Saffron Contest

Today the gang was in Saffron City as a Pokemon contest was being held in the city and May immediately signed up for it. Ash didn't sign up because his Larvitar had the itch to battle, so he decided to skip the contest this time and have Larvitar battle some trainers. The bad news was that Harley had come to participate in the Kanto contests and he was entering the Saffron contest. The gang wasn't happy to see Harley again, so they decided to avoid him.

So while May dealt with the contest, Ash went off to find some trainers. Tomo wanted to battle too; he captured a Pidgey not long after Ash and Max captured Arcanine and Zangoose and he wanted to check out his new Pidgey.

"Where will we go to battle trainers, huh?" Tomo asked.

"There is a battleground in the park." Ash said. "Brock, Misty and I saw it last time we came to Saffron City. And I'm sure there will be many trainers for us to battle."

"Let's hope they will be there." Tomo said. "After all there is a Pokemon contest taking place today."

"Well let's go to the park and see." Ash suggested.

Meanwhile...

The Saffron contest was starting. Lillian did the usual introductions and showed off the Saffron ribbon. It was a pin with two ribbon tails dangling from it and the ribbons were pink with a light pink outline. Harley went up first and he sent out his Cacturne. He had Cacturne use Cotton Spore first and then Cacturne used Needle Arm and pierced through all the cotton balls with it's needles. It was clear that Harley had trained more since the Hoenn Grand Festival. More performances went on after Harley and soon it was May's turn. This time she used her Combusken for the performance round. She untied her bandana and threw it towards Combusken and then she told him to use Fire Spin and Sky Uppercut. Combusken used Fire Spin to keep May's bandana in the air and he used Sky Uppercut to fold up the bandana again. For the finish May stepped in to place the bandana back on her head. The contest was going well.

Around the same time as the contest...

Ash and Larvitar had just defeated a trainer and his Growlithe and Tomo defeated a girl's Bulbasaur with his Pidgey. Even though Pidgey was new, he was quite strong for a small bird Pokemon. He knew the moves Gust, Sand Attack, Tackle, Quick Attack, Whirlwind and the egg move Brave Bird.

"Hey Ash, could your Corviknight train my Pidgey?" Tomo asked. "Pidgey would become a lot stronger thanks to his help."

"I'm sure Corviknight would be more than willing to train Pidgey." Ash smiled. "We will send Pidgey from Prof. Oak's lab and ask the professor to ask Corviknight to train Pidgey."

Suddenly a familiar face came up to Ash; it was Sabrina.

"I sensed you were here Ash." She said.

"Why am I not surprised you would use psychic powers to find out what's going on?" Ash smiled.

"I saw you and Gardevoir on television at a Pokemon contest in Hoenn." Sabrina said. "And I saw that you trained very well like I knew you would. And I sense that you have grown strong with that psychic power of yours."

"My psychic power has been very useful." Ash said. "Especially with catching bad guys."

Sabrina smiled.

"So Ash, what are you and Tomo doing in Saffron City?" She asked.

Ash and Tomo explained that their friend May was participating in the Pokemon contest and that they were in the park battling trainers because of Ash's Larvitar.

"The truth is I think he's getting close to evolving." Ash said. "So I think Larvitar is itching to battle trainers because of that."

"I understand because some of my Pokemon have acted like that too." Sabrina said. "So Ash, do you mind if I battle your Larvitar now? I would like to battle you again."

"I accept your challenge Sabrina." Ash said.

Having a rematch with Sabrina sounded really fun.

Ash and Sabrina got into position to battle and Tomo became their referee. Ash sent out his Larvitar and Sabrina sent out an Alakazam.

"This is the Kadabra I battled when I earned the Marsh Badge?" Ash asked.

"Yes and my Alakazam has grown stronger since then." Sabrina said.

Alakazam and Larvitar got ready to fight.

Meanwhile...

The battle rounds in the Saffron contest began. May decided to use her Squirtle in the battle rounds. Even though Squirtle was small and still a starter Pokemon, he was a good battler. And he knew good moves like Tackle, Bubble, Ice Beam, Withdraw and Water Gun. But he still didn't have control over Ice Beam yet. Harley had a new Pokemon on his team, a Ariados and he was using that to battle. Harley and May defeated their opponents one by one until finally, they were up against each other in the final round.

*'Finally a chance to beat May.'* Harley thought with a smirk.

*'I'll mop the floor with Harley's face.'* May thought angrily.

The battle between Harley and May soon began. Harley started off by telling Ariados to use String Shot and Ariados climbed up the string to the ceiling.

"Hit Ariados with Water Gun Squirtle." May said.

Squirtle tried to hit Ariados with Water Gun, but it dodged the Water Gun thanks to String Shot. The misses made May lose points.

"Use Spider Web Ariados." Harley said.

Ariados created lots of spider webs in the hall and then Ariados wrapped Squirtle up in String Shot and tossed him into one of the spider webs. Squirtle was now trapped like a fly. May was in trouble now; if she didn't do something Harley would win the battle.

*'It's now or never.'* She thought.

"Use Ice Beam Squirtle." She said.

Even though Squirtle hadn't mastered Ice Beam yet, she was willing to try anything in her situation. When Squirtle fired Ice Beam, it not only froze Ariados but all the webs as well. Harley lost half his points.

"Now use Bubble Squirtle." Squirtle hit Ariados with Bubble freeing it from the ice.

"Time to fight back Ariados." Harley said.

But Ariados couldn't do anything because the frozen webs were too slippery.

"Use Tackle Squirtle." May said.

Squirtle slid down the web and that gave power to it's Tackle which knocked Ariados out. So May was the winner of the Saffron contest. Harley was not happy with that; he returned Ariados and walked off in a huff.

*Meanwhile...*

Ash and Sabrina had just finished their battle and Sabrina's Alakazam won.

"Your Larvitar put up a good fight with Alakazam Ash." Sabrina said.

"You may not believe this, but Larvitar picked a lot of fights before." Ash said.

Just then Larvitar started to act fidgety again.

"It is time." Sabrina said.

Larvitar glowed and evolved into a Pupitar.

"Wow." Tomo said. "He will become a Tyranitar next."

Ash knelt down to Pupitar.

"Since you've evolved now I hope you are going to take it easy." He said. "It's all right to battle but you went a bit too crazy with that back at the lab. So no more battling like there's no tomorrow okay?"

Since Pupitar got what he wanted he promised to behave now.

Ash, Tomo and Sabrina met up with Brock, May and Max outside the contest hall. Max was thrilled to meet Sabrina, the Saffron gym leader and May showed off her new ribbon to Ash. Ash also told them about Larvitar evolving into Pupitar.

"Well we have had quite a day today." Brock smiled.

Sabrina then said that she had to go back to the gym now and she said goodbye to the gang. The gang looked forward to Ash taking on the Battle Arena.