"Bulbasaur, use Petal Dance!"
The group took a boat out to sea from their last destination of Wales Island, and their current destination was Izabe Island, more so the main city there, Purika City, where the next and closest Pokémon Contest will be held at.
Bulbasaur's recent progress has been amazing, anyone could very well see the amount of progress the little one had made from when she was caught. In order to make sure its training morale was high, May decided to use her Bulbasaur in this upcoming Pokémon Contest to let her get more used to it.
"Come on, Bulbasaur, this is the place where we will get our fourth official Pokémon Contest Ribbon!" May's fighting spirit was very strong this time and was even getting stronger as they got closed to their destination. Ash could very well see that the bond between his girlfriend and her Bulbasaur was also constantly increasing throughout their journey over the waters.
This was the potential of a good Royal Starters, her luck was much higher than Misty, who had never been able to get a Royal Starter from either the Kanto Region or the Johto Region.
——
Speaking of her, Misty did call him some time ago to say she heard rumors of a strong Squirtle nearby and was trying to find it for her team.
And in the same call, Ash learned from Maya that she was planning to come to Sootopolis City for a family gathering.
Turns out that her grandmother and grandfather, along with with most of her extended family, all live in Sootopolis City.
So, Ash was excited to meet Maya after their last separations a few month ago.
This is also where May would be meeting Maya for the first time.
———
Ash came over and gently hugged her behind, making her blush despite them doing it pretty much everyday, "Let's go, we will be arriving at Izabe Island and then to Purika City very soon, let's go and get something to eat before we land on their shores."
"Alright, babe." She said while turning around and looking up at him, and then kissing him on her tippy toes
The two of them turned around to go to the ships cafeteria and were met by a weird dude dressed up like a cactus. He was accompanied by a Cacturne, which was the evolved form of James' loving Cacnea. It seemed that they were bound by a quite obvious bond. The value and fit were both very high for such Pokémon Trainers.
"Hey, the trick you used just now was pretty good! Are you also here to participate in the Izabe Island Pokémon Contest?"
May gently hugged her Bulbasaur, "That's what I am planning to."
The man took a step forward and said very enthusiastically, "Me too, it's a pleasure for me to talk to you! My second question—what's your name, beautiful lady?"
"My name is May!" May respects her fellow Pokémon Coordinators very much, especially whose who talk and share their experiences. Although he was being a little weird, May still showed him some respect. "Miss May! My name is Harley, and this is my good friend and partner, Cacturne!" Harley introduced herself very excitedly.
It was the first time May saw a Cacturne, and she subconsciously went to use her Pokédex on it to check what kind of Pokémon it was, "Cacturne, the Scarecrow Pokémon. This Pokémon is a dual Grass-type and Dark-type. After spending long amounts of its life in harsh deserts, its blood transformed into the same substances as sand, sand. This Pokémon is nocturnal, so it hunts at night and has a disposition against the sun."
As early as when she took out the Pokémon Pokédex, Harley's expression changed and he thought that she doesn't know about his absolutely adorable Cacturne.
Harley had the feeling that all of his pride and hard work was not recognized, even if that wasn't even close.
Then May added, "So this Pokémon is part Dark-type, and the aura it releases is also of being silent and not speaking… now that's what I call being scary."
What May was speaking was from her heart, but she didn't mean to belittle Cacturne as a Pokémon, or even its Trainer.
She has always been taught by Ash to respect other peoples Pokémon's, maybe just not some Trainers, and she also agrees with Ash's training that Pokémon Contests are about showing the inner beauty of a Pokémon, not the outer beauty like many claim it to be.
Skitty was a very cute Pokémon, even if she was angry at it, her inner girl could never be that angry of her beloved cat.
Pokémon like Jynx were a complete other thing tho, Pokémon's like those can scare her more than any Pokémon type can ever. Pokémon's like Jynx and the likes are the things from her worst nightmares, where not even a Ghost-type Pokémon can survive.
These kind of Pokémon's more often than not are the ones that can frighten many of the audiences, thus cannot show their appeal to the majority of people.
Top Pokémon Coordinator like Ash can do performances that not only shows the appearance and charm that a Pokémon can have, but also deeply influences and enriches it, which is why May is so steadfast in her belief of following Ash's ways.
But Harley wasn't one of those who exactly thought this way, and even felt offended when May said her light remark.
He just turned around and left, leaving May more confused than ever. She looked at Ash beside her in confusion, "Babe, what's wrong with him? Did I say something wrong?"
Ash just shrugged and shook his head, "In the upcoming Pokémon Contets, it likes liek we have to pay more attention to this Harley character, who knows what he might pull off."
"Yeah, I understand, he just gives me the impression of differentiation, or whatever that means."
——
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, and everyone else's pronouns I don't know about, the Purika City Pokémon Contest on Izabe Island is finally about to begin!" Vivian announced the start of the Pokémon Contest here, this one held here for only first time in teh islands long history. So the scale of this competition will be much larger than usual.
However, Ash and the other two were waiting for Max to appear in the waiting area, "It's not good. The show is about to start. Where did Max go to now, what if he's lost?!"
Unexpectedly, he ran over with Harley just a moment later, "I'm sorry, I finally caught up!"
"Max, where did you go? I was so worried about you!" May immediately lightly knocked Max on the head like Ash used to do it to him before. What if he was missing? This would've made her unable to go all out because she was going to be worried about him.
Harley quickly spoke for Max, "Don't be angry with little Max. If you want to blame me, just blame me. To be honest, I tend to get nervous very very easily, so I went to walk around the area to calm down a little, and then I met this little one!"
Ash remained calmly standing behind May. He looked at the Harley in front of him. He had a friendly expression, but there was always that same cold feeling in his eyes that spoke of his malice and somehow hatred for them, even though they have just met.
"Mr. Harley gave me a big chocolate sundae to eat, it was so delicio—!" Max made an exaggerated pose, but Ash punched him in the head like May just did now in annoyanc.
"Let's go, the Pokémon Contest is about to begin!" Ash nodded to Harley and led his girlfriend into the waiting area for the participants.
Only then did Harley notice Ash, "Your name is what, again, I didn't quite catch it the first time? And are you going to participate in this Pokémon Contest too?"
"Ash, it's something to make an acquaintance." Ash didn't say much more to Harley as he believed it wasn't that important. Soon it was his turn to perform on stage soon.
'Ash… Ash… just where did I hear and see his face? I know I heard of him, just from here tho!?' Harley thought to himself while watching Ash walk of to the stage.
"Next is contestant No. 16, contestant Ash finally appears! Ash has already received four of his five needed official Pokémon Contest Ribbons, and is only one short of qualifying to participate in the Grand Festival. He is also the only Pokémon Coordinator this season that has a perfect 100% winning rate on the Pokémon Contests he participated in! What kind of performance will he bring this time around and will he get his last one here on Izabe Island with his 100% victory rate?"
Tho
Many people, obviously the young and middle aged female along with Ash's biggest glazer Vivian herself, agreed so. And they made sure everyone else knew this with their extremely loud cheers for him.
Harley on the other hand had a completely opposite reaction, 'WAIT! He's Ash!! That one?! The Champion turned Coordinator?! Why he is here on the one I need to win?! Why is it always me??!' He was almost having a complete breakdown, especially knowing he could end up facing that famous demonic little Ralts.
——
When he came to the stage, his Ralts disappeared from his shoulders and reappeared in the center of the stage, raising her little hands to greet everyone.
It was simply too cute for some as one little girl even fainted.
Immediately after pink and white light started to appear from around her tiny body. Such a flashing stage effect immediately brightened the audience's eyes and aroused even more cheers to them
"Ash and Ralts are still so good, they just seem to never miss on their entrances!" May couldn't help but admire her boyfriend from within the waiting area. Although he had not done any special training for any of his past Pokémon Contests, his performance was pretty much always perfect, every time, no doubt about it.
Looking at Ash on the court, Harley gritted his teeth. He didn't like the way Ash looked down at him before, despite him realizing the leagues above him that Ash ruled in.
"Finally, Ralts, Charm!"
"Everyone, attention, the cutest Ralts in the world is about to use one of her strongest moves!" Vivian said with more excitement than thought possible.
She wasn't unfortunately able to meet up with Ash at the last Pokémon Contest on Nonexistent Island, so she decided she would finally have a good talk about their future relationship after this one was over.
Ash also specially ordered his Ralts of use his Psychic powers to lift herself up and fly in the air in front of all the audience and judges, maximizing the lethality of her Charm skill and look even more cuter than ever.
"Ahh yess, ASHHH! Yesssssss!"
All of the girls, no matter what age, were all screaming, the lethality was simply too terrifying.
"Oh my good goodness, Ash's Ralts is simply the cutest!" Viviana yelled out with a MASSIVE blush.
Harley, who was on standing behind the stage had a look of hatred.
He had never seen this level of dick-riding before, "Oh my god, they're doing tricks on it!"
This made some people next to him look at him weirdly and move away.
——
The main judges, who had seen the chaos and money Ash's dominant and gooning female bases fans can do for them, knew that Ash was a golden goose for Pokémon Contest partners like them, possibly reaching Wallace's level if we was in the Grand Festival.
Finally, Ralts landed directly on Ash's head, and her little body lay directly on the brim of his hat. It was trying its best to be cute, and it was working.
It was a 30 point perfect score.
Nurse Joy and three other judges gave it a perfect score without any hesitation, winning applause from the large amounts of audience.
After Ash's performance, it was May and her Bulbasaur's performance. Now she had become much more mature and was improving faster and faster, which was a great thing for her. Bulbasaur's performance was also very good and the score was high enough to move to the next round.
The performances of Harley and his Cacturne also made Ash change his mind on how good Harley was. He really showed the charm that a Dark-type Pokémon like Cacturne can have, he used his Bullet Seed to draw a huge skull on the ground while he was still in the midst of his jump.
The two of them also successfully advanced to the second round of the Pokémon Contest.
What was interesting is that in the second round of this Pokémon Contest, a battle round, Ash faced off against a Pokémon Coordinator who used a Surskit, and the other bracket that was going to happen was May against Harley.
This means that the one who win in that round will have to face against Ash, the strongest Pokémon Coordinator in this Pokémon Contest.