Lilycove Contest

Today the gang was in Lilycove City. There was a Pokemon contest being held in the city tomorrow. Ash and May met another Pokemon coordinator named Kelly and her Pokemon Grumpig. Grumpig was a purple, black and pink pig-like psychic type Pokemon and it's tail looked like a big spring. Kelly and her mother also owned a shop where they made and sold Pokeblocks. The gang remembered making Pokeblocks and using the berry blender from Mr. Big back in Slateport City. Since they had come to a Pokeblock shop, they decided to make some Pokeblocks for their Pokemon today. Even May was confident about making Pokeblocks now. Kelly and her mother were happy to hear that the gang knew how to make Pokeblocks. Kelly also told Ash and May that she was going to enter the Pokemon contest tomorrow. So Ash and May had another rival to deal with tomorrow.

The next day was the contest. Ash was going to use Corphish and May was going to use Combusken. Brock, Tomo and Max sat in the bleachers and Ash, May and Kelly were in the waiting room. Vivian did the normal opening speech and introductions, and then she showed off the Lilycove Ribbon. The Lilycove Ribbon was purple with light purple spots and a light green outline.

May was first in the appeal rounds and she called out Combusken.

"Start things off with Fire Spin Combusken." Combusken spun around and created a fiery tornado.

"Cut that with Slash Combusken." Combusken slashed through the tornado, making it rain balls of fire.

"Now use Sky Uppercut." Combusken slashed through the balls of fire with Sky Uppercut and then it rained little bits of flames.

Combusken knelled down on the ground to finish it. The audience thought that it was incredible with how Combusken dealt a fiery performance. Nurse Joy and Mr. Suziko liked the performance too. As for Mr. Contesta, he did like the performance but he saw that Combusken was showing off a little. This was true; Combusken acted like he was the lord of fire during that performance especially since this was his first contest. Mr. Contesta was one of those judges that could see any faults and anything else like that. So May received a score of 23.6. This made May hope that this score was high enough for her to get into the second round.

Soon it was Kelly's turn with her Grumpig. First Grumpig did a springy entrance with it's springy tail. Then Kelly threw out some Pokeblocks from her Pokeblock case and Grumpig used Psychic to juggle them and then ate them to finish. The audience and judges liked the performance and Kelly received a score of 27. 7. Then it was Ash's turn and he called out his Corphish.

"Let's start with Harden Corphish." Corphish's body glowed white and then it shined a bit.

"Now show them your Bubble Beam." Corphish opened his pincers and fired blue bubbles from them.

"Follow it up with Night Slash." Corphish's pincers glowed dark purple and then he slashed all the bubbles, making them pop.

A shower of blue and purple sparkles flew everywhere, and the audience and judges liked it. Ash received a score of 30.0.

After all the preliminary rounds were over it was soon time for the second round. This time eight Pokemon coordinators made it past the preliminaries and Ash, Kelly and May were three of them. May was relieved that she got into the second round, considering her low score. Ash, May and Kelly easily defeated their opponents in the top 8 and when it came to the top 4 May had to face a male opponent named Sid and Ash was up against Kelly.

Fighting against Kelly and her Grumpig wasn't easy for Ash and Corphish. Kelly's Grumpig's Psychic made it hard for Corphish to do anything because it was kept in midair. Corphish tried to fight back with Bubble Beam, but Psychic prevented him from doing anything. In the end Ash and Corphish lost and Kelly and Grumpig advanced to the last round. May defeated Sid as well, so she and Kelly would face each other for the ribbon.

It was now Combusken vs Grumpig. Grumpig used Psychic like it did on Corphish. So Combusken was held high and still in the air. But May got an idea; she ordered her Combusken to use Fire Spin on the ceiling. When Combusken did that, the flames got thrown back by the ceiling and a rain of flames fell everywhere. Grumpig was hit by the flaming rain and was distracted.

"May turned this battle around like a chess game." Brock said. "She figured that Kelly was going to have her Grumpig use Psychic like she did when she battled Ash so she found a way to fight back at it with the rain of flames. And Grumpig can't do anything because it's too busy using Psychic."

"This was a great strategy." Tomo said.

"Yeah, I can't believe my sister really came up with that." Max added.

Ash, who was in the waiting room, saw May's strategy.

"May has gotten used to Pokemon battles." Ash commented. "Before she was nervous and had no idea what to do in a battle."

At that moment Grumpig stopped using Psychic and then both Grumpig and Combusken fell towards the ground. May told Combusken to quickly grab Grumpig and use Flamethrower on the ground. The Flamethrower acted like a rocket to help both Combusken and Grumpig get to the ground safely. After that the time was up and May was the winner of the battle and Pokemon contest.

The judges were happy with May's kindness and they happily presented her the Lilycove Ribbon. Kelly and the others congratulated May for her victory and Kelly hoped to go against May in a Pokemon contest again one day. May was happy to have earned a third ribbon and gained a new friend and rival.