The Type Specialist

My body was near perfectly still in a mimicry of the casual yet controlled demeanor of Steven. One leg was crossed over the other, and both of my hands were interlaced and placed in my lap. Around me, the noises of fellow competitors within the Contest Hall waiting room echoed about, and I began to turn my head to scan the room to see who exactly was here. My movements were purposely as fluid and robotic as possible in an attempt to more properly align myself with my current disguise’s unusual appearance.

As far as I could tell, the expected Coordinators and Pokémon Trainers were all present, as well as the roughly two dozen more that made up the rest of the competition. Ash was here in one of his rare Contest appearances, and I saw Dawn dressed up in a puffy pink dress next to him. Dawn's soon-to-be-rival Zoey was here too, as well as the hidden Team Rocket member Jessie, disguised as Jessilina, dressed in a garishly eye-catching orange dress.

I hate to say it, but as obnoxious as her outfit was, I wouldn't have recognized Jessie if it wasn't for my meta-knowledge, especially with her hair done up in pigtails.

As I looked around, briefly, Dawn glanced my way and locked her eyes with mine. While I could clearly see Dawn’s eyes widen when she noticed me, my own eyes weren’t currently visible. A mask hid my face.

Dawn’s face paled and she quickly turned away. A smile was hidden under my mask as a result. There was no recognition at all when she saw me, and it seemed that my appearance had disturbed her.

Currently, I was following a trope. Well, it was more of a consistent detail within this universe than anything else. The idea was simple: coordinators had unique outfits for Contests.

Dawn had her dress, Zoey had a white tailcoat, and "Jessilina" had her entire disguise. Ash wasn't wearing different clothes, but he had still flared his collar. The people I didn’t know around me were all dressed in various suits and dresses that looked like they would better fit in a 19th century gala rather than a Pokémon Contest. I definitely stood out, but that was the entire point of the theme I was going for.

My outfit was designed by Valerie to both hide my identity and reveal it at the same time. At first glance, there was no way to tell who I was, however the color, theme, and Pokémon I eventually sent out would provide enough clues to reveal who I was. The important aspect of this disguise was to give me the vibes of a masked, unknown Coordinator, even if my identity wasn’t a true secret. If I ever became successful in these Contests, I hoped that my true identity would be something like an open secret, where people knew who I was but politely didn’t talk about it.

I also appreciated the fact that my disguise meant Dawn and Ash had no clue who I was, and therefore they had no reason to approach me. An unintentional benefit of a good plan.

When it came to what I was specifically wearing, to start, I was wearing a mask. It wasn't very original, but for this world, it was rather unique. One half of it was a face locked into a dark purple eternal grin, while the other half was a face set in pink, unending agony. In less fancy terms, it was a split version of the tragedy and comedy masks.

Similarly, the clothes on my body were nothing unique. It was a simple jester’s getup complete with baggy pants and a split of color down the middle: violet and black. My feet and hands were completely covered up by bright pink gloves and pointer slippers, which when combined with the extended neck of the top, meant every bit of my skin was covered up. Additionally, the shoes I wore had both a heel and extended bottoms, which increased my height overall by several inches, making me look noticeably taller than usual. That was helped by both the mask and wig increasing my height further, which would make me tower over almost everyone here whenever I next stood.

Speaking of the wig, it had to be my favorite part of the costume. Connected to the mask and hiding my hair was a long mane of hair that stretched down past my shoulders. Like everything else, it was split into two colors: the same dark purple and pink as the mask but on opposite sides. To keep the loose strands from falling forward, the front and sides of it were tied back in braids that eventually grouped together into a larger one that rested on my back. The rest of the hair wasn’t tied up, hanging free underneath the braid instead.

With this strange outfit, my intentionally slow and controlled movements, as well as my determination to hide my voice and speak as little as possible, I struck quite the mysterious figure. In all honesty, I had a hidden, massive grin on at almost all times from all the people glancing my way nervously. I was really starting to understand why fairies from stories always tried to disguise their identities. It was honestly really fun.

Although, I couldn't help but to feel a bit lonely. With my getup, no one knew me to approach, and unlike the last part of Hoenn and most of Kalos, I didn’t have anyone traveling with me. I’d only been alone with my Pokémon for a week within the region, and my longest conversation outside of Ash and Steven had been my battle with the member of the B Button League. I hoped that I’d find someone wishing to travel with a companion eventually.

My musings were interrupted when a static noise filled the air, and following that, a woman’s voice rang out.

"Greetings, Coordinators! Thank you for signing up for the first Jubilife Contest of this season. Marian, the master of ceremonies for this contest, is almost done with the introduction. We’ll start soon by calling you up one by one. Performances are limited to thirty seconds, and for the sake of time, leave the stage as quickly as possible once you finish. Thank you once again for competing today, and I wish all of you good luck in your performances here in Jubilife!”

The static returned for just a moment as the speaker hung up. Conversation started to spread around the room as people spoke nervously and excitedly about the upcoming performances, but they didn’t last long before the static returned and a male voice rang out this time.

“First up is Robin. Zoey, you’re on standby.”

That’s me.

All eyes in the room turned to me as I stood up from the bench off to the side. Robin was the stage name I used for this identity, chosen after I decided that something simple was better than if I had added on “Goodfellow” just for laughs. I strode towards the exit as everyone stared in silence, and I closed the door behind me once I was out.

The moment there was a divider between the room and I, the sounds of discussion returned now that I left the room. I considered that a great sign to come to how people might react to seeing me on stage. Tall, mysterious, and an unnatural outfit? This character was definitely something to talk about.

I knew I was being extra dramatic with my disguise, but I was having a lot of fun. Smiling to myself, I only barely snapped out of my thoughts in time to hear a voice call out to me as I approached the end of the hall.

“Robin. You’re up in thirty seconds. Do you need a microphone?”

I shook my head. The stagehand briefly looked down at his clipboard and pointed to a mark on the stage where I would need to stand for my performance. It was currently hidden behind a large purple curtain, and I could hear muffled announcements on the other side.

I patted my side to make sure Ninetales’s Premier ball was still where I placed it. There was a hidden compartment in my glove to let me pretend I was good at sleight of hand, when I really wasn’t.

I heard the audience cheer as Marian finished up whatever she was saying, and the curtain began to rise. I took a deep breath. The performance was on.

“Ah! Sorry, have I missed anything?” Brock said as he hurried into the waiting area. While he wasn’t competing in the Contest, there was plenty of space in the room for him to stand as a friend of the competitors. Ash and Dawn were standing next to one of the screens set up in the hall, and it was currently displaying the masked Robin’s appearance on stage.

Dawn smiled at Brock as he approached, but she quickly turned back to face the screen to not miss anything.

“You’re right on time! The performance hasn’t started yet,” Dawn said.

“Oh good, I thought I would be late,” he replied. Brock turned to watch the screen ahead of them as well.

“Up first is the mysterious Robin! Robin, you’re good to start!” the master of ceremonies called out.

Robin took a step forward, then swung their arms out and took a deep bow. Leaning forward, a white Pokéball expanded to its full size in their hand, and they tossed it forward on the stage in front of them.

“Man, that’s a cool costume. I should have dressed in something like that,” Ash commented.

Pikachu made a similar noise of approval, and a strange, blue-tinted Pokémon appeared on stage. Alongside it, several blue flames from the sticker placed on its ball capsule floated in the air and drifted around.

“Huh? Who’s that Pokémon?” Ash said. He had a confused look on his face as he stared at the screen. Dawn brought up her pink Pokédex to hopefully answer for him.

“No data,” the female, electronic voice rang out.

“What? But I thought the Pokédex had descriptions of every Pokémon in this region!” she said.

Brock hummed.

“That’s because it’s not from this region, Dawn. That’s an Alolan Ninetales, an Ice Type variant of Ninetales normally only found in the tropical region of Alola. Robin must have traveled a long way to be competing in Sinnoh with that Pokémon on their team.”

“A variant! That’s so cool!” Ash said excitedly.

In the time the trio of trainers had spoken, Robin had held their arms out, and the Alolan Ninetales created a sphere of swirling snow around it. That snow expanded out and covered the entire stage in hail. The camera was forced to change angles to properly capture the pair beneath the low-lying clouds.

Rather than speaking, Robin took several long strides forward to stand next to Ninetales. The flames from the seal still lingered around them, causing the pair to glow in an unearthly light. Dawn shivered.

“I don’t know why, but there’s something about Robin that makes me feel really uncomfortable. Like they’re not really supposed to be here or something,” she said.

Robin laid a hand on Ninetales’s head, and pointed into the air. The fox Pokémon stared upwards and its eyes started to glow a bright blue. The floating blue flames were snuffed out and the hail bent to its will. A tornado of frost and hail encompassed the pair, obscuring them for the slightest of moments, only for Ninetales to send a powerful Blizzard forward. The trio gasped at the strength of the attack.

Now in the air, the Blizzard sailed high into the sky, but Ninetales wasn’t done just yet. It partially mimicked its actions from before, creating a second Blizzard that was far weaker. The smaller attack was launched forward, and rather than going straight, it followed a spiral pattern that chased after the initial attack. Marian, the master of ceremonies, chose this moment to comment.

“Amazing! Ninetales is controlling the Blizzard to rapidly turn in the air! It must take incredible control to cause it to move like that.”

Ninetales only let the second Blizzard spiral for a few more seconds before Robin placed their hand on Ninetales’s back a second time, and the pair disappeared. More specifically, Ninetales jumped back with Agility, causing Robin to be launched backwards with it as well. They landed back in their original spot, where after a brief pause, Ninetales fired an Ice Beam right at the pair of Blizzards that were almost right on top of each other.

With that, several things happened in short order.

First, the larger Blizzard entered the Hail clouds above. It disappeared for a moment, but the smaller Blizzard entered it right after.

As that happened, the second Blizzard destabilized the first and the chaotic winds spread out to dissipate the Hail. Rather than clouds existing over the arena, there was now a wave of white snow and ice spreading outwards. Then, the Ice Beam hit.

Crackling, icy lightning crashed into the snow and started a chain reaction where the loose snow crystallized into ice in a spiraling pattern from the initial impact. A large chunk formed in the center as a result of the Ice Beam freezing the central storm together, but the rest of the snow around it stayed in the air as faint particles. Blue sparkling ice began to drift down from the heavens, encompassing the arena in a dusting of beautiful snowflakes.

Finally, the central ice chunk crashed into the stage and split apart, revealing Ninetales in the center.

“Huh?! How did it get there?!” Ash said, shocked.

Brock crossed his arms.

“Agility, I believe. While the chain reaction was going on, it readied the move several times over to maximize the speed to reach the ice right when it hit the floor. It looked like it appeared there, but it only moved while we weren’t looking, making it seem like it was inside of the crystal.”

Dawn’s eyes sparkled as the pair reunited and took a deep bow.

“Wow. That must have taken so much practice to pull off! I hope Piplup and I can perform just as well as them!”

When I walked down the hallway to return to the waiting room, I hadn’t realized how sweaty I was. It wasn’t that I was necessarily hot, it was just the nerves catching up to me after the performance. Ninetales had already been returned, and I was struggling to keep walking in a cool and casual demeanor like I had earlier. In all honesty, the difference in height these bright pink jester shoes gave me made it difficult to walk sometimes, and they were probably the reason I almost fell during that jump back with Agility.

I was breathing hard when I left the stage. Having an audience scream at Ninetales and I like that had a completely different feeling than competing in a Conference. They weren’t expecting a battle where just using moves would get them excited, but a performance specifically designed by Ninetales and I that we couldn’t afford to mess up in the slightest.

However, I did love the way the audience screamed in excitement, and based on how Ninetales had preened under their praise, she did too.

The performance had been a bit of a risk since it relied so heavily on timing. Ninetales and I spent hours each day getting it just right, and she had to purposely manipulate the hail over the entire time to get it to properly spread out and end as it did. If we didn’t take a moment at the beginning to pause and disguise several uses of Calm Mind, she definitely wouldn’t have had the power to do any of that unenhanced.

A voice calling out dragged me out of my thoughts.

“Hey, Robin,” the voice said.

I blinked a few times under my mask and looked over to see who was trying to get my attention. I was surprised to see that it was Zoey, a recurring character that appeared in the anime several times as Dawn’s rival. This Contest was meant to set her up in the series, but I couldn’t help but wonder if it would go the same way since this wasn’t a television show, and I was actually here.

Zoey was wearing a white tailcoat and had her short red hair slightly pushed back, causing it to stick up a bit. She stood a distance away with her arms crossed, and to my utter confusion, she was giving me a stink eye. I didn’t really have a way to respond to her, so I just turned my head to face her so she would know I was paying attention to her since my mask obscured my face.

“Is this actually your first Contest?” she asked accusingly.

Her eyes narrowed, and I purposely cocked my head to the side questioningly. I didn’t understand what she was trying to ask.

In response to that, she just looked down and rubbed her temples. After a moment, she tilted her head back up to return to glare at me.

“Your Ninetales is exceptional, far too well trained for a first time Coordinator. Based on how good her ice control is, I doubt you’re a battler. They don’t focus on something like that. If you’ve done Contests before, you shouldn’t pretend to be a newbie. It disheartens the real beginners.”

I couldn’t help but to cock my head again, but this time, I wasn’t purposely exaggerating my movements. It was nice to have Ninetales’s cryokinesis be complimented, but to say that she couldn’t be a battler because it was too good? We spent months working on it when she was a Vulpix to properly develop it, and evolving had boosted her control and power considerably. Most people didn’t follow the same strategy as I did, but it was a ridiculous assumption to both make and be mad over.

I paused.

Didn’t Zoey have a thing against trainers who split their time between Contests and Pokémon battles as part of her character arc? Well, real people don’t go through character arcs, so it’s just a personality trait that’s reflecting her thinking, now.

Unfortunately, since I paused to think, Zoey was forced to walk past me, unable to wait for my response in order to make it to her upcoming performance. There wasn’t much time between people going up for us to actually have a moment to talk. She left me with one last comment before she was gone, however.

“What you’re doing isn’t right,” she said angrily. “By pretending to be inexperienced, you’re trampling and disheartening new Coordinators that should be encouraged! Trust me when I say you’ll end up regretting this.”

Zoey was too far away for me to respond, although I couldn’t think of a proper response fast enough anyway. I certainly had mixed feelings about being assumed to be an experienced Coordinator, but I couldn’t bring myself to say I actually was new. My team was far too experienced to compare myself to a trainer just starting out like Dawn.

A few moments after we split, I stopped before I entered the waiting room and slapped my mask, intending to hit my forehead but forgetting what was in the way.

Damn it! I just caused an issue by not properly communicating, didn’t I? Ugh, one sentence would have stopped all misunderstandings from happening. I should have actually said something instead of standing there like an idiot. I’m getting too caught up with my thoughts about the anime. I need to properly explain next time I see her.

There were three judges for every Pokémon Contest. A Contesta (a representative of the main sponsor for the Contest Hall), a member of the Pokémon Club, and a nurse from a local Pokémon Center. They would decide who would move onto the second round, as well as when Coordinators lose points in the upcoming Contest battles. The judges would announce their decisions once everyone had finished with their performances.

Zoey went up next and showed off her Misdreavus with a Double Team and Confuse Ray combo, using the smoke from a sticker to emphasize her Pokémon’s spooky Ghost Type. Her performance was finished off with a Shock Wave that spread throughout the entire arena, showing just how strong her Ghost Type was.

“Jessilina” had a simple performance that demonstrated the accuracy and speed of her Carnivine with Bullet Speed and Bite. There was a decent bit of time as she threw increasingly ridiculous targets into the air, and it ended with Carnivine biting her head. I suppressed a chuckle when I saw that. I had forgotten that James’s Pokémon were all big fans of “physical” affection.

Ash and Aipom had a very aggressive performance, where Aipom made a bunch of copies of itself with Double Team, then took them all out with Focus Punch. It looked as if Ash was telling Aipom to battle itself, which was a unique style in this performance.

The last of the people I recognized, Dawn, performed with Piplup to just create a bunch of bubbles with Bubblebeam, then destroyed them with Peck. For a Pokémon she only had for a week I couldn’t help but to be impressed at the sheer number of bubbles the attack produced, as well as the speed and accuracy of Piplup’s attack.

In the end, everyone I knew made their way into the second round. A few other competitors did as well, but the vast majority of the performances I saw were either too simple or not very impressive. A Bidoof running around the stage using physical moves on command was fine, but it didn’t match up to a Starly flying through hoops randomly thrown into the sky. Only the most impressive performances let people move on, and Ninetales and I were lucky enough to have that honor.

Well, “luck” was the wrong way to put it. We’d only practiced our performance for a week, but Ninetales’s control over ice had been in development since I first caught her, so really, we were showing off over a year’s worth of training.

With eight trainers moving on to the second round, the performances were over and it was now to the battle stage. I was looking forward to this the most since it was a different way of battling than I was used to. Rather than fighting to a faint, representing the number of appeal points left, each side of the field had “life bars” on a screen above the field that went down whenever a Pokémon took damage or if the other Pokémon outmaneuvered the first. Because of those rules, it was even possible to lose points on an attack, meaning one side could win only through dodging. It was a competition based around showing off your Pokémon and making your opponent look worse, and generally didn’t end in a faint. Rather, there was a timer that ended the match, and the side with the most appeal points left would win. With all of these factors combined, it was a perfect structure for Florges to sweep the competition.

The battles were set up like a tournament; half would be eliminated with each set. For me, my first opponent was against a man and his Luxio. He wore a black suit with a bright yellow ascot and cuffs. It looked like he was trying to match his Pokémon.

Unfortunately for him, the battle was uneventful. We ended up misjudging what was expected of the battle, and Florges quickly knocked out his Pokémon.

The battle started with a running charge, Luxio using Spark, but Florges floated into the air and avoided the Thunder Shock that was sent her way by twirling to the side. Luxio lost about a fifth of its points through that miss, and Florges simply stayed in the air and started to use Calm Mind. There was a brief standoff as both Pokémon waited for the other to move, which caused both of our points to fade due to inaction. However, I could tell Luxio was setting up its next attack with Charge just like Florges was with Calm Mind.

The standoff was broken when Luxio used Scary Face and charged forward, causing Florges to wince from the status condition. She lost a few points, but not many.

In response, Florges used a Petal Dance to stop Luxio in its tracks, and stop it did. When the move ended and Luxio’s form was revealed under the barrage of pink petals, Luxio had no points left and its trainer lost the fight. However, it hadn’t lost its points from Florges outperforming, but rather because Florges had fainted it with the power of her Petal Dance. She was just too strong for this trainer in particular, so his points were set to zero when his Pokémon fainted.

I felt like I was bullying them, but I knew that right now I was just a big fish in a little pond. Ignoring my slight inner doubt, I maintained the controlled aloofness of the character I was playing, and walked off the stage after nodding respectfully to my opponent.

The second round was significantly more interesting. Four trainers were left: Dawn, Zoey, Jessie, and me. Dawn had knocked out Ash in the first round since Ash hadn’t bothered with appeal, focusing on pure offense instead. Due to that, Dawn was able to look better and win a battle Ash would have won in any other circumstance. She and Zoey would battle next, but before then, I would fight the criminal hiding among us.

Jessie and I took opposite sides of the field, and we sent out our Pokémon once the announcements were over. I was interested in seeing how the member of Team Rocket would perform, especially since at several points in the anime she had significantly outperformed whoever Ash's traveling companion was at the time, but would be handed a loss anyway.

Jessie must have thought she was hot stuff considering her extremely cocky grin.

“You had an impressive performance, but you won’t get past the beautiful Jessilina!” she called out.

I just lowered my head in what appeared to be a short nod of respect, since I couldn’t really think of a different way to respond. Jessie just laughed at my response in a haughty manner that covered her mouth.

“Take them out with Bullet Seed, Carnivine!” Jessie yelled once we started.

Carnivine, a venus flytrap-like Pokémon that levitated in the air with a series of vine-like tentacles hanging underneath it, shot a series of yellow seeds out of its large mouth. Unlike other Bullet Seeds I’d seen before, this attack was a lot less focused and more wide-ranged thanks to the size of its maw. Florges didn’t have a good way to dodge and instead just took it head on. She forced herself to not wince in return, which reduced the amount of points we lost, but we still lost points.

I stared at the field expectantly, but didn’t give any orders. Florges and I had already planned out a strategy for Jessie in the break between battles, and I wanted to see just how far we could go before I gave any orders. As far as the audience was aware, “Robin” hadn’t spoken at all so far.

Our first step in our plan was for Florges to use Misty Terrain. Carnivine was a Grass Type, and I wasn’t aware of its moveset enough to know if it could use status condition moves or not. Misty Terrain both prevented that risk and played into our next step.

As Florges used Misty Terrain, Carnivine started to move forward at Jessie’s command, keeping up its Bullet Seed barrage. Florges floated towards the ground to avoid it. Soon, she was at the floor level and Carnivine was only feet away, so Jessie ordered it to use Bite.

The announcer made some comment questioning if Florges would be able to avoid it, but I ignored her words. I knew Florges could.

Lunging forward, Carnivine opened its mouth to clamp down on Florges, but she shifted to the side and disappeared into the mist, allowing her to dodge it. Camouflage didn’t change Florges’s Type since she was already a Fairy Type, but it let her blend into her surroundings and cause Carnivine to completely lose track of her.

“Ugh! Carnivine, don’t just stand there! Lash out with Bind all around you!” Jessie, or well, “Jessilina,” commanded.

The lower vines on Carvinine’s body spread out and whipped every which way like some sort of Grass Type octopus desperately trying to catch Florges. However, Florges had already moved a distance away, so the only thing Carnivine caught were a bunch of missing points on its score.

Florges didn’t attack just yet, even though I knew she needed to. I briefly considered calling out to instruct her to do so, but a better, more dramatic idea suddenly came to mind.

I held up my hand and snapped.

Thankfully, it seemed that Florges was both looking my way and knew what I meant since a powerful Moonblast hit Carvine in the back. The faint image of the moon did end up appearing behind Florges, temporarily revealing her position, but she had already left that spot when Carnivine next used Bullet Seed.

Maintaining her Camouflage, Florges managed to land a Moonblast once more before Carnivine “tripped” and fell to the ground.

My mask hid a smirk. The mist had hidden it from a distance, but I saw what had happened due to my position on the field. Florges had used Grass Knot to extend braids of grass out to wrap around its lower vines. Carnivine had been yanked to the floor at her command. It was close enough to the floor that its Levitate ability hadn’t mattered.

“What are you doing!? Get up, Florges is still out there!” Jessie yelled.

Following her command, Carnivine pushed back up into the air. I forced myself not to laugh when Florges let Misty Terrain fade to purposely reveal herself to her target. Carnivine looked stunned at that move, and immediately tried to rush forward at her. However, it was interrupted when the buzzer went off, and I let out a happy sigh of relief.

The outcome was obvious based on our performance. We had exhausted Jessie out of all of her points. We were now moving to the finals.

In the next battle, Dawn’s Buneary lost against Zoey’s Glameow, a gray cat Pokémon with a spiral tail. I had a faint memory of Dawn calling her mother, crying, after this, but I was unsure if that would actually happen in this reality.

Rather than returning to the shared waiting room, Zoey and I were both led to individual rooms to recover between battles. I healed Florges with one of the provided Potions to let her conserve energy, and sat in a chair.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to properly prepare for the next battle. I was caught off guard by the sudden buzzer, so our strategy discussion only consisted of my warning her about a few things Zoey’s Pokémon could do. I had no experience in Contests and I was now paying for it. My time in the Lilycove tournament misled me about how long we would be able to wait.

Despite Florges being stronger than Glameow, I was worried about our chances in the upcoming battle. Zoey was the trainer that won the Grand Festival at the end of the anime, so even though I knew she was just getting started now, she had the potential skill to be a big threat. Considering these were battles where weak Pokémon could easily beat strong Pokémon, Florges and I needed to be careful.

Once the final set of announcements introducing us were done, I strode back out to the field with Zoey across from me. I did get a sense of minor victory when the audience cheered louder for me, but at the same time that just meant I would disappoint more of them if I lost. My grimace was hidden underneath my mask, but Zoey, on the other hand, had a smile on her face and a determined expression in her eyes. She also looked a bit annoyed, which probably stemmed from the accusation she made against me earlier.

With little ado, at the first buzzer, Zoey sent out her Glameow, and I sent out Florges.

“Get in close and track it!” Zoey immediately ordered.

Florges moved to the ground and used Misty Terrain, just like we had done against Jessie. I knew this wasn’t the best to use against Glameow, but I hadn’t had the chance to tell her different instructions between rounds. It was a good starting point to shift into something else, however.

Glameow’s speed was impressive, and by the time the Misty Terrain was up, it was already next to Florges. The cat brought up its claws to use Fury Swipes, but Florges shifted out of the way with Camouflage. Unfortunately, Zoey had seen our previous match and had a counter.

“Iron Tail!” she yelled.

Calling it a counter was generous, but it was a good way to stop Florges from making the most use of Camouflage. Before much time had passed at all, Glameow extended its deceptively long tail out and swept forward, covering a wide area and unfortunately catching Florges before she could properly get away. While Florges was able to resist the super effective attack pretty well due to the difference in raw power, we still lost a significant number of points from taking a super effective attack that canceled out our strategy. I hid a wince as I watched a third of our points disappear in one go.

Florges tried to use a Moonblast before Glameow could recover after attacking, but Glameow shifted its body just barely enough and dodged the attack, causing us to lose even more points. We needed to try something unexpected.

I wasn’t too happy about speaking, but at least I was speaking in the final match and not one of the earlier ones. For the first time of this Contest, “Robin,” the identity I was disguising myself under, spoke their first words to the absolute joy of the audience.

“Switch to Grass Type,” I commanded, purposely speaking in a deeper voice than normal that betrayed none of my emotions.

Upon hearing my orders, Florges switched to replacing the Misty Terrain with Grassy Terrain. Instead of pink mist emanating from the ground, tall grass now grew out to obscure the floor. Glameow jumped up to try to land a Shadow Claw on the temporarily paused Florges, but Florges was able to move back in the air to dodge. The Shadow Claw only ended up cutting some grass instead.

Taking advantage of the distance, Florges shifted into the foliage and disappeared with a Camouflage that Glameow was too far away from to properly respond to. Zoey’s Pokémon didn’t have a way to track Florges since it was just a Normal Type, which meant Florges now took control. The judges recognized that, and Zoey lost a few points as a result.

“Cut the grass with Fury Swipes!” Zoey shouted.

Glameow charged forward and did as asked. The ephemeral plants of Grassy Terrain were separated from the floor and faded away as their source of energy was cut off. Glameow created an opening within the foliage, revealing the dirt floor below. It crouched down and readied itself for whatever Florges might throw at it, eyes darting around, waiting for the slightest bit of movement.

It overprepared, however, and leaped forward towards a ball of light rising out of the grass only a few feet away.

“There! Shadow Claw!” Zoey commanded.

Dark, coiling shadows wrapped around Glameow’s front claws to make them far longer and crueler. Glameow then slashed down right at the point where the Sunny Day had just been used, but Glameow hit nothing.

Zoey’s points ticked down again. Florges’s bluff had worked.

I almost spoke up to command Florges, but bit my tongue to stop myself instead. Florges was doing fine on her own; our training for independent decision making in battle had seen to that. I trusted her to win, and I was also enjoying speaking very little as part of my disguise.

A beam of light tore through the grass as Florges’s Solar Beam seared straight at Glameow. The cat tried to jump away, but was partially caught by the attack.

When it landed on the ground, Glameow winced. Its paw had been burned by the attack, and while it wasn’t a status condition, it did mean it would have difficulty using that limb. Florges’s advantage increased.

Due to that, Florges was now in the lead with available points, meaning Zoey needed to pull something out to make a difference. However, with Sunny Day up, Florges was able to use a Synthesis to heal herself with a glow of beautiful, photosynthetic light, which made Zoey lose even more points effectively for free.

Florges could do this all day.

Zoey grimaced and glared at me, then glanced over to Glameow who had turned her way and nodded. Glameow quickly jumped back and desperately attacked the grass, narrowly dodging a second Solar Beam while clearing out more of the field. Our points stayed the same.

What’s she planning?

Glameow used a number of different moves in its dash around the field. Bite, Shock Wave, Thunderbolt, and even just basic moves like Slash and Scratch. None of them were aimed at Florges, although it was an impressive variety of moves. I genuinely had no clue what was going on, as Glameow seemed to be operating focusing on defense.

Again, no points were being lost in this exchange. Her attacks were impressive, but were doing little to progress the state of the battle.

I glanced at the clock. We only had a short amount of time left, yet Zoey was far behind. She was planning something big, and I was unsure what. Speaking in that low voice for the second time in this battle, I called out for Florges to float into the air just in case. Even with a Grassy Terrain refresh, Glameow was tearing up the field too much for her to hide, so Florges just preemptively used a Wish and readied herself to dodge whatever Glameow sent her way. Quickly fainting Glameow was out of the question with Glameow’s fast speed, which meant stalling the time out was our best strategy.

When there were only ten seconds left on the clock, Zoey finally gave Glameow its order.

“Last Resort!”

“Shit,” I whispered.

With its moveset exhausted and Glameow feeling backed into a corner, its entire body began to glow as it filled itself with desperate Normal Type energy. Florges had used Calm Mind several times while waiting so her defenses were prepared, but Last Resort wasn’t called Last Resort for nothing.

Infused with intense energy, Glameow moved with a speed it hadn’t before and ran straight at Florges. She tried to float higher into the air to make sure the attack would miss, but Glameow crouched and practically disappeared with the force of the jump. Its entire body slammed into Florges with its final move, and Florges was knocked back several feet.

The Wish entered her body, so Florges stayed up. The buzzer buzzed, and I looked over to the current point count.

Our points finished ticking down after that Last Resort.

We just barely ended underneath Zoey’s total.

Zoey had won.

The audience cheered and I returned Florges. I felt awful at our loss, and I hoped Florges wouldn’t feel what I was feeling right now. Looking over to Zoey, I gave her a nod of respect, and she gave me a funny look as she returned Glameow.

Normally, I would shake my opponent’s hand, but that wasn’t done in Contests. I walked off the stage, and, from my position hidden behind the back side of the stage, could only watch as Zoey was given the sky blue Jubilife ribbon as her prize. There was also a cash prize, but that was given after the Contest was over to promote better optics.

Sighing at my loss, I turned to leave and grab my stuff out of the storage locker down the hall when I heard Zoey’s voice call out behind me. Once again, my lack of familiarity with Contests shined through as there was less nonsense after the final battle to hold her back than I expected.

“You aren’t an experienced Coordinator, are you?” Zoey said to me from behind. “You just have a strong team of Pokémon.”

I turned around to face her. I didn’t feel like talking, and it fit my character anyway, so I just nodded my head.

I felt kind of dumb. I knew there were plenty of Contests to compete in in the future, but I guess I wanted to win this more than I expected. I hadn’t felt this bad after a loss in quite a while.

Then again, my only losses since the Ever Grande Conference were against extremely experienced trainers like Ramos. Guess I’m out of practice when it comes to losing.

Zoey shook her head with a soft smile on her face. She touched her hand to her forehead, looking like she was admonishing herself.

“I’m sorry. I should have realized instead of jumping to assumptions earlier. Most beginning Coordinators only use new Pokémon, rather than experienced ones. I saw how good your performance was and thought you’d done this before. Honestly, it was obvious after the first battle. Your Florges fights well, but it fights like a trainer’s Pokémon rather than a Coordinator’s.”

“That’s because I am a trainer,” I replied.

Zoey’s face scrunched up.

“What?” she asked.

“I’m a Pokémon trainer. A Fairy Type specialist, to be specific. I participated at the advice of Wallace, and because my Pokémon wanted to compete. It’s a good experience for my team.”

The apologetic look on her face faded away, and now Zoey just looked annoyed.

“That’s why you lost, then,” she said.

This time, it was my turn to ask “What?”

She scoffed at my reaction.

“If Wallace is telling you to do Contests, you should focus on Contests rather than splitting your attention between performing and battling. You’re just hurting yourself by dividing yourself up. Choose one and perfect it if you actually want to succeed,” she said, almost angrily.

“You do understand that Wallace is both a Pokémon Trainer and Pokémon Coordinator, right?” I asked. “I mean, he’s one of the most famous Coordinators in the world and is also the current Champion of Hoenn. Your point doesn’t make sense.”

She brought up a hand and waved me off, basically implying my counter argument was meaningless.

“Yeah, but Wallace is someone who’s successful enough to branch out. Starting off? You need to do one or the other,” she replied.

I knew arguing with her wouldn’t change her mind, so I just shrugged and walked off. Her perspective wasn’t wrong per se, but it was effectively the argument between specialists and generalists. She had a point that specializing in one over the other made it easier to begin, but my team already had that experience that would let them branch out, and I was purposely competing in Contests to become a better Fairy Type specialist. Just practicing for the one today had helped me think of several modified strategies I tested out during Florges’s battles, and Ninetales’s practice had revealed several new methods of using moves, as well as helping her practice Blizzard. Wallace was right that this was a good way to view my team from a different perspective. I only wished Zoey wasn’t being so obstinate about it.

Despite being shorter than me, Zoey had a quicker pace and passed me by in the hallway. As she did so, she gave me one last piece of advice. This one was unrelated to our brief argument, thankfully.

“If you do decide to choose to focus on Contests, you need to be careful in the future, Robin,” she said. “The first Contests of a season generally only contain newbies and low-experienced Coordinators. It’ll be harder to win battles in the second round as easily as you did today.”

I hummed.

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Zoey smiled at me and returned to her locker, and I did the same to grab my stuff. As I did so, I couldn’t help but to feel bad at the thought of how Ninetales and Florges might feel when they didn’t win, but I still planned to use this as an excuse to celebrate, anyway. Getting to the final round in our first Contest? Definitely worth eating a good meal over.

However, there was one last thing I needed to take care of before we actually did so.

I needed to get out of here without revealing who “Robin” actually was.