Celadon Contest

The gang was in a pickle the day after the Lavender contest; they found out a Pokemon contest was going to be held in Celadon City but it was tomorrow. May feared there was no way they could get to the Pokemon contest on time. Ash then came up with an idea; he suggested they ride his Corviknight, Fearow and Dragonite and fly to Celadon City. The others thought that was a good idea; it would quicker to get to Celadon City by air then on foot. So Ash and Tomo rode on Dragonite with Growlithe, May and Max rode on Corviknight and Brock rode on Fearow. Thanks to his idea the gang made it to Celadon City on time to sign up for the contest. Max thought riding on a Pokemon was a great way to travel.

Since the contest wasn't until tomorrow, the gang decided to spend the day in Celadon City. That was when May suggested they visit the perfume shop.

"I heard they have the best perfume in the entire world." She said.

"It's true. Their perfume is nice." Ash replied. "I bought some for my mom the last time I was in Celadon City and she really loved it. In fact she orders the perfume from the city now."

So everyone went to the perfume shop. Erika and her workers were happy to see Ash and Brock and they greeted Tomo, May and Max.

"I'm actually glad that you came here to enter the Pokemon contest Ash because I will be participating in it." Erika informed him.

"Are you really Erika?" Ash asked, surprised.

"Yes, so you better be ready in case we have to face each other." Erika said.

"I look forward to that." Ash said. "After all it has been a few years since we last battled each other."

"What made you decide to enter a Pokemon contest?" Brock asked.

"Well you won't believe this, but a lot of fans of my perfume have been hoping that I would enter the contest here in Celadon City." Erika said. "So I decided to enter it not to disappoint my fans."

Brock nodded in understanding.

Just then Erika's Gloom came out from behind the counter and so did a Bellossom.

"Hey a Bellossom." Ash said. "Is this yours Erika?"

"Yes I caught this Bellossom a few months ago." Erika answered.

"That's not the only new Pokemon Erika has." One of the workers said. "She also has a Chikorita, Bayleef and Meganium."

"And a Hoppip, Skiploom and Jumpluff." Another worker said.

"And a Sunkern and Sunflora." A third worker added.

So Erika had obtained new Pokemon since the last time she saw Ash.

"Well Ash I look forward to tomorrow." Erika said.

"So do I Erika." Ash replied.

The next day...

The Pokemon contest was about to begin. Five of Erika's workers were sitting in the audience with Brock, Tomo and Max.

"It will be great seeing the gym leader of Celadon City enter a Pokemon contest." Max said excitedly.

"I can't wait to see Ash battle Erika since I didn't see him battle at the gym." Tomo said.

He wasn't part of the gang at that time.

The contest then started and Lilian showed off the Celadon ribbon, which was the same design as Ash's Lavender ribbon and it was a forest green color with a lighter green outline.

The appeal rounds started and Erika was up first. She sent out her Bellossom.

"Bellossom start things off with Magical Leaf." Bellossom fired leaves around the area.

"Now use Leaf Blade." Bellossom used Leaf Blade to cut the leaves to shreds.

"Finish things off with a little Stun Spore." Bellossom sprayed a little yellow powder to finish things off.

"Wow Erika did a good job with Bellossom." Max said.

"Well she is a grass type gym leader, so I think she would." Tomo said.

Next up was Ash and to everyone's surprise, he used Celebi.

The crowd and judges were surprised to see Celebi and Erika's workers were speechless.

"Wow I have heard of Celebi." One of the workers said. "But I never thought I would see one for real."

"I never thought anyone would own a Celebi." Another worker added.

Brock, Tomo and Max found it amusing that everyone was surprised Ash had Celebi.

"Celebi start off with Safeguard." Ash said.

Celebi glowed green and then she started to fly around like she was dancing.

"Now Magical Leaf followed by Confusion." Celebi scattered some leaves and used Confusion to twirl them around her while she still danced. And then she landed on Ash's right hand to finish it. The audience clapped and cheered loudly for Ash and Celebi. After that it was May's turn and she used Butterfree.

"Butterfree use Stun Spore, Poison Powder and Sleep Powder." She said.

Butterfree created a wave of orange, purple and blue pollen.

"Hey that's just like what Jeremy did in the Silver Town contest." Max said. "Except he didn't use Sleep Powder."

"May must have decided to do something based on that." Brock said.

"Now use Confusion Butterfree." May said.

Butterfree used Confusion to spin the wave of orange, purple and blue pollen around and it looked like a painting. The audience loved it.

When the appeal rounds were over only eight coordinators could get into the battle rounds. Erika, May and Ash were three of them. Ash, May and Erika battled and defeated other trainers in the first round; Ash used his Arbok, May used her Combusken and Erika used her Gloom. In the second round though May had to battle Erika. May knew she was a strong grass type trainer, but she and Combusken didn't back down. May had Combusken attack Gloom with it's fire type moves, but Erika knew how to handle fire types with Gloom.

"Use Protect." Gloom dodged Combusken's Fire Spin and Flamethrower.

Gloom then used Toxic to poison Combusken. May tried to fight back, but because of the poison Combusken collapsed and May lost the round.

"It's obvious." Max said. "My sister has a lot to learn about battling gym leaders."

"Yeah especially considering gym leaders are a lot stronger than standard trainers." Brock pointed out.

Ash defeated his opponent in the second round; they were using a Spearow. Then it was time for Ash to battle Erika. They were looking forward to facing each other again; after all several years had passed since Ash faced Erika and obtained the Rainbow Badge.

"Gloom, Petal Dance." Erika ordered after the battle began.

"Dig Arbok." Ash said.

Arbok dug a hole underground and avoided Petal Dance.

"Keep your guard up Gloom." Erika said.

Arbok then emerged from the ground and tackled Gloom.

"Quick Gloom use Energy Ball." Erika said.

Gloom fired a green ball of energy at Arbok which struck it head on, but Arbok didn't take much damage due to it's poison typing.

"You're as strong as you were back when you challenged me at the gym Ash." Erika said.

"I've gotten a lot stronger since then." Ash remarked. "Now Arbok, Glare."

Arbok glared at Gloom and paralyzed it.

"Sorry Erika." Ash said. "I know Stun Spore won't work on grass type Pokemon, but Thunder Wave and Glare are a different story."

"You really have grown a lot since the last time we saw each other Ash." Erika said.

The audience didn't take their eyes off the battle at all.

"Is it just me or is Erika enjoying this battle?" Max asked.

"She is." One of Erika's workers answered. "She's putting on one of her faces that proves she's enjoying this battle."

"Sludge Bomb." Erika told Gloom.

"Dig Arbok." Ash said.

Arbok avoided Gloom's attack by tunneling underground and Gloom had no idea where it would pop up again.

"Come on out and use Fire Fang Arbok." Ash said.

Arbok popped out of the ground and it's fangs were lit on fire. It then bit down on Gloom. Erika was shocked; she wasn't expecting Ash's Arbok to know Fire Fang. Just then time was up and the result was Ash had a few more points than Erika, so he won.

So Ash was the winner of the Celadon contest and he received the Celadon ribbon. After the contest ended, Erika invited the gang to stay at her gym for the night. Max was happy that he got to see and stay at a gym in Kanto and he saw all of Erika's grass type Pokemon and May couldn't stop admiring the perfumes. Erika congratulated Ash once again for winning the Pokemon contest and Ash was happy to have earned his third contest ribbon.