you?" Grace asked, stunned to see her, "Oh! I haven't seen you in such a long time!"
Grace gave May a big hug and May took it best she could. She hoped that Grace would stop before she couldn't breath anymore.
"How have you been?" May asked in a friendly tone when Grace let go of her.
"Good for the most part," Grace answered, "Lately I've been bummed out because this kid keeps of kicking my butt in PokeBlock making."
"I didn't know PokeBlock making was a sport," May told her.
"Oh it isn't much in Hoenn, Wardy, or any other region, just Contesta. That's what I love about this place!" Grace said enthusiastically.
Grace thought for a while and then exclaimed, "Hey, May, would you like to be on my team for tomorrow?"
May couldn't resist but join her long lost friend.
"Ok," May agreed happily.
"Oh wait, that kid is having two friends coming. We need another person," Grace told her, becoming saddened again.
"Well," May started, "How about Drew?"
May pointed to Drew who was relaxing on one of the chairs. He looked at her evilly.
"There you go, volenteering me for stuff," Drew said annoyed.
"Oh stop it!" May shouted into his face when she walked over to him, "We haven't seen Grace in a long time, be a pal and let's help her!"
"What made you think I wanted to?" Drew asked her, calmly.
"Because I said so!" May told him.
"Oh yeah, there's a good reason," Drew snapped back.
"Hey, I know you," Grace started as she walked over to the little fight, "You're the kid I beat in the Fallarbor Contest. I guess you must be scared I'm gonna beat you again. Ha!"
Grace started laughing uncontrollably.
"Yeah, well that's not going to happen in this Contest. I have more experience and Pokemon now," Drew told her, "I'll beat you this time. You just got lucky last time."
Grace kept laughing, "Yeah, right! Well, for your information, I have a new Pokemon too."
"Really? You do? Can we see, Grace?" May asked as she clasped her hands in front of her.
"Sure just come outside and I'll show you," Grace told her and then went back to Drew, "So, are you joining us?"
"Sure, why not?" Drew told her, "I'd love to get an edge on my opponent."
...
Grace led them outside. The sun was shining down, but its warmth was no where to be found. It was chilly. Behind the Pokemon center was a grassy backyard. A few coordinators were practicing with their Pokemon, but there definatly weren't enough of them to fill the contest hall. Grace mentioned that most of them will be entering the PokeBlock making tournament the next day, so they weren't practicing with their Pokemon. Grace stopped in the middle of the yellow green field. She first let out Medicham for a nice reunion.
"Medi!" the maroon purple pokemon cried.
"You guys remember Medicham, especially you, Drew," Grace sneered to him.
Drew glared at her and she giggled evilly. He knew as long as she stuck around, he'd have the memory of her wiping the floor with him in Fallarbor keep coming back clearer and more precise than it had been. He had managed to only remember it when he saw a Medicham or some psychic Pokemon, but now Grace was pushing it.
"I also have two others," Grace said and released one.
Out of the Pokeball came a Kadabra.
"I got that when I visited Kanto," Grace said, "Even though they were still building the contest halls. I believe they will have halls in Fusia and Celadon, but there won't be a Grand Festival there."
"I see you've been collecting Psychic type Pokemon," May pointed out.
"Yeah, after Medicham won a couple contests in Hoenn, I realized I really loved the way Psychic Pokemon's attacks looked," Grace told May, and then added, "That reminds me. I have another Pokemon I recently caught here in the Contesta region."
"Oh, won't you please show us, Grace?" May asked, excited to see another Contesta Pokemon.
Ever since she saw Team Gem's Pokemon and the starters back in Auburn Town, May became fasinated by them. They really were Pokemon for contests. Each one had an inner or outter beauty and cuteness that sometimes couldn't be found in other regions' natives.
"Speak for yourself, May," Drew said, uninterested in Grace's lineup anymore.
"Oh stop it! Aren't you just a little bit curious?" May asked.
"Well, it seems your curiosity to the world around you gets you in a lot of trouble sometimes. So I'll learn from your mistakes and not take my chances like you blindly do," Drew said smoothly, as though he had planning it.
"I can't believe you!" May started whining.
"Oh boy! I see what's going on!" Grace said, unable to keep her opinions to herself, "You guys are the cutest couple!"
Drew glared at her and started counting on his fingers.
"We're just friends, Grace," May assured her.
"Yeah right!" Grace added but then changed the subject and threw her Pokeball to the floor.
While this conversation was going on, Drew had realized that Grace was the fifth person to realize, imply, or say that they were a "cute couple" or something to that extent. Drew wished they'd all shut up, but was glad May was as dense as she was, always taking their status the way she thought it so seriously that she refused to take in what people said about them into consent.
"This is Dorjester(door - JESS - ter)," Grace informed, snapping Drew out of it.
(I suggest you all get to the sprite page NOW-_-
The Pokemon looked humanly, except for its mint green skin color. It had a perfectly round head on top of an oval body. It stood uright, like a person, on its thin, long legs. It's thin, long arms hung loosly from beneath its head. Covering its shouldersand thin hips were purple frills that went all the way around its neck and the other all around its waist. Dangling from its thin arms were unproportional hands, that were very large and deep red. Its feet were that of a clown, also like its hands, big and deep red. What hung around its wrists and ankles were two rings, one larger in diameter that the other. On top of its head was what
looked like a sleeping cap, purple and it had the same rings that were on its wrists and ankles at the tip, floating in mid air from the Pokemon's psychic abilities. Its eyes were closed and its mouth was a little "o" that grew and shunk with the Pokemon's breathing in its sleep. May flipped out her Pokedex excitedly.
"Dorjester, the Lazy Jester Pokemon. This Psychic type Pokemon spends most of its time in a deep sleep, sometimes acting out what it sees in its dreams. It only moves around a lot when it is called for battle or is disturbed in its sleep."
"What a cool Pokemon," May complimented.
May hoped that sometime soon she'd get a Contesta Pokemon, one as cool, beautiful, cute, smart, and tough as the Pokemon she had witnessed so far. Furnisur with it's coolness, Heirking with its beauty, Foamite with its cuteness, Graibow with its smartness, and Liequartz with its toughness...Contesta Pokemon were very unique.
"Yeah, thanks," Grace said flattered, "What Pokemon have you guys caught since last I've seen you, well since the Grand Festival in Hoenn. I read and saw you had a Flygon and Masquerain," she looked to Drew and then looked to May, "And you a Bulbasaur and a Skitty."
"Not just them, I also got Munchlax from the Hoenn region," May told her.
"Wow!" Grace said loudly.
"Then I got an Icechik from the Wardy region," May told her and Grace got more excited.
"So? What about you?" Grace asked Drew.
He looked to her and said, "I caught a Flareitten during the Wardy region and then a Sawbura here in Contesta."
"So, you two still don't have Contesta Pokemon? That's so funny!" Grace said loudly and laughed uncontrollably.
Drew glared and May smiled nervously as she backed away from Grace, frightened she might get a smack in the head like she did when she first met Grace in Fallarbor.
"Hehehe, shut up," Drew mumbled under his breath.
...
After more conversation between May and Grace, Grace dragged them both to where the PokeBlock tournament would be held. It was an old, broken down Contest Hall, but it had been renavated for other uses. Grace explained that it was originally Norbrown's Contest Hall but something happened and they closed it down and built another one. A fire she suggested. The building inside had a wide open space filled with coordinators and PokeBlock specialists crowded around Berry Blenders. The floor was a grayish blue tileing that shone in the lights that hung over head. In the back of the large room was what looked like a stage. To their left was a door that went into a back room.
"Do they give us a Berry Blender, or what?" Drew asked Grace.
"I rented one myself, right next to that damn PokeBlock specialist's Berry Blender," Grace said, putting her fists up in fury and talking about the kid she was angery with at the Pokemon Center.
"Huh? A Pokeblock specialist?" May asked.
"Yeah, some of these kids arn't coordinators, they just specialize in making the best Pokeblocks. Then they sell them to coordinators who don't have the time or want grade 'A' Pokeblocks," Grace answered as they walked through the crowd.
"But I thought you said that was bad," May asked, remembering what Grace had told her about Team Rocket's phoney Pokeblocks.
"It is, when you buy it off the street," Grace went to continue, "But these guys are going to become millionaires someday. They not only tell you what berries they used, but also how they made them, and even make them on the spot for you if you're still iffy."
"Wow!" May exclaimed.
Drew knew these kinds of people, some of his family had been PokeBlock specialists, not coordinators. He was the first to use his Pokemon in a coordinating fashion and not for cooking techniques. My would Grace and May be surprised when they saw his secret skill. PokeBlock specialists liked to be called Blockers. They searched far and wide for all kinds of berries, even taking in Apircorns from the Johto regions as a special bonus. They used their Pokemon's special abilities to help make the PokeBlocks by hand. Skilled Blockers, like those in his family, refused to use Berry Blenders, saying it took away from the homemade taste that raised conditions higher than a Berry Blended PokeBlock. Instead, though, he remembered watching his uncle use a Houndoom's Crunch to chop up the berries.
Grace lead them to the back room where there were lockers for everyone particapating in the tournaments. Grace came to one and started to dial her combination into the locker. It opened and they could see many berries inside that Grace must have collected.
"It's a good thing you guys don't have any berries with you," Grace said, "Because in the taournament, they give you berries to work with, so you can't use your own. We'll practice with mine though."
"We do this with only berries?" Drew asked, taking this as the judges took something away from Blocking.
"Well, what else would we make them with?" May asked, unaware of the sport in PokeBlock making.
"Ah..." Grace said, starting to figure Drew out, "You must've known some Blockers in your day to ask a question like that. Yeah, I'm sure they give us the ability to bring things in for it."
"Oh good," Drew said mysteriously.
"I guess me and May are very lucky to have you on our team then. You could probably beat that Blocker at his own game," Grace complimented.
Drew smirked and May took this as a good chance.
"Don't compliment him too much, Grace, he won't be able to fit his head out the door," May said cutely.
Drew dropped his head and sweatdropped. Grace laughed.
"I'm not going to say it, but you know what I mean," Grace said and walked back out the doors to the crowded room.
Drew's sweatdrop slipped down further and May laughed nervously, but didn't care, maybe not even notice.
...
May and Drew followed Grace out the doors to the main hall. As they passed people, they found that PokeBlock making was quite the competition. Everyone was using the Berry Blender, giving Drew ideas on what he was going to do. People were also using their Fire Pokemon's flamethrower to burn or crisp the PokeBlocks for extra kick. All too well known by Drew. Others were using strange combinations of berries. Others added in there own common spices and other trinkets that made Drew feel like he was at his uncle's house again. Not home though, this, never at home... Grace came to an empty Berry Blender and set the berries down. There were two Bluk berries, one Pecha, three Pomeg, four Pamtre, three Grepa, and one Lum berry in ther bundle.
"Ok, now the trick to making PokeBlocks is you dump some berries into a Berry Blender and push this button when the pointer comes to you," Grace said putting her hand to the red button in front of her on the Berry Blender, "The faster the spinner goes, the better the PokeBlock inside."
That was only the basics, there were so many other possibilities that could be done if they didn't use the Berry Blender, but Drew didn't know the requirements, so he kept his mouth shut. Some other kid, though, took the words right out of his mouth. Well, sort of.
"Please! There's more to it than that!" a young, English accented voice said from behind Grace.
Grace released a big red "x" on her head and became enraged. May and Drew wondered who the kid was. He was short and wore a blue school uniform. Its buttons were buttoned all the way to his neck and his pants here the same boring blue. His shoes were shined, and black. His hair was blonde, split by a part in the middle and hung down over his ears. He wore thin framed glasses, and his eyes were big and blue. Fangirls stood behind him, looking as if they were forcing themselves to keep in a cheer for him.
"I see Grace found some friends to play with as she tries to beat me in the PokeBlock making tournament, unless she's paying you," he said snottly to May and Drew.
"Listen, Peter! I'm not in the mood right now! I'm teaching basics! Go away!" Grace yelled.
Her voice was already loud, but now that she elevated it to "angry", her voice boomed throughout the hall.
"Hm? Oh, I think I know you!" Peter said as he directed his attention away from Grace and over to May, "You're that famous coordinator from the Wardy region, yes?"
"Um, I won contests there and won their half ribbon, but I'm from Petalberg in Hoenn," May said nervously.
"You are quite the coordinator," Peter said taking her hand and kissing it.
Drew didn't like this, but he knew he knew Peter from somewhere and decided that's as far as it would go. It was in Peter's English blood and nature to do such a thing anyway.
"Grace, maybe you could take a few lessons from your stunning friend, or employee," Peter egged.
Grace became mad again. She let it go right over her head though. Peter walked away and his little cheerleaders followed.
"Why does he only bother you, Grace?" May asked, recovering from the awkward position.
"I don't know, he must have figured out that I hate how he always won the practice rounds," Grace answered unsurely.
Drew stood there in deep thought, trying to figure out where he had seen a stuck up, English kid before in his past journeys. That knowledge could help them in the competition, especially against him. Grace showed and taught May how to use the Berry Blender and practiced with them. They had a lot of fun and Peter didn't come around anymore.
...
Later that night, Grace stood outside with May and Drew. She pleaded with Drew to stay in the Pokemon Center and he soon gave in. He just couldn't stand her whining, especially at such a high octive. She told him it would be better for them to meet up, because Nurse Joy doesn't give wake up calls. She comes to the rooms and doesn't leave until you're out. That way, May and Drew wouldn't sleep in and miss the competition. Drew told her that would be the reason to stay in a hotel. You don't have a serigate mother coming in to beat hell out of you until you're up and out at the crack of dawn. Grace laughed uncontrollably and ignored him. Grace and May also had a practice battle, in which ended in Grace's victory, her using Kadabra, May using Skitty. It got late fast and soon the sky was dark. May decided to head into the Pokemon Center to rest Skitty and get some sleep herself. Drew stayed outside, Flareitten on his lap enjoying a stroking as he sat on a bench outside. Grace was praising her Kadabra on a job well done. She then went over to Drew. She smirked before she even said her line.
"So...how long have you two been going out?" Grace asked.
She was having a lot of fun teasing him. He was like a little brother that you just want to beat the crap out of and then tease them about a fake love life. Drew just glared at her. He knew her intentions.
"We're not going out. Leave it alone," Drew ordered.
Grace wanted the whole story, though.
"Yeah, right," Grace said, getting hyper again, "How come guys are such bad liars?"
"I'm not lieing!" Drew shouted.
"What are you going to do about it?" Grace was serious now.
She ignored his last statment, seeing it as if she took it seriously he wouldn't realize it and talk to her about it. She just hoped he was stupid enough for that.
"I don't know," he took the bait.
"Well," Grace started, "You better figure it out before someone else does."
Drew took this in as she walked away. So far, May had been hit on by a drunk, a rapist, and an annoying English kid. Quite the competition. Who knows who else is out there who will take her seriously like he was and actually try to get to know her? It was tough. He didn't want to take it fast, that's annoying. Taking it slow would make too much room for someone else. Then he snapped back to reality and wondered why Grace would care. He shook her advice away and looked up to the black sky. Stars twinkled as they did every night. He was gratful for them, though. He looked at them for a long time until he could see the pictures again. He found May's "Cheap
Fish", a skull, and a snowflake. It was funny how he only saw specific pictures at specific times, and they didn't come annualy. May's fish was located near the skull, the snowflake was above them. He didn't take the fact that the skull had appeared lightly. It meant that someone was in danger, like how he had seen it at Turning Lake next to May's fish and she had been in trouble. He hadn't noticed the snowflake then though. He realized it meant a certain area.
"Fla?" Flareitten asked in his lap.
The fire cat saw its trainer was in deep thought and knew better than to leave him in that state.
"Let's go in, Flareitten," Drew said.
He got up when Flareitten jumped to the ground. He walked back to the Pokemon Center, Flareitten at his feet.
...
May got up early. She and Drew shared a Pokemon Center room. She sat on the bottom bunk of her bunkbed and looked across the room at Drew in the bottom bunk of the other bunkbed. The window's blinds had been left open last night. Now the gentle rays of the morning sun crept in through the transparent window and touched everything it could. It outlined the bed's poles and creases. It lay upon Drew who was sleeping with the covers almost off. His purple jacket hung on a hook above his head. Since he hadn't bothered to return it, Flareitten lay curled up under him on the floor. It's fly like wings were folded on its back. May watched him dream. Her evil side came out and she got a great idea. She crept over to her backpack. She fished around inside for a while and emerged with Skitty's calming stick. She then tiptoed over to Drew's side. He was cute asleep, too bad someone had to wake him.
"Oh my god, Drew! An Ekans got in and is crawling in your bed!" May wailed as she touched Drew with the stick.
He jumped in fright, flipped over and stared at her angrily. He noticed she had the stick. He got up and grabbed her head.
"Why, May? Why so early in the morning!" Drew shouted playfully as he held his arm around her neck.
She broke free and ran to the door. Drew followed quickly. She was out in the hallway now. He grabbed her arm, spun her around and clasped her to the wall vigorously. The playing stopped when they could feel Grace staring at them.
"Let me guess," she started, laughing on the inside, "It's not what it looks like."
Grace had a hand on her hip and looked down, knowing whatever lie they had wasn't going to cut it.
"She, she woke me up," Drew studdered as he backed away from May.
May had her hands to her mouth, trying to hold back laughter.
"What a great response," Grace said sarcatically, "You're supposed to keep that inside the bedroom."
"What?" May cried.
Drew just gave her a look and went back inside the room. He locked the door. May looked back at the now closed door. She ran up to it and started pounding on the gray door.
"Drew! Drew open this door right now! I need my stuff!" May called, but there was no answer.
Drew snickered to himself inside, "The joke's on you now."
He took his jacket off the hook and slipped it on gracefully, ignoring the pounding and protesting at the door.
"C'mon, May," Grace said, "Let's walk around for a bit."
May followed Grace and left the beaten door to Drew. He was still sitting on the bed when they left. He was staring at the floorboards, breathing heavily after the morning's events. He thought about the competition coming up. It's been quite a while since he entered one of these PokeBlock contests. He looked over his memory of Peter the other day. Something didn't add up. He knew the kid from somewhere, but where? He got up, still thinking, and unlocked the door. He then made his way back to his bed. Then it hit him.
"That's where!" Drew shouted to himself.
Flareitten looked at its trainer in confusion, but decided it nothing and went back to its nap. Drew rushed over to his bag and looked around in it. He came out with a piece of notepad paper and a black pen. He started writing things down on it, excited.
"One second, Grace, I need to get something," Drew heard May's voice from out in the hall.
He continued to write as she came in, grabbed her bag, gave him an angry stare, and leave. May shut the door behind her and walked to Grace. They walked a little down the hall when the door slammed open. Drew came rushing out with the piece of paper in his hand.
"Well, looks like the evil troll decided to come out afterall," Grace said.
"Yeah, yeah," Drew said quickly, "Look, I need you guys to get these things and meet me with them at the PokeBlock contest."
"Huh?" Grace asked confused as Drew handed her the slip of white paper.
"No time, just do it," Drew said quickly.
"Where will you be?" May asked.
"I need to go get something myself, just go," Drew told her and rushed out of the center.
Grace and May stared at each other. Grace looked up and down the list.
"A grocery list?" Grace asked, but decided that Drew must know what he's doing.
May followed her out to the market.
...
It was twenty minutes to twelve and Grace and May stood at their Berry Blender, anxious and worried about Drew's location. It wasn't that Grace cared of Drew's well being to the extent May had, she just didn't want her best team mate to miss the tournament. Peter had his two buddies with him. He looked over to Grace and May as his friends planned without him in the background. He walked over to them.
"I see you have a lot of supplies, but, also it looks like a team mate of yours has bailed on you. How sad," Peter told them.
May stayed calm, but Grace answered him, "He'll be here, you just watch."
"I don't think so. Everyone knows me to be the PokBlock Master. He probably Torchiced out," Peter egged her on, but she managed to keep a level head.
"You'll be the one crying like a Marill when I'm done with you," came Drew's voice from behind Peter.
His napsack dangled from is shoulder and he looked determined. Grace sighed with relief.
"Ha! You seem to not know who you're dealing with - the PokeBlock Master coming to mind?" Peter asked just as determined.
"Listen, I know how to beat you, so I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you. Don't be making any promises to your possy over there,"
Drew pointed his thumb to his cheerleaders and two friends at his Berry Blender. The cheerleaders were so hyped up and ditzy it looked like their heads would screw off and float away at any moment. His friends stood still as statues. Peter smirked, and walked to them. Drew put his bag at the edge of the Berry Blender on the floor. He then inspected the girls' job on getting everything he requested. It was all there. The clock read five to twelve and Blockers were still preparing their stuff at their Berry Blenders.
"So, what did you have to get?" May asked Drew.
"Just some stuff. I'll tell you later," Drew answered her.
The judges started to come out. They filed out of the back room, ready to begin the tournament. There were five of them. The first was tall and had pitch black hair. He had bright green eyes that shone through his hair that fell over his face. His face was soft, but stern. He looked old, in his late forties or so. He wore a business man's attire tat was blue. A Houndoom walked at his feet. The next person behind him was a gorgeous woman. She was young and small framed. She had long, brown hair that was clasped in a black pin behind her head. Her face was young and lively. Her hazel eyes were bright and jolly. She wore a gray blouse over a long black skirt. She had high heels on that were black. An Absol followed her from her left. The next one was also a woman. She was also young and pretty. She looked spunky and full of life. Her hair was blonde and short. She had on a dark pink blouse with a knee length, maroon skirt. She wore a diamond necklace around her neck. She held an Azurill in her hands. The man behind her was a little taller than her. He wore a striped shirt - white and blue - and had on straight leg blue jeans. He had on big glasses. His hair was a little long and messy on top his head. A Porygon followed close behind him. The last man to come out was a very muscular, but older man. He wore a short sleeve shirt that was dark green and wore army pants. He had a scruffy beard and scruffy hair on his head of the brown color. He looked mean. A Machoke followed him out and was the last to come from the back room. All the coordinators watched as they made their way to the top of the stage. The two women and two last men took seats as the first older man went to a microphone at the foot of the stage.
"Welcome all Coordinators and Blockers to Norbrown's ninty-fifth annual PokeBlock making contest," the man said, "Let me introduce myself for the new comers. I am Jack Verona. Many of you know me as a famous Blocker."
Everyone clapped to him. Most of the Blockers looked up to him as a legend.
"Now, turn your attention to these four who will also be judging your PokeBlock making skills," Jack said, "The lovely lady with the Absol is Serenity Fair. Sitting next to her is the equal as lovely Pany Newton. Over to my right, you have Dexter Tailor, and sitting next to him is Red Dangwit. We will all be judging on your abilities to make excellent PokeBlocks. We will hand you your berries and with your skills and supplies, you will be making PokeBlocks for our five Pokemon to test out. Then they will judge your PokeBlock on a scale of one to five, five being the highest. The team with the highest score wins!"
Evereyone clapped and cheered, eager to start the tournament. Drew looked at the Blockers who sat on top of the stage. He knew them all well, they were famous afterall. Serenity Fair was a famous Blocker from the Orre region in Agate Village. She became famous when she made the best PokeBlock the Orchida officials had ever seen out of common berries like Bluk and Cheri. Pany
Newton had come from Slateport city. She had been a newbie at PokeBlock making, but against all odds, she made the best PokeBlock for Pokemon entering the cute contest the Johto and Hoenn regions ever saw. Dexter Tailor was one from Fallarbor Town, and using his computer genius, made PokeBlock using HTML code so that he could give it his Porygon. Then there was Red Dangwit, who got into the World Records books for making a PokeBlock so sour, it almost challenged the sourness of sour consentrate. Then there was good old Jack Verona. He was the most famous of them all. He had won every PokeBlock tournament in Contesta, Hoenn, and Orre, and then went on to own a huge PokeBlock and Pokemon food industry called PokeBits. Jack wasn't just a really famous guy to Drew, though, he was his uncle.
"Start the first round!" Jack shouted into the microphone, "In this round, you will use only common berries with a Berry Blender to start things off. No other ingredients are allowed for this round."
As he said the rules, assistants went around giving all the teams Cheri, Bluk, Chesto, and Rawst berries. Grace, May, and Drew soon got their four berries. Drew knew pretty much what to do with them.
"And...begin! With two minutes on the clock!" Jack said over the microphone.
Everyone started fiddling with the berries. Drew took matters into his own hands and dropped the berries in the berry blender - Bluk, then Chesto, then Rawst, and then finally Cheri. He closed the cap. Grace and May looked at each other, but went with it. The cap started to spin its arrow. Drew, May and Grace pressed their buttons, trying to get the best scores. In the end, five purple pokeblocks with a red swirl popped out of the machine. They had a little time, so they looked at their scores.
"Wow, May, you're the best at this, you didn't miss one!" Grace exclaimed to her.
Drew was inspecting the PokeBlocks and looked satisfied.
"Raise the red and blue flags," he told Grace.
"You got it," Grace said and obediently raised a blue flag and then a red flag.
"Time!" Jack said over the micorphone and went off stage to the ground.
He looked around and went to every Berry Blender that had a Red flag raised. Those were the teams that had PokeBlocks that Pokemon entering a Cool Contest that liked Spicey tastes would be most effective. Serenity and her Absol went to teams with blue flags for Beauty, Pany went to ones with pink flags for Cute, Dexter to green flags for Smart, and Red to yellow flags for Tough. After leaving a table of girls, Jack made his way to Grace's team.
"Team number twenty five," Jack told them, "I see you're ready to have a spicey PokeBlock tested by my Houndoom?"
"Yes, we're ready," May told him happily.
Jack picked up one of the PokeBlocks and examined it.
"A nice touch I haven't yet seen," he commented, liking the swirls in it, "Reminds me of a PokeBlock I like to make out of these certain berries..."
He finished his commenting and fed the PokeBlock to Houndoom. He then lay a blanket decorated with five circles, each noteing a number from 1 to 5. Houndoom chewed the PokeBlock, inspecting every taste it could give. After swallowing, Houndoom lay its black paw on the circle marked "4".
"I nice score for the first round," Jack said, noteing Houndoom's score on a clipboard,"I'll tell Serenity you're waiting for her."
He nodded and went to Peter's group next to them.
"Wow! I didn't think we'd get a high score like that," Grace said to May and Drew, "The highest I got in the practice rounds was a two."
"It's ok Grace," May said, "If it were me, the Pokemon would spit them out."
"Hello, team twenty five?" Serenity asked, breaking the conversation.
"Yes, that's us," Grace said proudly.
Serenity picked up the PokeBlock and examined it. She too commented postively on the double colors, just as Jack had. She then fed the purple and red PokeBlock to her Ansol. Absol loved it right off the bat and also gave it an even "4". Serenity noted it on her clipboard and wished them luck in the next rounds.
...
The competition was fierce. Round after round did the Blockers and Coordinators endure tough critism, praise, and scoring. Each of the rounds was the same - use common berries to make the best PokeBlock with a Berry Blender. Then after the first round, the Blockers and Coordinators were allowed to choose which berries they wanted from a list. This is where the teamwork of May, Grace, and Drew came into effect. May kept their Berry Blending at a high speed, while Drew picked what order to put the berries, and
Grace chose which berries to use. Grace and Drew tried their best to make the best PokeBlocks from each condition. When round five was completed, the judges took their places on the stage.
"It is now time to let some of our teams go," Jack told the audience.
"What does that mean?" May asked and Grace was equally confused.
"It means they're going to disqualify some teams," Drew whispered back to them, "They're lowering the competition until they get only one winning team left."
"Team number twenty, you're out," Jack announced.
"What are they doing this by?" Grace asked, a little nervous that it was random.
"The five teams that have the lowest scores are going home," Drew assured her, but Grace was still nervous.
She never thought highly of herself in a PokeBlock contest, even though people told her she was great.
"Team numbers sixteen, seventeen, eight," Jack announced, "and...two, you're all out. But, thank you so much for participating. With your leave, please take these five boxes each of our PokeBlock."
"Well, that was nice," May commented quietly.
Grace and Drew nodded. Drew didn't expect less of old uncle Jack, he was a born giver, just like his sister, Drew's mother. Jack went off stage and Serenity stepped up to the microphone.
"It's time for Round two!" she said, "Is everyone ready?"
Coordinator and Blocker came together in a large cheer. Drew stayed quiet, but May and Grace were caught up in it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Peter sitting back as his friends went wild. Peter glared at him competitvely and Drew returned it.
"This round, we will be testing you on your skills with the spices you have brought in and how well they do against berries of all different tastes," Serenity informed them, "Any spice is allowed - salt, pepper, peprica, cinnomon, but no sugar."
With that, she signaled for the assistants to pass around the berries for round six. An assistant made it over to Grace, May, and Drew and handed them five Persim berries and three Lums. Again, the first round was random. They were small berries, and Drew knew neither of them was of the Spicey taste. The fact that this was all about spice, Drew knew, would mean everyone would think that they'd only be able to get points from Jack, and maybe Serenity and Red. He knew this trick and decided that the first couple of rounds, he would make it a priority to get Pany and Dexter over. He knew that Porygon and Azurill were all for bitter or sweet tastes, but they had
been trained to look for the right amount of spice.
"Five minutes! Begin!" Serenity called from the stage.
The Blockers started.
"So? What do you think?" Grace asked Drew.
"I'm thinking," Drew told her, trying to remember what Jack had done with a set like this.
He then picked up the Persim berries and dropped them into the blender. He picked up one Lum and put it right on top. He put the cap on and looked to May. She started the Blender and they soon became engaged in a PokeBlock game. When the game was over, Drew took the PokeBlocks quickly before they dried completely and sprinkled cinnomon all over them.
"Pink flag please," Drew said and Grace raised the flag.
"Time!" Serenity said over the microphone.
She then made her way down the stage stairs to the ground and went to the tables marked with a blue flag. Pany spotted May, Drew, and Grace's pink flag and scurried over, Azurill in her hands.
"This is the second time I'm seeing you guys, what have you for us this time?" Pany said playfully.
She inspected the PokeBlocks on the Blender. She put Azurill down on the Berry Blender and picked one up. The Pokeblock was pink, except for green and red dots all over it.
"I love the look of the PokeBlocks this team comes up with," she said kindly, "It's great for business and marketing, another aspect of Blocking."
"Thank you so much," Grace answered.
Pany then gave Azurill the PokeBlock. As her little blue mouse ate the PokeBlock, she set out the score blanket. Azurill enjoyed the treat so much, it hopped off the Berry Blender and landed in the "5" circle. May and Grace looked surprised and happy, but Drew thought no less. Pany and her Azurill were the easiest scorers of the five. He never once heard them give anyone less than a three. She wished them luck with the following rounds, and looked around to find not another table to have a pink flag. Grace took
down the flag and looked to Drew.
"I'm really glad I found you two," Grace told them, "I would've been out by now."
"Really?" Drew asked.
"That's so sweet, Grace," May said.
"Yeah, I know people keep telling me I make great PokeBlock, but it's nothing like the six you just came up with right now, Drew," Grace told him, "And I really stink at the Berry Blender game. Man, six year olds kick my butt in them all the time."
May laughed at her story, and Grace laughed with her. Drew snickered, and for that one moment, the competition was gone, and it was actually fun.
...
The following rounds continued, and Drew had Dexter come over twice to give him a three and four on Pokeblocks he figured were bitter tasting. He expected nothing more of him, though. Besides Red, Dexter was the hardest scorer. Grace made a really sour PokeBlock which got her a four from Red, which surprised her and Drew tremendously. May took her shot in the last round to making an ultra spicey PokeBlock for Jack and Houndoom, which got the team their only five in the round. Grace and Drew couldn't help but congratulate her. When the next set of five teams to go home came, Grace and May weren't scared of the outcome. They knew with the high scores they got, they wouldn't be going anywhere just yet. They were right.
"Teams six, twenty eight, fifteen, eleven, and nine, you'll be going home this round," Serenity said over the microphone,"Thanks so much for coming. Do enjoy the participation prize!"
When the teams disqualified left, Serenity took her seat next to Pany, who got up and went to the micorphone.
"Our next round will consist on using rare berries, ones most of you haven't been able to use yet in your journies. In this round, you'll be able to use any and all supplies you have brought with you." Pany spoke loud and cutely.
Everyone cheered for the round to begin, and Pany lifted her arm in signal for the assistants to pass out berries for the first, random round. They gave out Spelon, Liechi, and Watmel berries, all different amounts to each group. May, Drew, and Grace got five Watmel, two Spelon, and four Liechi. Drew went to reach for the berries, but Grace stopped him.
"Can I do this one?" Grace asked.
Drew backed away and said, "Sure."
Grace put in all of the Watmel berries. She then dumped some sugar in, followed by a teaspoon of salt, and three tablespoons of cinnomon.
"This is my signature PokeBlock," she added and closed the top.
May started the Berry Blender and they were in a blending game again. Half way through, Grace stopped the blender and allowed it to make the PokeBlocks with the badder inside. She then took the five, pink and green PokeBlocks from the machine and put Persim berry juice on them. It hardened on top and she was done.
"Wow, what a neat idea!" May told her.
Grace smiled proudly at her concoction.
"I'd like a pink and green flag please," Grace told Drew.
He smirked and drew the flags. Pany announced round six to be over and went around with the other judges to inspect the PokeBlock. She came over to their Berry Blender, excited to see what else they had in store for her and her Azurill. Azurill enjoyed the PokeBlock so much it gave a "5" immediatley. Azurill turned to Pany and begged her to try some.
"It's ok, go ahead," Grace told her.
Pany thanked her and picked one of them up and slipped in into her mouth. Her face became delighted.
"Wow, this is, like, the best PokeBlock I've ever tasted as far as any and all competitions go," Pany said, "You must must must give me the recipe! This must be your signature PokeBlock!"
"It is, and I'd be happy to give you the recipe," Grace said.
Pany got out a piece of paper and Grace told her the recipe. As they spoke, Dexter came up behind her.
"Now, shouldn't you be judging instead of swapping recipes?" he said as he poked her.
"Oh, would you go away? I'm getting the best of the best here. Better than anything you could do!" Pany said in response.
May giggled and went close to Drew.
She poked him on the shoulder and said, "Sounds familiar."
He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes as his face gave a little color. May giggled again. Dexter passed Pany and Grace and inspected the PokeBlock. He then, without saying a word, gave it to Porygon. Porygon tried it out, being critical about it, and gave it an honest four.
"Very nice," Dexter said, writing the score down.
"Wasn't it the best?" Pany cried to him, but Dexter just snickered and shook his head.
"This isn't a personal "let's get together". It's a serious matter and you and your Azurill should think about the score PokeBlocks really deserve instead of breaking little Blocker's hearts," he said to her quietly and walked away to another team that called for him.
Pany fumed, "I really hate that guy!"
May poked Drew a few more times, and he looked away, still showing color.
Grace giggled and said, "Ah, it only means you're pretty. Believe me, I think I'd rather that than a guy who'd go berserk over me."
Grace looked to May and they both remembered Brock at that instant.
Encyclopika
The Queen
(OMG! It was so long I had to go to two replies! *_* Please don't tell me..."o, you could have made it two episodes." No I couldn't!)
...
The competition continued. May asked for a few more Spelon and two Lansat berries for her next recipe. Drew and Grace stepped back as she made yet another spicey PokeBlock.
"Sorry, guys, but I love making spicey stuff, this one's my Salty...salt...thing!" May told them and went back to adding salt to the berries.
"Just don't overdo it. We don't know how many more rounds we have," Grace told her.
Drew watched her add certain amounts of things, add berries, and stop the game when she thought nesessary. He felt proud of her somehow. When she was done, she had asked for a red flag and a blue flag. Jack came over with Houndoom and it loved the saltyness. It gave her a "5", and Grace and Drew asked her how she did it.
"I just do what I know best," May told them.
"You mean the easiest," Drew commented.
"Well, if I didn't, we wouldn't have all those fives, would we?" May countered him.
It seemed as though she had grown up a little since the journey through Contesta started. He knew that she wanted to travel with him for the sole purpose that she needed a companion. Now, he thought that in due time, it would be her choice to stay with him, and maybe that's what Grace was saying last night. Serenity came over next, interupting Drew's thoughts. Absol tried the PokeBlock and gave it a "3". Absol obviously didn't like salt too much. Serenity left.
May looked down a little and said, "I thought that maybe it would work."
Drew looked at her. He didn't want this one low score to get to her.
"Don't worry about it," he said, "It's quite hard to get the dry taste."
"Yeah, May, it's also really hard to get the appeal of a Pokemon who enters specialized beauty contests," Grace said.
May laughed and soon felt better.
Later in the next rounds, Drew took his chances and used the leftover Lansat and ordered some Enigma berries to try and get an all around taste. He asked for all the judges. Houndoom gave him a four, Absol gave him a three, Azurill gave him a four, Porygon gave him a four, and Machoke gave a three. Grace said those were good scores, but Drew told her he wouldn't take a chance like that again. He admitted he had never witnessed or tried a combonation like that, and had little idea as to what he was doing. May and Grace laughed at him, and he through a leftover Liechi at them. Grace made another sour PokeBlock that Machoke and Red gave her a four on. Drew and May made a spicey and sweet PokeBlock together, taking another risk. Jack and Pany rated them highly though. Grace then made a bitter PokeBlock, and Dexter gave her a five on it, saying that it was the best he had seen all day. With that, the round was over. Pany announced that Teams twenty one, thirteen, nineteen, twenty nine, and three were going home. Drew shot a glance at Peter's group. The judges decided that it was best to take a break. With this break, friends of other teams met up with others. Everyone was in friendly competition, except for Drew and Peter. Grace had forgotten all about Peter and walked away with May so that she could meet some of her friends on another team. Drew was left alone to watch their stuff. He knew quite well that competitors would take their chances in breaks like this and steal supplies from other groups. Most often, they wouldn't get caught.
"Well, well, well, I can't believe you're still in the competition," Peter started with Drew.
He had left his cheerleaders with his friends who were celebrating their victories and scores so far.
"Same here," Drew started off nice, trying to let Peter know he didn't care about his opinions.
"I saw you guys taking a lot of risks in the last round," Peter said, "Not very smart, but I didn't expect anymore from a team of coordinators. Most of the teams like yourselves have been cut from the race already."
"I know, lucky us," Drew answered, not looking at him.
"I didn't catch your name, what was it?" Peter asked.
Drew thought about it a while and answered,"Drew."
"Ah, I see," Peter said, his accent starting to aggrivate Drew, "I knew a bloak by that name once."
Drew smirked and looked at him, "What happened?"
"Well, he's been the only person to ever beat me in a comeptition like this," Peter said, anger inside him, "You know what that means?"
"No, what does it mean?" Drew humored him.
"It means besides that one flaw, I've never lost one of these," Peter told him, "And I'm not planning on loosing this one. It means you better get ready to lose!"
"Okay," Drew humored him again, looking away.
Peter gave him a look and then walked back to his Berry Blender. His intimidating hadn't worked. Grace and May came back just in time as the next round began. Red stepped up to the microphone. The room became silent as he spoke.
"Well, as you've all noticed, many of the competition has left already. They have left behind the best Blockers we have at this tournament, you have all fought hard to get past them and all of the rounds. This next round will test your creativeness and above all else, the uniqueness you can come up with in your PokeBlock making," Red said proudly, "You won't be given any berries
randomly from us, you will order your own from the numerous assistants walking around at any time you feel nesessary. Now, what's different about this round, the rest of the tournament I should say, is that you can't use the Berry Blenders except for the use of making your badder hard and square."
He paused as some laughed nervously at his small joke.
"An assistant will be watching that you all obey the rules. Any teams that do not follow the rules will be disqualified on the spot," he continued, "You will use, instead, your Pokemon's crushing techniques, whether it be attacks like Crunch, Psychic, or Crush Claw, you can't use the Berry Blender. This round will also be taking into account the way the PokeBlock looks as far as marketing purposes most of you are studying. Good luck!"
He finished the speech. Assistants came from the back room and separated themselves out to the Blocker's Berry Blenders. A young woman with long, dirty blonde hair came up to Grace, May, and Drew.
"Hello! I'm Stacy and I'll be your assistant for the rest of the competition!" she said bubbley, "I'm here to get you any berry you want and to make sure you no longer use the Berry Blender. I'm not allowed to give you advice, not that I could."
"Thanks," Grace said to her.
"Begin round eleven!" Red announced when everyone was in place.
"Guys? I'm going to go first, ok?" Grace told them.
May and Drew nodded with full trust in her. Grace went to Stacey and asked for three Pecha berries and a five Magost berries. Stacey obediently went in the back room to fetched the berries. When she returned, Grace thanked her and started her work.
"Come out, Medicham!" Grace said and let Medicham out.
"Medicham," it said in a calm voice.
"Medicham, use Psychic to break up these berries into tiny pieces!" Grace ordered.
Medicham raised its arms and soon the berries were lifted into the air. Medicham swirled them round and round, cutting them up as it went.
"Do you have a bowl in the back?" Grace asked Stacey.
Stacey nodded happily. She went to fetch it from the back. She came back and set the white bowl down. By then, Medicham was done and lay the badder into the bowl. Grace thanked her. Grace then opened up the Berry Blender and had the machine harden and square the badder. Five PokeBlocks popped out. Drew got an idea. He reached into the napsack he had set down on the floor at the beginning of the tournament and took out a stand and five small PokeBlock molds.
"Come out Flareitten," Drew said and the orange fire cat came out of the Pokeball.
Drew picked it up and set it down on the table.
"If you melt them down and add some more stuff, you can make the score higher," he said to Grace.
She nodded. She set the five PokeBlocks into the molds. Drew then told Fkareitten to light up its tail and set it into the stand. Flareitten did so. Grace then put the molds with the PokeBlocks in them onto the stand. They soon melted. Flareitten then shut off its tail on Drew's command. Grace added some sugar and peprika into the mix.
"Hey May," Grace called for May, "Can you let out your Icechik? I need it to freeze the PokeBlocks."
"Ok," May said and let out her blue penguin baby Pokemon.
She picked it up from the floor and set it on the Berry Blender as Flareitten jumped off to make room.
"Ok, Icechik, use Ice Beam, but not so hard," May tried to tell it.
Icechik understood and let out a small beam of light blue. The PokeBlock mix solidified and became cold. Icechik stopped, seeing it was done. Grace then pounded out the PokeBlocks. They were a swirl of pink and peach with little red dots mixed in randomly. Grace was happy with her making. She then raised a pink flag. Not only would Azurill like the sweet taste, but it would also like the frozen sensation.
"Time!" came Red's voice from the microphone.
The judges made their rounds as usual. Pany came over to them first. She had seen Grace working the hardest on the PokeBlock and Grace had never let her down, not that anyone ever did. Pany inspected the PokeBlock, seeing its colors and swirls and gave it an honest four, saying that it was appealing to the eye. Then she gave it to Azurill who gave her another four under her belt. That gave Grace a total of eight points for one PokeBlock.
"Oh, I meant to give this to you," Pany said, giving Grace a slip of paper, "It's one of my best recipes. I figured we swapped, no?"
"Yes, thanks so much," Grace thanked her.
"See you guys later," Pany said as she picked Azurill up and left to check more contestants.
...
When round twelve started, May told Grace and Drew that she wanted to try out a recipe she remembered seeing on a cooking channel once. She asked Stacey to bring three Enigma berries and four White Ginema berries, only found in Contesta. Stacey told her good choice and went to get them. She set them down on the Berry Blender and went back to the wall. May asked Grace to have Medicham use Psychic, but it couldn't. The berries were too hard. Drew told her the only way was to use an attack like Crush Claw, or Crunch.
"Hey, Drew, can't a Sawbura learn Crunch?" Grace asked.
"Yeah, but we don't have time like that. We only have thirty minutes," Drew told her.
He let Sawbura out anyway.
"C'mon, I'm sure we can think of something," Grace said.
As May and Drew payed attention to her, Sawbura looked around the room. It saw a Sharpedo far off using Cruch on a hard berry. Sawbura got excited and wanted to do it too, but it didn't know how. It watched the Sharpedo open its mouth and have two large jaws appear above its original jaws and slam down on the berries. Sawbura then turned back to the table. It knocked down one of the Enigmas. It turned back to see how the move was done, and then tried itself.
"Hey, Sawbura is doing something!" Grace said.
May and Drew turned to look. Sawbura opened its mouth and the two jaws appeared above and below its original jaws. Then, it had the jaws
slam down on the berry, cutting it in two.
"Alright, Sawbura, didn't know you had it in you!" Drew said happily.
Sawbura began chopping away at the berries, as Medicham grabbed the choppings and put them into the bowl. May mixed in sugar to the mix. She asked for another bowl, which Stacey graciously got for her. May then had a bowl of white mix and a bowl of black mix. May then poured the black mix into the molds a third of the way and had Icechik solidify it with Ice Beam. She did the same with the white mix and then the black mix again. When they were all done, May had PokeBlocks that looked like Oreo cookies. May asked for the blue and pink flags to be raised. When the round was all done with, Serenity and Pany came to the Berry Blender together. They both rated May a "5" on such a cool idea. Absol gave her a four for taste and of course Azurill gave her a five. Grace and May flipped out on such high scores afterward. Drew then said that he'd do the rest of them and try to get scores from Jack, Red, and Dexter.
Drew made a bitter PokeBlock next that had almost every shade of green in it with a black stripe through the middle. Dexter told him it was an "exotic look" and gave him a four. Porygon gave it a four as well. Drew then made a rainbow colored one that he gave to Jack and Red. They said they wondered how he did it, and he said all he did was use an extremely wide variety of berries. Stacey had to make two trips for that one, but she did it happily. They had each given him a four for it, and their Pokemon did the same, except for Machoke who gave him a three. The last one was one that looked like a grilled cheese sandwhich which he gave to Jack who gave him a five for it for effort. Houndoom gave it a four. When the round was over, the judges sent teams twenty three, twenty four, thirty, one, and twelve home. Then it was just teams twenty five(May, Drew, and Grace), twenty six(Peter), four, five, ten, forteen, twenty seven, eighteen, and twenty two left.
Dexter went up to the microphone and said, "Well, that's another round. We know you're all tired. But this round isn't about making PokeBlocks anymore. Now we will test your intellect on berries and PokeBlock making. Your assistants will give each team a buzzer. I will ask a question and if you, individually, know an answer, press the buzzer and give me your answer. Then, if you are right, your team gets a point. Get it wrong, however, you loose the chance to answer next turn. And let the quizzing begin!"
Stacey walked up to May, Drew, and Grace and handed them a red button that was hooked up to an outlet somewhere.
"Is everyone ready?" Dexter asked them holding cards in his hand, "Then let the quizzing comence!"
Everyone got ready for the first question. May stood uneasy. She knew practically nothing about berries or Pokeblock making, she just got lucky with those few PokeBlocks she did good on. Dexter started the with the first question.
...
So it went, every five questions, the team with the lowest score was booted out of comeptition. Slowly, team five left, team twenty two left, an so on until teams twenty five, twenty six and ten were left. With one more question hanging on Dexter's lips, Teams twenty five and ten were tied. This next question would send one home.
Dexter asked the final question, "Where is the only place in Hoenn you can find Bluk berries?"
Had not answered a question yet, May slammed on the buzzer. Drew's hand had found it to the buzzer, he too knowing the answer.
"Team twenty five?" Dexter asked, waiting for their response.
"Right outside Slateport City," May and Drew said, almost in unison.
How could they forget? It was their first battle against one another ever for the possession of a Bluk berry.
"And, team ten, will you please leave the auditorium?" Dexter told team ten to get out nicely.
They dropped their heads, but were brightened when the other four judges gave them their PokeBlocks.
"Now, teams twenty five and twenty six are our finalists!" Dexter announced, "There's just one thing to do now. You must put all of your skill into this one last task...make a PokeBlock. One that appeals to every taste...to every Pokemon's liking. You have thirty minutes. Start...now!"
Drew knew exactly what to do. He told Grace and May to let him handle this one and they trusted him as their best team mate. Drew ordered five Oran berries, one Magost, one Liechi, one Iapapa, two Lum, and two Chesto berries. Stacey came back with the asorted berries. Drew then had Sawbura use Crunch on the hard berries and Medicham use Psychic on the soft ones. He then mixed them all together in the bowl in front of him. Fifteen minutes left. He then brought out a milk carton from his napsack. He filled the molds with the milky looking substance. He had Icechik freeze it. Then, he knocked it out of the molds and sprinkled the pieces into the mix. He then filled the molds with the new badder and had Icechik freeze it again. Then, he set the molds onto the stand and had Flareitten heat them up a little. If his calculations were correct, the milky substance would melt before the actual PokeBlock would. Then he'd have PokeBlocks with creamy insides, and a taste meant for all PokeBlock eaters. The Pokeblock was a swirl of dark
colors. Some of it oozed out in a creamy, peach film.
"Time!" came Dexter's voice from the microphone.
The judges went to Peter's group first. They tried the PokeBlocks, tasted them, inspected their outter looks and asked of the recipe, which Peter gave to them graciously. They gave him a final score of 18/20, a very high score. They then made their way to Drew, Grace, and May. Drew was shaking a little. He wanted to beat Peter so badly, and now he was doubting himself. They set out the scoring blanket and began to inspect the PokeBlock. They all agreed it looked good to eat. Perfect score there. The hard part came when the Pokemon tried them out. Pany had Azurill tried first, who immediately gave them a perfect score for the PokeBlock. But this score wasn't given out for nothing, Azurill had to be taken away so that it didn't eat another. Houndoom tried it and gave a perfect score. Houndoom gave a face as if it were in heaven and it sat down, enjoying the great sensation the PokeBlock gave to it. Picky little Absol was next, who also gave the same reaction as Houndoom. Machoke was next, and went to take another when it
remembered to leave one for Porygon. Porygon tried it. It couldn't pretend or be serious for long as it searched for the next highest score after five on the scoring blanket, which wasn't existant. The judges were shocked.
"What what what?" Jack studdered.
"How could that be? A perfect score all around?" Red said in astonishment.
"None of us have ever gotten a score like that before," Serenity told them.
"This was the best PokeBlock I've ever seen! How did you do it? What's your secret?" Pany shouted in excitment.
"Yes, what is this gooey stuff our Pokemon are going crazy about?" Dexter asked, inspecting a spare PokeBlock they were studying.
"Eggnog," Drew said abrutly.
"Eggnog? This kid beat me with eggnog?" Peter yelled outraged.
"Yes, because everyone loves eggnog," Drew said with a wide smile.
"Wait a second it's you! You're the Drew kid that beat me last time!" Peter said still outraged, realizing the same reciope that had beaten so many years ago.
"Yes, that's the second time you've underestimated me and lost. How does that make you feel?" Drew asked, egging him on.
Peter just stomped on the floor and left with his team. Later, the judges handed May, Grace and Drew a ribbon for winning the tournament.
"This ribbon indicates that you won our PokeBlock contest. It'll be easier for you all to enter the Orchida Festival when you get there," Serenity told them.
May, Grace, and Drew thanked them and went to leave. The judges did as well, except for Jack. He stayed behind.
"Andrew," he called.
Drew turned around and Jack motioned for him to come. Drew walked over and stopped in front of him.
"You did a real good job out there," Jack commented, "I'm real proud of you."
"Um, thanks!" Drew said.
"You using that recipe brought back such fond memories of Anne," Jack told him.
"I know," Drew looked down.
"Well, then I guess I'll see you around," Jack said and turned to leave.
Drew turned around and said, "Yeah, see ya."
...
Later that night, May and Drew were getting ready for bed. Drew lay down in his bunk and May sat on the edge.
"You haven't always been a coordinator, have you?" May asked him.
"Yeah I was. Always been. What makes you say that?" Drew asked her.
His arms were folded behind his head on the pillow. His purple jacket hung from the hook it had been that morning. The room was only illuminated by the full moon outside.
"I don't know. You just seemed to swamp the competition. You really knew what you were doing," May said.
Drew thought about it and said, "My mom's side of the family were all Blockers. Whenever she brought me over to Uncle Jack's house, I used to watch him make PokeBlocks for hours. The two of them taught me everything about PokeBlock making," Drew told her.
"Jack? The judge Jack? He's your uncle?" May asked surprised.
"Yep, sure is," Drew said and turned over sleepily.
"Well, why didn't you say 'hi' to him during the tournament?" May asked, but her question couldn't be answered.
Drew was fast asleep from the long day at the tournament. May smiled and decided to go to her own bed and get some sleep. Tomorrow was also a big day, the Contest day. She looked out the window at the moon. It hung right in the window frame, like a painting of an unknown artist. May thought about Drew for the longest time. Who exactly is he?
*****************************
Wow! That's on heck of a long episode! Ok, just a few things, when you reply don't restate May's question - "Why didn't (Drew) say 'hi' to his uncle beforehand?" All in due time my audience, all in due time. Also, don't give me, "What are you nuts? Eggnog s^cks!" You know what? I don't care! lol Ok, time to answer everyone individually. ^^ oh, and here is the link to the sprite page - http://www.freewebs.com/amasstuff/contesttie.htm
Sequoia - You've been added to the PM list! ^^
*Sapphire-Chan*, MayShuuFan, MistyMix89 - Yes, Fran was cute wasn't she? That's what I was trying to accomplish. ^^
To everyone else - I'm so glad you love the story so far. I hope that with the upcoming chapters, you're just as interested. ^^ Thanks for your support. Remember - PM list...on or off?
Next time in Episode 8 - Norbrown Contest! Enter Dorjester!
Grace, May, and Drew may have been close friends and a team during the PokeBlock Tournament, but now they are sworn enemies, all reaching for the same goal - the Norbrown ribbon. Who will come out victorious? Who will come out on the bottom? Find out next time. See ya!
...
The competition continued. May asked for a few more Spelon and two Lansat berries for her next recipe. Drew and Grace stepped back as she made yet another spicey PokeBlock.
"Sorry, guys, but I love making spicey stuff, this one's my Salty...salt...thing!" May told them and went back to adding salt to the berries.
"Just don't overdo it. We don't know how many more rounds we have," Grace told her.
Drew watched her add certain amounts of things, add berries, and stop the game when she thought nesessary. He felt proud of her somehow. When she was done, she had asked for a red flag and a blue flag. Jack came over with Houndoom and it loved the saltyness. It gave her a "5", and Grace and Drew asked her how she did it.
"I just do what I know best," May told them.
"You mean the easiest," Drew commented.
"Well, if I didn't, we wouldn't have all those fives, would we?" May countered him.
It seemed as though she had grown up a little since the journey through Contesta started. He knew that she wanted to travel with him for the sole purpose that she needed a companion. Now, he thought that in due time, it would be her choice to stay with him, and maybe that's what Grace was saying last night. Serenity came over next, interupting Drew's thoughts. Absol tried the PokeBlock and gave it a "3". Absol obviously didn't like salt too much. Serenity left.
May looked down a little and said, "I thought that maybe it would work."
Drew looked at her. He didn't want this one low score to get to her.
"Don't worry about it," he said, "It's quite hard to get the dry taste."
"Yeah, May, it's also really hard to get the appeal of a Pokemon who enters specialized beauty contests," Grace said.
May laughed and soon felt better.
Later in the next rounds, Drew took his chances and used the leftover Lansat and ordered some Enigma berries to try and get an all around taste. He asked for all the judges. Houndoom gave him a four, Absol gave him a three, Azurill gave him a four, Porygon gave him a four, and Machoke gave a three. Grace said those were good scores, but Drew told her he wouldn't take a chance like that again. He admitted he had never witnessed or tried a combonation like that, and had little idea as to what he was doing. May and Grace laughed at him, and he through a leftover Liechi at them. Grace made another sour PokeBlock that Machoke and Red gave her a four on. Drew and May made a spicey and sweet PokeBlock together, taking another risk. Jack and Pany rated them highly though. Grace then made a bitter PokeBlock, and Dexter gave her a five on it, saying that it was the best he had seen all day. With that, the round was over. Pany announced that Teams twenty one, thirteen, nineteen, twenty nine, and three were going home. Drew shot a glance at Peter's group. The judges decided that it was best to take a break. With this break, friends of other teams met up with others. Everyone was in friendly competition, except for Drew and Peter. Grace had forgotten all about Peter and walked away with May so that she could meet some of her friends on another team. Drew was left alone to watch their stuff. He knew quite well that competitors would take their chances in breaks like this and steal supplies from other groups. Most often, they wouldn't get caught.
"Well, well, well, I can't believe you're still in the competition," Peter started with Drew.
He had left his cheerleaders with his friends who were celebrating their victories and scores so far.
"Same here," Drew started off nice, trying to let Peter know he didn't care about his opinions.
"I saw you guys taking a lot of risks in the last round," Peter said, "Not very smart, but I didn't expect anymore from a team of coordinators. Most of the teams like yourselves have been cut from the race already."
"I know, lucky us," Drew answered, not looking at him.
"I didn't catch your name, what was it?" Peter asked.
Drew thought about it a while and answered,"Drew."
"Ah, I see," Peter said, his accent starting to aggrivate Drew, "I knew a bloak by that name once."
Drew smirked and looked at him, "What happened?"
"Well, he's been the only person to ever beat me in a comeptition like this," Peter said, anger inside him, "You know what that means?"
"No, what does it mean?" Drew humored him.
"It means besides that one flaw, I've never lost one of these," Peter told him, "And I'm not planning on loosing this one. It means you better get ready to lose!"
"Okay," Drew humored him again, looking away.
Peter gave him a look and then walked back to his Berry Blender. His intimidating hadn't worked. Grace and May came back just in time as the next round began. Red stepped up to the microphone. The room became silent as he spoke.
"Well, as you've all noticed, many of the competition has left already. They have left behind the best Blockers we have at this tournament, you have all fought hard to get past them and all of the rounds. This next round will test your creativeness and above all else, the uniqueness you can come up with in your PokeBlock making," Red said proudly, "You won't be given any berries
randomly from us, you will order your own from the numerous assistants walking around at any time you feel nesessary. Now, what's different about this round, the rest of the tournament I should say, is that you can't use the Berry Blenders except for the use of making your badder hard and square."
He paused as some laughed nervously at his small joke.
"An assistant will be watching that you all obey the rules. Any teams that do not follow the rules will be disqualified on the spot," he continued, "You will use, instead, your Pokemon's crushing techniques, whether it be attacks like Crunch, Psychic, or Crush Claw, you can't use the Berry Blender. This round will also be taking into account the way the PokeBlock looks as far as marketing purposes most of you are studying. Good luck!"
He finished the speech. Assistants came from the back room and separated themselves out to the Blocker's Berry Blenders. A young woman with long, dirty blonde hair came up to Grace, May, and Drew.
"Hello! I'm Stacy and I'll be your assistant for the rest of the competition!" she said bubbley, "I'm here to get you any berry you want and to make sure you no longer use the Berry Blender. I'm not allowed to give you advice, not that I could."
"Thanks," Grace said to her.
"Begin round eleven!" Red announced when everyone was in place.
"Guys? I'm going to go first, ok?" Grace told them.
May and Drew nodded with full trust in her. Grace went to Stacey and asked for three Pecha berries and a five Magost berries. Stacey obediently went in the back room to fetched the berries. When she returned, Grace thanked her and started her work.
"Come out, Medicham!" Grace said and let Medicham out.
"Medicham," it said in a calm voice.
"Medicham, use Psychic to break up these berries into tiny pieces!" Grace ordered.
Medicham raised its arms and soon the berries were lifted into the air. Medicham swirled them round and round, cutting them up as it went.
"Do you have a bowl in the back?" Grace asked Stacey.
Stacey nodded happily. She went to fetch it from the back. She came back and set the white bowl down. By then, Medicham was done and lay the badder into the bowl. Grace thanked her. Grace then opened up the Berry Blender and had the machine harden and square the badder. Five PokeBlocks popped out. Drew got an idea. He reached into the napsack he had set down on the floor at the beginning of the tournament and took out a stand and five small PokeBlock molds.
"Come out Flareitten," Drew said and the orange fire cat came out of the Pokeball.
Drew picked it up and set it down on the table.
"If you melt them down and add some more stuff, you can make the score higher," he said to Grace.
She nodded. She set the five PokeBlocks into the molds. Drew then told Fkareitten to light up its tail and set it into the stand. Flareitten did so. Grace then put the molds with the PokeBlocks in them onto the stand. They soon melted. Flareitten then shut off its tail on Drew's command. Grace added some sugar and peprika into the mix.
"Hey May," Grace called for May, "Can you let out your Icechik? I need it to freeze the PokeBlocks."
"Ok," May said and let out her blue penguin baby Pokemon.
She picked it up from the floor and set it on the Berry Blender as Flareitten jumped off to make room.
"Ok, Icechik, use Ice Beam, but not so hard," May tried to tell it.
Icechik understood and let out a small beam of light blue. The PokeBlock mix solidified and became cold. Icechik stopped, seeing it was done. Grace then pounded out the PokeBlocks. They were a swirl of pink and peach with little red dots mixed in randomly. Grace was happy with her making. She then raised a pink flag. Not only would Azurill like the sweet taste, but it would also like the frozen sensation.
"Time!" came Red's voice from the microphone.
The judges made their rounds as usual. Pany came over to them first. She had seen Grace working the hardest on the PokeBlock and Grace had never let her down, not that anyone ever did. Pany inspected the PokeBlock, seeing its colors and swirls and gave it an honest four, saying that it was appealing to the eye. Then she gave it to Azurill who gave her another four under her belt. That gave Grace a total of eight points for one PokeBlock.
"Oh, I meant to give this to you," Pany said, giving Grace a slip of paper, "It's one of my best recipes. I figured we swapped, no?"
"Yes, thanks so much," Grace thanked her.
"See you guys later," Pany said as she picked Azurill up and left to check more contestants.
...
When round twelve started, May told Grace and Drew that she wanted to try out a recipe she remembered seeing on a cooking channel once. She asked Stacey to bring three Enigma berries and four White Ginema berries, only found in Contesta. Stacey told her good choice and went to get them. She set them down on the Berry Blender and went back to the wall. May asked Grace to have Medicham use Psychic, but it couldn't. The berries were too hard. Drew told her the only way was to use an attack like Crush Claw, or Crunch.
"Hey, Drew, can't a Sawbura learn Crunch?" Grace asked.
"Yeah, but we don't have time like that. We only have thirty minutes," Drew told her.
He let Sawbura out anyway.
"C'mon, I'm sure we can think of something," Grace said.
As May and Drew payed attention to her, Sawbura looked around the room. It saw a Sharpedo far off using Cruch on a hard berry. Sawbura got excited and wanted to do it too, but it didn't know how. It watched the Sharpedo open its mouth and have two large jaws appear above its original jaws and slam down on the berries. Sawbura then turned back to the table. It knocked down one of the Enigmas. It turned back to see how the move was done, and then tried itself.
"Hey, Sawbura is doing something!" Grace said.
May and Drew turned to look. Sawbura opened its mouth and the two jaws appeared above and below its original jaws. Then, it had the jaws
slam down on the berry, cutting it in two.
"Alright, Sawbura, didn't know you had it in you!" Drew said happily.
Sawbura began chopping away at the berries, as Medicham grabbed the choppings and put them into the bowl. May mixed in sugar to the mix. She asked for another bowl, which Stacey graciously got for her. May then had a bowl of white mix and a bowl of black mix. May then poured the black mix into the molds a third of the way and had Icechik solidify it with Ice Beam. She did the same with the white mix and then the black mix again. When they were all done, May had PokeBlocks that looked like Oreo cookies. May asked for the blue and pink flags to be raised. When the round was all done with, Serenity and Pany came to the Berry Blender together. They both rated May a "5" on such a cool idea. Absol gave her a four for taste and of course Azurill gave her a five. Grace and May flipped out on such high scores afterward. Drew then said that he'd do the rest of them and try to get scores from Jack, Red, and Dexter.
Drew made a bitter PokeBlock next that had almost every shade of green in it with a black stripe through the middle. Dexter told him it was an "exotic look" and gave him a four. Porygon gave it a four as well. Drew then made a rainbow colored one that he gave to Jack and Red. They said they wondered how he did it, and he said all he did was use an extremely wide variety of berries. Stacey had to make two trips for that one, but she did it happily. They had each given him a four for it, and their Pokemon did the same, except for Machoke who gave him a three. The last one was one that looked like a grilled cheese sandwhich which he gave to Jack who gave him a five for it for effort. Houndoom gave it a four. When the round was over, the judges sent teams twenty three, twenty four, thirty, one, and twelve home. Then it was just teams twenty five(May, Drew, and Grace), twenty six(Peter), four, five, ten, forteen, twenty seven, eighteen, and twenty two left.
Dexter went up to the microphone and said, "Well, that's another round. We know you're all tired. But this round isn't about making PokeBlocks anymore. Now we will test your intellect on berries and PokeBlock making. Your assistants will give each team a buzzer. I will ask a question and if you, individually, know an answer, press the buzzer and give me your answer. Then, if you are right, your team gets a point. Get it wrong, however, you loose the chance to answer next turn. And let the quizzing begin!"
Stacey walked up to May, Drew, and Grace and handed them a red button that was hooked up to an outlet somewhere.
"Is everyone ready?" Dexter asked them holding cards in his hand, "Then let the quizzing comence!"
Everyone got ready for the first question. May stood uneasy. She knew practically nothing about berries or Pokeblock making, she just got lucky with those few PokeBlocks she did good on. Dexter started the with the first question.
...
So it went, every five questions, the team with the lowest score was booted out of comeptition. Slowly, team five left, team twenty two left, an so on until teams twenty five, twenty six and ten were left. With one more question hanging on Dexter's lips, Teams twenty five and ten were tied. This next question would send one home.
Dexter asked the final question, "Where is the only place in Hoenn you can find Bluk berries?"
Had not answered a question yet, May slammed on the buzzer. Drew's hand had found it to the buzzer, he too knowing the answer.
"Team twenty five?" Dexter asked, waiting for their response.
"Right outside Slateport City," May and Drew said, almost in unison.
How could they forget? It was their first battle against one another ever for the possession of a Bluk berry.
"And, team ten, will you please leave the auditorium?" Dexter told team ten to get out nicely.
They dropped their heads, but were brightened when the other four judges gave them their PokeBlocks.
"Now, teams twenty five and twenty six are our finalists!" Dexter announced, "There's just one thing to do now. You must put all of your skill into this one last task...make a PokeBlock. One that appeals to every taste...to every Pokemon's liking. You have thirty minutes. Start...now!"
Drew knew exactly what to do. He told Grace and May to let him handle this one and they trusted him as their best team mate. Drew ordered five Oran berries, one Magost, one Liechi, one Iapapa, two Lum, and two Chesto berries. Stacey came back with the asorted berries. Drew then had Sawbura use Crunch on the hard berries and Medicham use Psychic on the soft ones. He then mixed them all together in the bowl in front of him. Fifteen minutes left. He then brought out a milk carton from his napsack. He filled the molds with the milky looking substance. He had Icechik freeze it. Then, he knocked it out of the molds and sprinkled the pieces into the mix. He then filled the molds with the new badder and had Icechik freeze it again. Then, he set the molds onto the stand and had Flareitten heat them up a little. If his calculations were correct, the milky substance would melt before the actual PokeBlock would. Then he'd have PokeBlocks with creamy insides, and a taste meant for all PokeBlock eaters. The Pokeblock was a swirl of dark
colors. Some of it oozed out in a creamy, peach film.
"Time!" came Dexter's voice from the microphone.
The judges went to Peter's group first. They tried the PokeBlocks, tasted them, inspected their outter looks and asked of the recipe, which Peter gave to them graciously. They gave him a final score of 18/20, a very high score. They then made their way to Drew, Grace, and May. Drew was shaking a little. He wanted to beat Peter so badly, and now he was doubting himself. They set out the scoring blanket and began to inspect the PokeBlock. They all agreed it looked good to eat. Perfect score there. The hard part came when the Pokemon tried them out. Pany had Azurill tried first, who immediately gave them a perfect score for the PokeBlock. But this score wasn't given out for nothing, Azurill had to be taken away so that it didn't eat another. Houndoom tried it and gave a perfect score. Houndoom gave a face as if it were in heaven and it sat down, enjoying the great sensation the PokeBlock gave to it. Picky little Absol was next, who also gave the same reaction as Houndoom. Machoke was next, and went to take another when it
remembered to leave one for Porygon. Porygon tried it. It couldn't pretend or be serious for long as it searched for the next highest score after five on the scoring blanket, which wasn't existant. The judges were shocked.
"What what what?" Jack studdered.
"How could that be? A perfect score all around?" Red said in astonishment.
"None of us have ever gotten a score like that before," Serenity told them.
"This was the best PokeBlock I've ever seen! How did you do it? What's your secret?" Pany shouted in excitment.
"Yes, what is this gooey stuff our Pokemon are going crazy about?" Dexter asked, inspecting a spare PokeBlock they were studying.
"Eggnog," Drew said abrutly.
"Eggnog? This kid beat me with eggnog?" Peter yelled outraged.
"Yes, because everyone loves eggnog," Drew said with a wide smile.
"Wait a second it's you! You're the Drew kid that beat me last time!" Peter said still outraged, realizing the same reciope that had beaten so many years ago.
"Yes, that's the second time you've underestimated me and lost. How does that make you feel?" Drew asked, egging him on.
Peter just stomped on the floor and left with his team. Later, the judges handed May, Grace and Drew a ribbon for winning the tournament.
"This ribbon indicates that you won our PokeBlock contest. It'll be easier for you all to enter the Orchida Festival when you get there," Serenity told them.
May, Grace, and Drew thanked them and went to leave. The judges did as well, except for Jack. He stayed behind.
"Andrew," he called.
Drew turned around and Jack motioned for him to come. Drew walked over and stopped in front of him.
"You did a real good job out there," Jack commented, "I'm real proud of you."
"Um, thanks!" Drew said.
"You using that recipe brought back such fond memories of Anne," Jack told him.
"I know," Drew looked down.
"Well, then I guess I'll see you around," Jack said and turned to leave.
Drew turned around and said, "Yeah, see ya."
...
Later that night, May and Drew were getting ready for bed. Drew lay down in his bunk and May sat on the edge.
"You haven't always been a coordinator, have you?" May asked him.
"Yeah I was. Always been. What makes you say that?" Drew asked her.
His arms were folded behind his head on the pillow. His purple jacket hung from the hook it had been that morning. The room was only illuminated by the full moon outside.
"I don't know. You just seemed to swamp the competition. You really knew what you were doing," May said.
Drew thought about it and said, "My mom's side of the family were all Blockers. Whenever she brought me over to Uncle Jack's house, I used to watch him make PokeBlocks for hours. The two of them taught me everything about PokeBlock making," Drew told her.
"Jack? The judge Jack? He's your uncle?" May asked surprised.
"Yep, sure is," Drew said and turned over sleepily.
"Well, why didn't you say 'hi' to him during the tournament?" May asked, but her question couldn't be answered.
Drew was fast asleep from the long day at the tournament. May smiled and decided to go to her own bed and get some sleep. Tomorrow was also a big day, the Contest day. She looked out the window at the moon. It hung right in the window frame, like a painting of an unknown artist. May thought about Drew for the longest time. Who exactly is he?
*****************************
Wow! That's on heck of a long episode! Ok, just a few things, when you reply don't restate May's question - "Why didn't (Drew) say 'hi' to his uncle beforehand?" All in due time my audience, all in due time. Also, don't give me, "What are you nuts? Eggnog s^cks!" You know what? I don't care! lol Ok, time to answer everyone individually. ^^ oh, and here is the link to the sprite page - http://www.freewebs.com/amasstuff/contesttie.htm
Sequoia - You've been added to the PM list! ^^
*Sapphire-Chan*, MayShuuFan, MistyMix89 - Yes, Fran was cute wasn't she? That's what I was trying to accomplish. ^^
To everyone else - I'm so glad you love the story so far. I hope that with the upcoming chapters, you're just as interested. ^^ Thanks for your support. Remember - PM list...on or off?
Next time in Episode 8 - Norbrown Contest! Enter Dorjester!
Grace, May, and Drew may have been close friends and a team during the PokeBlock Tournament, but now they are sworn enemies, all reaching for the same goal - the Norbrown ribbon. Who will come out victorious? Who will come out on the bottom? Find out next time. See ya!
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WaterTrainer243
Veteran Water Lover
Well, now things are getting interesting. Hehe, I think Grace would make a perfect Contestshipper.
S
Sapphire
Guest
This chapter was awesome! I wonder if your fingers hurt after all that typing? XDD Ooh the next eppie is something that I really look forward too!
MayShuufan
Mrs Brendan Birch ^^
That was brill Encyclopika I really enjoyed reading it.I think it's really cool you've brought some of Drew's family into and the Pokeblock contest was great. Anyway update as soon as you can....oh and by the way I think Andrew's a much cooler name then Drew ^_^.
That was an excellent chapter you created, daresay, your best one yet! Your description was absoultely fantastic and amazing with very few spelling errors. The Pokeblock Contest was very creative of you to make, I have to admit, you have quite an imagination! I like the fact that you added Grace here, which made me happy. She makes a great Contestshipper! =D Peter is an interesting character too and I'm glad that he lost. ^_^
Overall, I give this chapter 10/10 so congratulations on a job well done!
BTW, I hope you're enjoying my story too! =D
See ya!
~~*Mist*~~
Overall, I give this chapter 10/10 so congratulations on a job well done!
BTW, I hope you're enjoying my story too! =D
See ya!
~~*Mist*~~
xsweet_peax
+kiss of an angel+
wow! Awsome chapter/episode!! When I read the PM, I was just like "HUH!? WHY ARE YOU SAYING SORRY FOR WRITING A LONG CHAPTER!?" I was like "the longer the chapter...the better". You should never say sorry for writing a long chapter (especially to me) cause I love long chapters. In fact, I wanted this chapter to be longer. It really had a lot of suspense on Drew's family. I cant wait for future episodes to see more about his past. He's even cooler now with all this mystery XD.
I wanted more of May getting jealous with some nice and pretty girl REALLY liking Drew and not him jealous of her. I didnt like him getting red though since its more her doing that than him but its all good. I really like this and I hope to find a PM from you soon of an updated chapter. I really cant wait.
I wanted more of May getting jealous with some nice and pretty girl REALLY liking Drew and not him jealous of her. I didnt like him getting red though since its more her doing that than him but its all good. I really like this and I hope to find a PM from you soon of an updated chapter. I really cant wait.
R
Rene Bellosh
Guest
I liked this chapter. Still more insight into who Drew is and where he comes from. Also increases my belief that [spoil]Anne Verona is quite dead somewhere[/spoil]. Peter deserves the same chance as Harley to come back someday to attempt his revenge on Drew (and fail). Also liked the background info you gave to the PokeBlock contest and judges as at gives insight to other characters so the reader dosen't think some person is just some random one-shot filler.
While I'm here, I also admire how you resisted the urge to go all out with inserting what I like to call "external romace" elements (ie. other romantic couples, love festivals/dances/events, a romantic resturant or park always nearby, anything with romantic connotations, et cetera) left and right. Granted, it's feasible to insert the influence of external romance at the unoccasional moment but going excessive with it to the point where romance is menntioned in every chapter I think stretches it in the realism factor. IMO the best romance is the one that feels the most believable and unmanufactured via external means, and you're doing a good job at keeping the "external romance" levels down to its rightful place.
Still that dosen't mean you can get away with not advancing the May/Drew relationship to the next level, it has to happen sooner or later.
Also liked the background info you gave to the PokeBlock contest and judges as at gives insight to other characters so the reader dosen't think some person is just some random one-shot filler.While I'm here, I also admire how you resisted the urge to go all out with inserting what I like to call "external romace" elements (ie. other romantic couples, love festivals/dances/events, a romantic resturant or park always nearby, anything with romantic connotations, et cetera) left and right. Granted, it's feasible to insert the influence of external romance at the unoccasional moment but going excessive with it to the point where romance is menntioned in every chapter I think stretches it in the realism factor. IMO the best romance is the one that feels the most believable and unmanufactured via external means, and you're doing a good job at keeping the "external romance" levels down to its rightful place.
Still that dosen't mean you can get away with not advancing the May/Drew relationship to the next level, it has to happen sooner or later.
YAY GRACE! ^__^ It's so good to hear from her again. In fact, this chapter is probably my favourite so far, and the one that feels the most 'anime-like'. The berry competition is a novel and interesting idea, and I liked the backstory on Drew. Peter was amusingly obnoxious, too. Yet another romantic rival around to contend with? Poor Drew. Although speaking of which, I do wonder if you might not be overdoing it slightly with the jealousy - sometimes it feels like every character that appears is being made into a Contestshipping catalyst of some description; either they're jealousy objects or shippers. lol. The only other thing I'd criticise in this chapter is the tension between Drew and Grace. Drew has always given the impression of being a fairly gracious loser, to me - there was never an indication in canon that he holds a grudge against Grace, Timmy, Robert, etc. And from his line in Cruisin' For A Losin' about how May should forget about what she's won in the past, I'd say he's the type who doesn't get hung up and obsess over things like past victories or losses. So I had a little bit of difficulty buying his bitterness towards Grace. But apart from that, great chapter. ^_^
Although speaking of which, I do wonder if you might not be overdoing it slightly with the jealousy - sometimes it feels like every character that appears is being made into a Contestshipping catalyst of some description; either they're jealousy objects or shippers. lol. The only other thing I'd criticise in this chapter is the tension between Drew and Grace. Drew has always given the impression of being a fairly gracious loser, to me - there was never an indication in canon that he holds a grudge against Grace, Timmy, Robert, etc. And from his line in Cruisin' For A Losin' about how May should forget about what she's won in the past, I'd say he's the type who doesn't get hung up and obsess over things like past victories or losses. So I had a little bit of difficulty buying his bitterness towards Grace. But apart from that, great chapter. ^_^misty_aquamaster
Nigsea
Awesome chapter! I really liked this one. What I liked the most was when Drew told that boy that everyone loves eggnog. I could imagined his face, I bet it was priceless.
(Now the stupid part of my review) I don't what are eggnogs. ^^U hehehe.
I looked it up in the dictionary but couldn't found it. I guess I'll ask my ESL teacher.
Oh and by the way, was a great idea to talk about some of Drew's relatives and how good he is with pokeblocks.
hope you update soon,
Misty_a.q.
(Now the stupid part of my review) I don't what are eggnogs. ^^U hehehe.
I looked it up in the dictionary but couldn't found it. I guess I'll ask my ESL teacher.
Oh and by the way, was a great idea to talk about some of Drew's relatives and how good he is with pokeblocks.
hope you update soon,
Misty_a.q.
Oh, now I feel stupid. I started my review before you posted part two, and only just realised - d'oh! In that case, some additional thoughts:
- Wow, you really put a lot of thought into the berry-making process. I'm impressed - I know if I ever attempted anything of the kind, I'd have to give up after ten minutes with a raging headache.
- It's nice to see May, Drew and Grace acting all friendly with each other. I'm a big fan of trio relationships. Errr, in a non-shippy sense, that is. ^^;
- Not sure about Sawbura learning Crunch right off the bat like that. Not only was it a plot device, but the move was also perfected a little too easily.
- Liked the reference to the Bluk berries and Slateport City. Little touches like that keep the fic nicely grounded with the source material.
- Drew won with eggnog! ROFL! XD
- I'm surprised that Peter didn't recognise Drew sooner - if he remembered the name of the guy who beat him, surely he'd remember his appearance, too?
- I don't know why Drew's full name being 'Andrew' made me dissolve into a puddle of squee, but it did. <3
- I'd have thought there would be rules about letting one of the judge's family members be a contestant - favouritism and all that. Wouldn't Drew and Jack get into trouble?
- Oooh, I like the idea of May, Drew and Grace all having to turn against each other in the contest. Only... I now have a suspicion that Drew will beat Grace, in 'revenge' for what happened back in Fallarbor. Not sure how I feel about that - I'd rather Grace not go down on account of a rivalry that never technically existed on the show, but I suppose you must already have the next chapter plotted out, so there wouldn't be much point in me grousing in advance. Plus, unless she wins - which I have to admit I would love to see - the only alternatives are that she loses to May (rehash) or some random new trainer (LAME).
- On a general note, I've noticed that you sometimes shift between the past and present tense. For example, this in the last paragraph:
May thought about Drew for the longest time. Who exactly is he?
should be:
May thought about Drew for the longest time. Who exactly was he?
I'd recommend getting a beta reader to check over each new chapter before you post it and point out little things like grammar slips; I'm sure there's someone on the forum who wouldn't mind. Volunteers, anyone?
- Wow, you really put a lot of thought into the berry-making process. I'm impressed - I know if I ever attempted anything of the kind, I'd have to give up after ten minutes with a raging headache.
- It's nice to see May, Drew and Grace acting all friendly with each other. I'm a big fan of trio relationships. Errr, in a non-shippy sense, that is. ^^;
- Not sure about Sawbura learning Crunch right off the bat like that. Not only was it a plot device, but the move was also perfected a little too easily.
- Liked the reference to the Bluk berries and Slateport City. Little touches like that keep the fic nicely grounded with the source material.
- Drew won with eggnog! ROFL! XD
- I'm surprised that Peter didn't recognise Drew sooner - if he remembered the name of the guy who beat him, surely he'd remember his appearance, too?
- I don't know why Drew's full name being 'Andrew' made me dissolve into a puddle of squee, but it did. <3
- I'd have thought there would be rules about letting one of the judge's family members be a contestant - favouritism and all that. Wouldn't Drew and Jack get into trouble?
- Oooh, I like the idea of May, Drew and Grace all having to turn against each other in the contest. Only... I now have a suspicion that Drew will beat Grace, in 'revenge' for what happened back in Fallarbor. Not sure how I feel about that - I'd rather Grace not go down on account of a rivalry that never technically existed on the show, but I suppose you must already have the next chapter plotted out, so there wouldn't be much point in me grousing in advance. Plus, unless she wins - which I have to admit I would love to see - the only alternatives are that she loses to May (rehash) or some random new trainer (LAME).
- On a general note, I've noticed that you sometimes shift between the past and present tense. For example, this in the last paragraph:
May thought about Drew for the longest time. Who exactly is he?
should be:
May thought about Drew for the longest time. Who exactly was he?
I'd recommend getting a beta reader to check over each new chapter before you post it and point out little things like grammar slips; I'm sure there's someone on the forum who wouldn't mind. Volunteers, anyone?
W
WindyNight
Guest
I just read the chapter...It's awesome! I love how Grace likes to think May and Drew can make a perfect couple...It's funny...
Also, it's great to see that Drew is good at making PokeBlocks...He actually defeated that Peter guy twice...haha!
Good work, Encyclopika! Can't wait to read your next chapter...^^
Also, it's great to see that Drew is good at making PokeBlocks...He actually defeated that Peter guy twice...haha!
Good work, Encyclopika! Can't wait to read your next chapter...^^
F
Fei
Guest
AWESOME!! Please PM me to tell me when the next chapter is up!!!