Neon Contest

The next day...

It was time for the Neon Town contest.

"I feel this one is going to be great." May said. "I mean the contest hall is very fancy and fancy places like this make me feel lucky as well as happy."

"I wouldn't count on luck if I were you May." A voice said.

It was Drew.

"Hi Drew." Ash greeted him. "You entering this contest too?"

"Of course." Drew said. "And here I'll be obtaining my fourth ribbon."

"Well this will be my fifth ribbon." Ash said, showing Drew his four ribbons.

"Impressive." Drew said. "What about you May?"

May didn't want to admit it, but she eventually said she only had two.

"Well you better catch up or you won't enter the Grand Festival." Drew teased her.

May ignored him.

"Well Ash I hope I get the chance to face you. We haven't battled each other since the Rubello contest." Drew said.

It was true; Ash and Drew hadn't faced each other in a long time.

"I'm looking forward to it Drew." Ash replied.

Soon it was time for the Pokemon contest. Lilian did the usual introductions and showed off the Neon ribbon. The Neon ribbon was the same bow design as Ash's Dark ribbon and it was golden yellow with a light yellow outline. Brock, Max and Tomo were in the seats waiting for it to start.

"I can't wait to see Drew perform." Max said. "I mean we haven't seen him perform since the Hoenn Grand Festival."

"Well I'm sure that Drew has grown since then." Brock said. "And if he has then Ash and May will have quite a challenge on their hands."

The performance round was now up and Ash went first this time. The moment he sent out his Pokemon, Clefable, the crowd started to cheer.

"Are they cheering for Ash or Clefable?" Max asked.

"I'd say Clefable." Brock answered. "Remember Officer Jenny told us that Clefable and other Pokemon that know Sing have helped the people here a lot with sleep."

Ash started by telling Clefable to use Swift while jumping. Clefable jumped doing her spinning dance and released a lot of stars while dancing.

"Wow Clefable is like a magical fairy in the night sky." Nurse Joy said.

"Remarkable." Mr. Suziko said.

To end the performance Clefable used Meteor Mash to break the stars to bits and then she bowed. The audience loved it and clapped hard for Clefable. The next performance was May's and she used her Squirtle for the appeals. They started off with Aqua Tail, showing off Squirtle's watery tail. Squirtle quickly used Ice Beam while the watery whirlpool from his tail was still there. It created an icy whirlpool and Squirtle posed. After a few more performances, it was Drew's turn and he was using Roselia.

"Why am I not surprised that Drew is using his Roselia." Max said.

"That would be because Roselia is Drew's main Pokemon." Brock said.

Roselia did the usual showing off Petal Dance routine and something else.

"From the looks of it, I'd say that Drew has improved his skill as a coordinator since we last saw him." Brock said.

"Well he did say after the Hoenn Grand Festival that he was going to work harder than ever." Max agreed.

After the appeal round was over, eight trainers got into the battle round. Drew, Ash and May were three of them.

"I wonder who will face Drew first?" Tomo questioned.

Tomo soon got a answer; Drew battled a trainer named Ethan in the first round and he had a Absol now. Absol defeated Ethan's Charmeleon with Water Pulse. But he had to battle May in the second round.

"Uh oh." Tomo said. "I hope May will do well against Drew."

Brock had a thoughtful expression on his face. May would probably have a hard time trying to defeat Drew since she has never beaten him in a battle. May defeated her opponent's Mankey with her Combusken.

Now it was time for May and Drew to battle. May started off by telling her Combusken to use Flamethrower, but Drew's Absol dodged it.

Drew ordered Absol to use Razor Wind and the attack connected with Combusken.

"Sky Uppercut!" May ordered.

Combusken managed to send Absol in the air with Sky Uppercut. May went with all Combusken had to defeat Drew with Flamethrower, Sky Uppercut and Slash, but Drew and his Absol had no intention of letting May win that easily. In addition to having great speed, Absol's Razor Wind, Water Pulse and Iron Tail were strong too. Soon time was up and Drew had more points than May so he was the winner. To May it seemed that she had some more work to do with her Pokemon if she ever wanted to beat Drew.

As for Ash, he was using Wigglytuff and he defeated his first and second opponent. Like Clefable, Wigglytuff got cheers from the crowd. Now it was his turn to fight Drew.

"I don't think Wigglytuff will stand a chance against Absol being a normal type and all." Max said.

"Don't underestimate Wigglytuff." Tomo told Max. "She's not as weak as you think she is."

Max was confused with Tomo's statement.

Drew started off by telling his Absol to use Razor Wind. Ash told his Wigglytuff to use Bounce and Wigglytuff jumped into the air to avoid Razor Wind and then she kicked Absol.

"Focus Punch Wigglytuff." Ash said.

Wigglytuff punched Absol really hard.

"Wow Wigglytuff is good." Max said. "I'm never underestimating Wigglytuff again."

Drew was impressed with Wigglytuff himself. Absol and Wigglytuff put up a good fight with their attacks. Absol used Razor Wind, Iron Tail and Dark Pulse while Wigglytuff used Gyro Ball, Ice Beam and Hyper Voice. Wigglytuff then used another Focus Punch and Absol fell down in defeat, earning Ash the victory.

So Ash was awarded the Neon ribbon. Since this was his fifth ribbon he could enter the Kanto Grand Festival.

"I can't wait to see your performance at the Grand Festival." Mr. Contesta said.

May knew that she had a lot of catching up to do since she still only had two ribbons while Ash had five. After the contest was over, the gang stayed overnight in Neon Town and left the next day to continue their journey.