Purika Contest

Today the gang was on a boat that was taking them to Izabe Island, where the next Pokemon contest was. It was going to be held in Purika City. May was training with her Bulbasaur on the boat; she had decided to use Bulbasaur this time.

"Okay Bulbasaur." She said. "Last time you and I didn't do so well in the contest and we lost. But this time you are ready for contests and we will win this contest together."

Bulbasaur nodded in agreement.

Just then a teenage boy around Brock's age with purple hair came up to May.

"Are you entering the Purika contest?" The boy asked.

"Yes I am." May answered. "And I'm entering with my Bulbasaur."

The boy introduced himself. His name was Harley and he said that he would be entering the contest too. Then he took out a green Pokemon that looked like a big cactus plant.

May looked it up on the Pokedex.

"Cacturne, the Scarecrow Pokemon and the evolved form of Cacnea. During the daytime, Cacturne remains unmoving so that it does not lose any moisture in the harsh desert sun. This Pokemon becomes active at night when the temperature drops."

"Wow, what a Pokemon." May said.

Harley didn't seem that pleased May didn't know about Cacturne. He returned Cacturne to the Poke Ball and walked away.

*'I can't believe her.'* He thought. *'Not knowing a thing about Cacturne. Well I'll show her by beating her in the contest.'*

It seemed Harley was one of those people with a sour puss attitude.

The next day...

The gang made it to Izabe Island and Purika City. May immediately signed up for the contest. Ash was unable to enter because there were no more applications for him to fill out. So May was the only one entering the contest. Right now they were waiting for Max; he had gone to the bathroom but hadn't come back. Just then Max showed up with Harley.

"Where have you been Max?" May asked.

Harley explained that he and Max were just having a quick chat with each other and he started to walk to the waiting rooms. Ash stared at Harley; there was something about him that he didn't like.

"Come on, we better get to our seats and May better get to the waiting room." Brock said.

"Hold on, May and I need to talk about something real quick." Ash said. "Brock, Tomo and Max you three go on ahead."

Brock, Tomo and Max headed to the seats while May and Ash had a conversation.

"What's wrong Ash?" May asked.

"I had a look in Harley's mind. He's the lying and picking on people type." Ash warned her. "So May, be careful around him and watch out for his lies."

May couldn't believe that Harley was that kind of boy, but she knew Ash was never wrong when he read people's minds.

Now it was time for the contest. Vivian did the normal introductions and showed off the Purika Ribbon. The Purika Ribbon was pinkish-red with a yellow outline.

May went first in the appeal rounds and called out her Bulbasaur. She ordered her Bulbasaur to use Razor Leaf and then use Vine Whip to hit the leaves. The audience was impressed when Bulbasaur whacked the leaves with her Vine Whip. Mr. Contesta and Mr. Suziko, who remembered May's Bulbasaur could see they were really in sync with each other now. There were some other great performances after May; there was a Camerupt, a Surskit, an Azurill and a Tentacruel. Until finally it was Harley's turn and he called out his Cacturne. The audience, including May thought that Cacturne looked scary. Harley ordered his Cacturne to use Bullet Seed on the ground and Cacturne fired Bullet Seed at the ground while moving around. The glowing yellow seeds made a big picture of a skull and crossbones on the ground. Both the audience and judges loved it. It was obvious to May that Harley was a good coordinator.

The results soon came and this time only 4 trainers were in the battle round. May and Harley were in the battle round and so were two other male trainers. May and Harley had to battle the other two male trainers first before they could face each other. The trainer that Harley had to face was Bob; the trainer with the Azurill. May's opponent was Kent; the trainer with the Surskit. Harley easily defeated Bob in a couple of seconds thanks to Cacturne's Bullet Seed attack. May congratulated Harley for his win; being a good sport.

"I'm sure you will easily defeat your opponent May because Surskit are really slow Pokemon." Harley said.

This was in fact a lie because Surskit were actually extremely fast Pokemon especially on water and ice.

May could easily tell Harley made that up. She and the boys had encountered Surskit before and they found out it was a fast Pokemon.

"Ash was right." She whispered to herself. "Harley is the lying type. Well I'll show him and then I will beat him in the next round."

She was soon up against Kent and their Pokemon were now out. Kent ordered his Surskit to use Double Team to confuse Bulbasaur and hit it with Quick Attack. Thanks to Double Team and Quick Attack Bulbasaur was in trouble.

"Okay Bulbasaur use Sweet Scent." May said.

Bulbasaur released a pink sweet-smelling powder from her bulb and because of the sweet smell Surskit slowed down and relaxed.

"Since Surskit is a speedy Pokemon I decided to use Sweet Scent to slow it down." May said. "Now Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip."

Bulbasaur whacked Surskit with Vine Whip.

Seeing what May did made Harley realize she figured out he was lying about Surskit being a slow Pokemon. It made him grit his teeth in anger because his trick failed.

"Using Sweet Scent to distract Pokemon is a great battle strategy." Ash said to the others. "I know this because I had my Meganium use Sweet Scent in battles before."

"I remember that." Tomo said and so did Brock.

Kent ordered his Surskit to use Water Pulse and ride on it to use Quick Attack on Bulbasaur. As Surskit skated across the Water Pulse May ordered her Bulbasaur to use Vine Whip. The Vine Whip whacked the water, throwing Surskit off guard.

"Now use Petal Dance Bulbasaur." May said.

Surskit was hit by Petal Dance and was knocked off Water Pulse. The judges thought that the Petal Dance was gorgeous. Just them time was up and the final result was May and Bulbasaur had more points than Kent. So May advanced to the final battle round.

Harley was not happy May won, but was excited to battle her next.

"I'll just deal with her in the final round." He said to himself.

May was not happy that Harley tried to trick her before.

"Don't think I'll forgive you for what you did." She said when they met up.

"Humph you were just lucky that round." Harley said. "But you won't be in this round."

May couldn't wait to battle and deal with Harley in the next round.

Now it was time for May and Harley to face each other and they called out their Pokemon. Harley started first by ordering Cacturne to use Poison Sting. When Cacturne fired Poison Sting, Bulbasaur whacked the pins with Vine Whip so the Poison Sting failed. May went next by telling Bulbasaur to use Razor Leaf, but Cacturne blocked the attack with Bullet Seed. May and Harley were losing points by the second, but they were still tied. May then told Bulbasaur to use Energy Ball and Cacturne was hit by it.

Harley was losing points fast, but he wasn't willing to lose yet. He had a secret weapon planned to try and put May off and make her lose. He pressed a button on a remote control he kept in his pocket. Suddenly a voice, which seemed to be Max's voice, was heard in the arena. Apparently a tape recorder was taped to a sound system and Max's voice was on the tape recorder and being played; this was Harley's doing.

"What's going on?" Ash asked Max.

Max told him that he shared something about May with Harley when they met up.

The voice started telling a story about what had happened to May when she was younger. The story was one day she and her family were out for a day on the beach and May was swimming in the sea. Her swimsuit and float were both blue so she nearly looked like a Tentacool. A wild Tentacool was in the sea too and May wanted to pet it. But then suddenly she was surrounded by a school of Tentacool and they thought she was a Tentacool too. Of course May was scared and called out to her parents. Norman and Caroline heard her scream and Caroline grabbed a Poke Ball to help her out. But because May looked like a Tentacool swimming among the other wild Tentacool, Caroline thought May was another Tentacool and tried to capture her.

The audience thought the story was very funny and they all laughed, except Ash, Max, Brock and Tomo. Harley also thought it was funny and began calling May Tenta-girl. May felt really humiliated, upset and very angry from this. She glared angrily at Max. Max quivered in fear; he didn't know that Harley would do something like this.

"Okay that does it." May said angrily.

She had enough of Harley's bullying.

"Bulbasaur fire Toxic at Cacturne now!" Bulbasaur fired a stream of purple liquid from her bulb and then the liquid hit Cacturne.

Cacturne was poisoned and it started to lose energy almost immediately. Harley was shocked by that.

"Oh no Cacturne!" He cried.

"Now Bulbasaur use Sludge Bomb." May said.

Bulbasaur fired a Sludge Bomb from her mouth at Cacturne which hit it. As Cacturne had a weakness to poison type moves, the attack was too much and it fainted. So May was the winner of this contest.

May received the Purika Ribbon and was happy to have earned her fourth ribbon. Harley of course was not happy May won; he was a sore loser. So he returned Cacturne, left the building and vowed that he would defeat May next time. Max apologized to May for telling Harley that Tentacool story. May forgave Max, but she warned him not to tell Harley anymore embarrassing stories.

"So now that this contest is over, where do we go now?" Tomo asked.

Ash looked at his list of places where Pokemon contests were being held.

"Well there is another one in Dusk Town which is also on Izabe Island." He said.

"So we should go there and check out the island since it's so big." Brock said.

The others agreed with that plan and they headed off to the Pokemon Center to rest for tonight.

May was happy to have a fourth contest ribbon, and now she only needed one more just like Ash.