Ch.16

Seems my fellow trainers saw and recognized me too as I was waiting in line. Sabrina gave me an angry glare, Lance gave me a curious and interested look, and Brock smiled before coming over to me. I could see the look of relief in the women's eyes he was flirting with though they did a good job at hiding it. 

"Lucas! I saw your last gym battle and Solomon really didn't hold back! Seems unfair to me like he was trying to make you lose," Brock says to me as he walks over making Sabrina glare more at Brock with her Kadabra now glaring at Brock even more too. 

"I agree," Lance says walking over to us after he finished speaking to the receptionist and dealing with his fans. 

"What? Should gym leaders just go easy on everyone? Then how could we find out who is worth investing in, versus wasting our time with talentless trainers," Sabrina says with a very cold voice giving us all an angry glare. 

"I agree, somewhat. Gym leaders' jobs are to be challenging to trainers, but some trainers like ourselves have higher chances of being 'better'. Only because we have people who can and are willing to support us. Sure we may have talent, but even that can only get you so far. You need both money and talent to go all the way to the top," I say before anyone else can speak. 

Lance nods his head agreeing with me, while Brock has a thoughtful look on his face. Sabrina still glaring at me, but unable to refute what I said.  Instead, she goes back to ignoring us to walk over to the free receptionist to ask whatever her questions are. 

"I agree completely with you. If it wasn't for my family, I couldn't train my Dragon-type Pokémon easily at all," Lance says while gesturing to his Dragonair who is sitting by his side while looking at everyone with an on-guard look in its eyes. 

"Yeah ok, you guys are right," Brock says after seeming to think about it for a few moments. 

"By the way, I am Lance Chevalier. Nice to meet you, Lucas Brinton," Lance says to me offering his hand for a handshake which I grab and shake his hand. 

"I'm Brock Harrison a friend of Lucas," Brock says introducing himself as my friend which I don't mind since it is better to have strong people as friends in the future. Plus if Brock travels with Ash, I can use Brock as a GPS for Ash so to speak. 

"Nice to meet you too Brock," Lance says shaking Brock's hand now. 

"What can I do for you?" I ask Lance since he came over to me for a reason, other than just to talk I would imagine. 

"Are you going to join the Contest?" Lance asks me and I shrug. 

"Probably not, I was just curious about what it entails," I say as Lance nods his head. 

"Then once you are done asking your questions, I want to challenge you to a battle," Lance says with a battle lust in his eyes, much like Primeape when he gets to battle. 

"Sure," I say as Brock has an excited look, while people overhear this and begin to spread that we are going to be battling soon. 

Lance, Brock, and I then talk as I wait in line about anything and everything. Seems Brock and Lance have hit it off showing a possible friendship blossoming between them. Then I finally get to speak with a receptionist, though it seems Sabrina has left the area thankfully. 

"Hello sir, how can I help you?" the receptionist says to me as I approach the large help center desk. 

"I am just curious about this place and what kind of competition it is, plus the prize for winning," I say to the receptionist who tells me this place is similar to the one from the anime in Sinnoh region. 

In the first round, the twelve Pokémon are rated based on their condition. Three judges vote on the Pokémon that looks the coolest, most beautiful, cutest, most clever, or toughest, depending on the category of the contest. A Pokémon's sheen also beneficially influences the votes. To raise a Pokémon's sheen, people feed their Pokémon Pokéblocks which help it. I've been doing that already, but only since it also helps Pokémon be more healthy.

In the secondary judging, the twelve Pokémon take turns using moves in front of the appointed judges. The more flashy the move the better the score, plus Pokémon can use multiple moves if it can to make it more showy. Basically, it is about showing the beauty of your Pokémon's moves. Almost like a dancing competition but with Pokémon moves instead of dancing. 

After the second round, the twelve Pokémon's results are shown. Here, stars represent how well the Pokémon did in the primary judging, while hearts indicate how well the Pokémon did in the secondary judging; both fill up the four Pokémon's meters. Each star represents 63 points obtained in the primary judging, rounded up to the nearest star, while each heart represents 80 points four appeal hearts obtained in the secondary judging.

The Pokémon who has the highest cumulative score, formed from the points obtained in the first round and double the value of the points obtained in the second round is announced as the winner of the competition. In Pokémon Contests, the winning Pokémon is awarded a Gold Ribbon, with the trainer getting Pokédollars and some other items. Second place gets a Silver Ribbon, less money, and items. Third gets a Bronze Ribbon, even less money and items. 

It seems this is like being a trainer but without having to actually be a trainer, though many trainers seem to do both. This competition has started to become more popular in the last few years and is growing across the Pokémon League. Though the Pokémon Championship is still much more popular, being a trainer in this world is like being a famous Athlete, while being in the competition is like being a famous actor. With some people being in both worlds, though I personally have no interest in joining the Pokémon Contest. 

"Lance, want to battle now?" I ask Lance who is still talking to Brock as people come up to ask Lance for pictures and autographs. 

"Yeah, let's go!" Lance says as we three walk outside to a designated area for public Pokémon battles. Brock volunteered to be the referee, while many people followed us outside to watch the battle, with many already filming it or live streaming it. 

"Want to do a one-on-one or two on two?" Lance asks me knowing that I have two main Pokémon. 

"Either is fine with me," I say with a shrug as we walk over to the battle area and set it up with Brock doing stretches for some reason waiting to begin the battle as the referee. 

"Then let's do two on two," Lance says as I nod my head and we finish setting up the battlefield before taking our sides of the field. 

I then have Leo run out to the battlefield with Primeape grumbling about not fighting first. Lance has his Dragonair slither out to the field as Brock gives us both one last look to see if we are ready, as many people begin to crowd around the battlefield. We made this an official trainer battle between us but did the minimum bet of two hundred Pokédollars for the winner since we just wanted to battle. 

"Begin!" Brock says seeing we are ready and waiting for him to tell us to begin. 

"Leo use our intro!" I say as Leo uses Leer and Howl immediately. 

"Drak you know what to do!" Lance says to Dragonair who uses Leer and Agility at the same time Leo uses his moves. 

"Leo use Flame Charge!" I say right after as Leo covers himself in flames while running full speed at Dragonair. 

"Drak use Aqua Tail!" Lance says a second after seeing Leo charging forward. 

'Leo run past Dragonair to dodge the Aqua Tail and then use Crunch,' I say through our right after hearing Lance yell out his command. 

Leo still rushing at Dragonair waits for it to swing its tail at him. Dragonair swinging its tail at Leo covered in dense water that looks like it can cut through steel. Leo then jumps over Dragonair while cancling his Flame Charge successfully dodging the Aqua Tail. Leo then hits the ground behind Dragonair digging into the dirt doing a total turn around and bites into Dragonair who cries out in pain. Dragonair then swings another Aqua Tail at Leo who lets go of Dragonair jumping back and avoiding the swing again. 

"Drak use Rain Dance and then Water Pulse!" Lance says right after the first scuffle. 

"Leo use Wild Charge!" 'Then use Flame Charge to dodge the Water Pulse,' I say to Leo who gathers Electricity around himself and slams into Dragonair just as it finishes Rain Dance. 

Draongair cries in pain again but pushes through it releasing a Water Pulse. Leo covers himself in flames again which are slightly weaker now due to the rain. He then rushes away just as Water Pulse flies toward him. Leo runs in a zig zag pattern dodging the Water Pulse. 

"Drak use Surf!" Lance says with the same serious and calm face. 

"Leo use Head Smash!" I say since Leo is going to be hit by this most definitely and hopefully can withstand it enough to hit Dragonair one more time. 

Dragonair gathers a lot of water around itself, and Leo gathers his energy making a small layer of rock gather on his head. Then Leo charges toward Dragonair as fast as he can, with Dragonair releasing all the Water it gathered all around itself. A huge wave of water about 15ft (4.6m) tall rushes in all directions from Dragonair. Leo cries in pain as the water crashes into him, I can not see if he is unconscious due to the water covering our view. 

Just as the water crashes into the invisible wall of the battlefield, we hear another cry of pain. Then the water lowers enough to see Leo extremely hurt and dripping with water. Dragonair was sent flying back a few feet and was also very hurt now too, bleeding from Leo's last attack. Both Pokémon stare at one another with defiant looks and respect from being hit very hard but still standing. 

"Leo! Come back!" I say since this is really just a friendly battle and I don't want Leo to get more hurt for no reason. 

"Drak you come back too!" Lance says as it seems we both felt that way while we share a respectful nod to each other. 

"Uhm… Both Pokémon are withdrawn, there for it is a tie! Please send out your last Pokémon," Brock says at first confused about what just happened, but then tells us to send our next Pokémon out. 

"Primeape, go have some fun," I say as Primeape jumps out into the battlefield while giving an excited battle cry. I then heal up Leo who lays down next to me panting but giving me a happy smile at being healed up. I place a few of his favorite treats down in front of him. 

Lance seems to be doing the same thing healing up his Dragonair, before sending out a Charmeleon. Which gives a battle cry and glare at Primeape who is punching his fists together in a challenging manner. Charmeleon and Charizard are both very proud Pokémon and can be offended easily. Primeape seems to have pissed off Charmeleon by dismissing it. 

"Ready?" Brock says giving us both a look as we nod our heads to him. With the crowd of people growing larger and cheering us on. Though it seems Lance is more popular as many young women are cheering for him. 

"Begin!" Brock says seeing we are ready.