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Waxing Moon

_ DISCLAIMER: All characters and properties are copyright their respective owners. All writing and original characters are copyright 2010 Zephyr Paws. The author is in no way associated or affiliated with any third-party. This original fiction was created with no intention of any copyright infringement against any third-party, and is purely for fan enjoyment. _

-~ Chapter 6: The Contest ~-

I was suddenly released from my Poke Ball on the stage of the contest hall. Jack was to my left, dressed up in his contest uniform. Why he didn't take that suit out to dinner with Mary was beyond me, but that was the least important thing on my mind.

What was even more pressing was the audience as some laughter started picking up among the crowds.

I knew I needed to act fast in order to present myself better, just like Scotch had said. So, taking his advice, I imagined the crowd as a bunch of Wobbuffets, all wobbling and saluting in the air. That made it significantly more tolerable.

"Will Mr. Rose and Brandy perform any better this time around? Let's see what they can do as a team!" the loudspeaker boomed.

With renewed confidence, I jumped up in the air and swirled around, then landed, giving the audience a bashful smile and wink while flapping my back wings just a bit. That seemed to do a good job at shutting the Wobbuffets up, which made me feel even more at ease.

"Alright Brandy, use Ice Beam on the ground!" shouted Jack, pointing his finger forward.

I hopped over a few feet closer to the rim of the stage and, while still in the air, fired a chilling blast of ice from my finger tips with Ice Beam, freezing the stage in front of me solid.

It was a bit nerve-wracking, because I knew that I was going to land on that ice. If I slipped and fell, it'd be a disaster, but if I could pull off the moves I was thinking in my mind... I just had to keep my balance when I got on the ice.

As I landed, I started slipping a bit, but managed to slide down the ice while maintaining my balance. It was almost as if I were surfing on it. It was actually pretty fun! Maybe I should try practice that some more after the contest.

I was drawing closer to the edge of the stage, just like I was hoping I would. Jack didn't actually practice what I was about to do, and, well, for that matter, I didn't either. I was completely winging it, but since Jack didn't seem to be giving any orders, I figured I'd just go with it.

I slid off the stage, but as I did so, I flapped my wings as hard as I could to fly up into the air, starting to do a loop-de-loop, except flying further back so I would be looking down at the ice I'd made with Ice Beam.

So far so good. I was three-quarters through the circular loop, coming down at the ground. I knew that my wings weren't strong enough to carry me much further, but I also knew of something else that would keep me up in the air.

Jack didn't seem to know what I was doing, which had me a bit worried, but I wanted to impress him... if I could just pull it off, I knew it would. I knew it.

Extending my hands forward, I generated a powerful Thunderbolt from the tips of my fingers and shot the bolt of lightning right down at the ice. It served two purposes: shattering the ice beneath me, sending tons of ice crystals up into the air around me; and also keeping me airborne due to the force of the lightning.

I could hear the audience gasping, which I could only hope was a good sign. Whether it was or it wasn't didn't matter to me, though, because I wanted to finish the combo. I knew I could do it. I was finally into the groove that I needed to be in for the first contest.

Switching the Thunderbolt attack to just one finger, I started pushing myself up and spinning around like a top while riding the lightning. Doing so caused all of the ice that was being thrown in the air to circle around me as I spun around, some of it getting sparked by the lightning, illuminating the ice crystals beautifully.

During my spinning, I saw Jack standing there, speechless, appearing to be equally bedazzled by what I was doing. That made me smile confidently and gave me the strength I needed to keep my performance up.

There was one more thing that I wanted to do to finish off my performance. I could only hope that it'd work...

While still spinning around, zapping the ice beneath me with lightning, I used Minimize to shrink myself down. The ice spinning around me started losing its speed. I stopped using Thunderbolt and fell down the ground, small and tiny, seeming to vanish into the swirling ice and lightning altogether, but then emerging afterward when I canceled out Minimize.

Not sure how much longer I had and figuring I did the best I could at displaying myself, I took a bow, then winked at the audience, opening my mouth widely afterwards to cheer.

Unlike last time, the crowd went wild after my performance, all of them standing up and cheering loudly. My vision of them all being Wobbuffets faded so I could see them as the enthusiastic humans and Pokemon that they were.

"Wow, that was certainly quite the performance!" boomed the speakers. "It looks like Jack really worked hard with his Clefable, Brandy! Now let's see what the judges thought!"

"Brandy showed confidence, skill, and charm. She executed her moves beautifully and gave a splendid performance," said Nurse Joy.

The crowd cheered. "Let's see what Mr. Contesta thought!" spoke the speakers.

"Hmm, I say, that was pretty impressive. Brandy certainly used her moves and uniqueness well," said Mr. Contesta, another of the contest judges. "Mr. Rose could use more energy and excitement, not to mention synchronization with his Pokemon, but his Clefable more than compensated."

"That sounds positive!" said the voice on the other end of the speakers. "Now what about Mr. Sukizo?"

"Remarkable!" he exclaimed, giving a thumbs up.

"Let's see what the judges scores were!"

With that, the three judges held up each of their scoreboards, revealing the scores '9.0,' '8.5,' and '9.0' respectively. The crowd cheered loudly after the judges showed their scores.

"Wow, that's very impressive! There's a good chance that Jack Rose and Brandy may make it this time!" spoke the speakers. "Now, for our next contestant..."

Jack and I were led off the stage by some of the contest officials, taking us back to the familiar locker room.

As soon as the contest officials left, Jack pulled me over to him and squeezed me extremely tight. "Brandy! That was incredible!" he exclaimed, squeezing tighter and tighter. He seemed so thrilled with my performance... it made me feel really warm inside. "I've never done that good, ever!"

"I... I'm glad that I made you happy, Jack!" I exclaimed back, smiling and burying myself into his chest, nuzzling it vigorously. "Mmmm...!" It felt so good to be successful for a change. That was the only thing I was ever successful with, as far as I knew, so it felt really nice.

He then let me go just a bit and reached down for one of his Poke Balls, pressing the button in the middle to release Scotch. "Scotch! Brandy did amazing! She had two 9.0's and an 8.5!" said Jack, sounding extremely excited.

Scotch smiled back at the two of us with a very big smile on his face. "A-ah! That's great!" he exclaimed, running over to me. "H-high five, Brandy!" He reached one of his hands up in the air. "Just hit that with your hand!"

"O-okay!" I exclaimed, hitting Scotch's hand in the air with my own. "Scotch, I'm so happy...! And so excited...!"

"Remember, you still have three battles to go, though..." he said, looking at me a bit nervously. "I want you to be careful out there, okay? I know you've only battled me... but, ah, some Pokemon can be tricky."

"W-what should I do?" I asked, starting to get a little bit worried. I forgot that I'd actually have to fight other Pokemon.

"Just, um... let's see... use Ice Beam against anything rocky, sandy, hard-looking, grass-like... and Thunderbolt against any Pokemon using water, anything fishy, or anything flying. Ah, and try to use Sing, too!"

"R-really? You think that would work?"

"Yeah! Jack will probably tell you what to do anyway, or at least he should, but he might get nervous... so it'll be up to you to back him up if he doesn't know what to do."

"O-okay!" I reached in and hugged Scotch, thanking him for all of his helpful advice and support. "Thank you!"

"Y-you're welcome," he said back shyly. The Charmeleon then stepped back, placed a hand on each of my shoulders, and smiled at me. "You can do it, Brandy!"

"Aww, you two are awesome, you know that?" said Jack, who had been watching us the whole time. "I'm glad to see you getting along so well." He looked up at the TV screen and watched some more of the Coordinators perform. "I wonder when I'll see Mary..."

As soon as he said that, the TV answered his question. "And next up we have Mary Pickford and her Lopunny, Vodka!"

We watched her send out her Lopunny, then waited anxiously to see what she had in store. Jack looked absolutely amazed as he watched Mary and Vodka perform. Both of them were dancing around, hopping around, even, and Mary was wearing an outfit that looked a lot like a Lopunny looked.

Vodka would use Jump Kick to jump in the air and kick around, then land with one foot landing on Mary's hand, only to have her boost her up into the air again, giving another Jump Kick and an Ice Punch in the air.

She did a backflip and landed on her feet in front of Mary, facing the audience, and then placed her paws up to her chest, while shaking her butt a bit, winking at the TV screen. There was even a little heart that appeared off to the side of her face as she did that.

"Wow, that was amazing! Mary does it again, performing like a champion does! Let's see what the judges have to say!"

As the three judges discussed Mary and Vodka's performance, Jack looked back down towards Scotch and I. "Wow, she's really good... that was... amazing..."

The three judges held up signs that read '10,' '9.5,' and '10' respectively. When Jack looked back up at the screen, I swear his jaw dropped right out of his mouth.

"Incredible! A nearly perfect score! That's the best performance we've seen all day today!"

"Wow... she's... she's going to be really tough to beat..." He sighed. "I had no idea she was that good at contests... wow... and she's even going out with me..."

Scotch looked over at me and patted me on the shoulder. "Y-you... you can beat her, don't worry. And when you do, it'll, ah, well, it'll definitely convince Jack that you're... you're right for him. At least I hope..."

"I don't even know anymore..." I said, feeling increasingly discouraged. "I can't beat her or that Lopunny... and even if I did... I don't think Jack would... would want to be with me."

"Stop that!" exclaimed Scotch, looking at me with a serious look on his face. "You're going to do it, okay? I believe in you! It's time for you to get what you want and what you deserve!"

"But Scotch... I... I can't compete with her. I c-"

"No! You can and you will!" He placed both of his hands back on my shoulder and gave me an increasingly serious look. "Brandy, please, I know you, I know you can, ah, do this... I believe in you! I want you to be happy... and you've already come this far, so I don't want to see you settle for anything less than success, got it?"

"Scotch..." He really was too sweet. I mean, really... I actually found myself blushing again after what he said, though it wasn't just because he was flattering me, it was also because I started feeling that warm feeling in my heart again. "M-maybe I... I don't really lov-"

"Okay guys, they're about to post the top 8 contestants that are moving on. Scotch, I'll let you wait here so you can watch. Come on, Brandy!"

With that, Jack grabbed my hand and ran off with me towards the stage area, leaving me unable to tell Scotch what I was starting to feel... that maybe I didn't love Jack... maybe I was starting to fall in love... with Scotch instead. M-maybe...

We saw pictures of Coordinators appear on the big screen. The first to appear was Mary.

"Wow, so Mary got first place after all..." said Jack, sounding rather nervous.

Two more pictures of random Coordinators filled the board, but the one that came next was a pleasant surprise - it was a picture of Jack!

"Brandy!! That's me!!" he exclaimed loudly. The human reached down and grabbed both of my hands, then danced with me excitedly. "I'm in!! I made it!! We made it!! Woohoo~!"

It made me so happy to see Jack that excited and thrilled, especially knowing what part I played in that. I'd really helped make his dreams come true... at least I got him past the performance round.

The giant board showed four other Coordinators and then paired all eight Coordinators up in a single-elimination bracket. By looking at it, it looked like we wouldn't have to battle Mary until the final round if we could make it that far and if she didn't accidentally lose to any other Coordinators.

"Wow, that's really good... it looks like we won't have to take her on until the end," said Jack, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness..."

***

After checking in with the contest officials, we made our way to the waiting area where we would wait to fight against our opponent. The officials told us the rules of contest battles and how we're allowed five minutes to try either knock out or outmatch the opponent, though not necessarily through damage itself.

In a lot of ways, they were judged like the performance round, with style coming into play instead of just simple battling. That meant I'd also have to look and perform my best as well as just being able to knock out the enemy.

It was finally Jack and I's turn to fight. We walked up the steps onto one end of the stage while a younger kid also wearing glasses walked up on the other side of the stage.

"Now it's Jack Rose and Brandy the Clefable versus Duncan Macleod and Cognac the Golduck!" spoke the speakers. "You have five minutes. Begin!"

With that, Duncan sent out his Golduck, Cognac, and shouted, "Water Gun, Golduck!"

The Golduck leaped forward and sprayed some water from his mouth at me, though I managed to dodge most of it, getting only mildly soaked.

That was a good sign. Remembering what Scotch said, I should use Thunderbolt against anything that used water attacks. Forgetting to wait for Jack's orders, I waved my fingers and shot a bolt of lightning directly at the Golduck, shocking the tall duck. It looked like it was hurting pretty bad!

I hated doing that to a Pokemon I didn't even know... even though he was a male, it didn't seem right to just electrocute a Pokemon that didn't ever do anything to me. But, then again... I guess that was what contests were about... Not only that, but, for a change, I was the powerful one in control.

"A shocking hit!" spoke the speakers. "But Jack is going to have to take a small penalty for not issuing the order to use Thunderbolt."

"Ah, Brandy! Try not to use attacks unless I say so, okay?"

I looked back at Jack and nodded. I felt bad that I cost him a penalty, but I guess I got a bit excited about being able to do the right thing that... well, I ended up doing the wrong thing.

"Now, Brandy, use Sing to put Golduck to sleep!"

"Cognac, use Fury Swipes and don't let that Clefairy sing!"

"Errm, well, she's actually a Clefable, you see, Duncan," said the Golduck in a funny accent, pausing and looking back at his Trainer. He sounded a bit snobby, but thankfully didn't seem to act like it just yet. "A, um, mmm, a very pretty one at that."

I wasn't going to wait around for that Golduck. I closed my eyes and started singing in Cognac's direction, hoping that it'd be enough to make him fall asleep. I sang for a couple of seconds before opening my eyes to see the Golduck lying on the ground, curled up and sacked out.

"It looks like Cognac is asleep! It will slowly lose score until it can wake up," spoke the speakers, serving as a sort of referee of some kind.

"Brandy, zap it with Thunderbolt while it's down!"

I nodded at Jack, then jumped in the air, twirled around, and shot a strong bolt of lightning down at the sleeping duck Pokemon, frying and electrocuting it in its sleep.

"What style and finesse!" spoke the speakers.

"Good job! It's almost over!" exclaimed Jack. "Use another Thunderbolt to finish it off!"

With that, I used one more Thunderbolt attack against Cognac, sending him flying back a bit, still unconscious. Though I wasn't sure if he was unconscious from the sleep or from being hit so hard that it knocked him out.

"That's it! This match goes to Jack Rose and Brandy!"

The crowd roared and cheered as Jack went over to the center of the stage and gave me a hug in front of everyone. "You did great, Brandy!" he said to me, taking my hand and walking me off the stage towards the waiting room. "Oh," said Jack as he passed Duncan, "good job, by the way, Duncan!"

"T-thanks, chum! Good luck to you!"

***

The contest officials healed me up before the next match started, but I didn't even have time to tell Scotch how I did. He was still in the locker room. I could only hope that he saw my match on the TV... and even then, I couldn't get anymore advice from him... so I had to do it on my own, with Jack, taking to heart everything that he told me and warned me about.

We were led on the stage once again, now standing across from a burly looking man with dark skin wearing a tank top shirt, camouflage pants, and a bandanna topping his head with long blond hair crawling down from it.

"Our second semifinal match is just about to begin to see who gets to fight Mary Pickford and her stunning Lopunny, Vodka, for the first place prize! This match is between Jack Rose and his Clefable, Brandy, and Harvey Wallbanger and his Croagunk, Grog!"

The burly Harvey reached for his Poke Ball and released it ahead of time, revealing a small purple Pokemon with black markings on it as well. It had white marks on its arms with black fingers. The curious-looking frog Pokemon made a ribbiting noise as it inflated the orange sac on its face several times.

"Okay Coordinators! You have five minutes. Begin!"

"Grog, you know what to do! Element of surprise, son!" shouted the burly man, laughing with a deep, bellowing voice.

The Croagunk seemed completely unphased, still sitting there just as it was without taking any action at all, despite his Coordinator's orders.

"Hmmm... Brandy, try hit it with Ice Beam to cool it down," said Jack, sounding a little unsure about himself.

Following orders, I started running towards the frog Pokemon. I extended my finger towards him and fired a chilly blast of ice right his way.

In an instant, the Croagunk vanished entirely. The next thing I knew, I felt a strike to my back, knocking me forward and onto my belly on the ground in front of me. What happened?

"Oh, a deceiving Sucker Punch! What a clever tactic!" spoke the speakers.

"Haha, boy, you needa keep your eye on the prize," said Harvey to Jack, taunting him with his words. "Now, while that thing's down, hit it with Brick Break!"

"Dodge it!" shouted Jack.

I quickly rolled to my side, just quick enough to narrowly avoid getting hit by the Croagunk's arm as it chopped into the ground where I was. That was close!

"Give it a Thunderbolt!"

"Counter it with Sucker Punch, Grog!"

Just as I fired a bolt of electricity from my fingertips over towards Grog, I saw him disappear entirely again and strike me from behind, sliding me across the stage.

"Wow, another successful use of Sucker Punch! Harvey's strategy seems to be working excellently so far, already with 60% of Jack Rose and Brandy's contest health depleted! With four minutes left on the clock, will Jack be able to recover?"

"Yeeeaaaahh~! That's the stuff, son!" exclaimed the burly Harvey. "Now, boy, you're gonna get the pants kicked off of you! Poison Jab, Grog!"

"Ah! Brandy!"

I didn't have enough time to react as I found myself hit with another of the Croagunk's painful punches. His Poison Jab attack smacked me in the back and sent me flying even further off the stage. Thankfully I didn't feel poisoned after the attack, but it still weakened me a lot.

Fighting that Croagunk was particularly difficult because it seemed to counter me any time that I would try attack it. If I could dodge Grog when he tried hitting me with Sucker Punch, then perhaps I'd be able to hit him back with an even stronger hit when he was least expecting it, but I wasn't sure if Jack figured that out.

Not wanting to lose the fight due to Jack not knowing what to do, I decided to take initiative myself, finding myself wrapped up in the heat of the battle. I used Minimize to shrink myself down in size and hopefully make it easier to avoid Grog's onslaught.

"Oh, it looks like Brandy used Minimize! Again, without the direct order or indication of her Coordinator, Jack will suffer a small penalty."

The penalty was worth it, though. I could tell that Jack looked scared since I was close enough to him to see that look in his face. It was a look of uncertainty and nervousness, one that I'd seen before. Perhaps it was because I had yet to hit that Croagunk and it wasn't looking too good for us...

"Brick Break, go!" ordered Harvey, shouting in that deep, bellowing voice, ordering his Croagunk to attack.

I could only hope to dodge Grog's Brick Break attack, because it wasn't the Sucker Punch that I was hoping he'd use.

To my surprise, though, just as I started rolling onto my back to escape the Brick Break, the Croagunk stopped and looked at me, blinking a few times and then blushing. Suddenly, he started walking a little wobbly, holding his two hands up to his head like a pillow while looking at me.

"Oh, it seems Brandy's Cute Charm ability must have attracted the male Croagunk! Will he be able to attack her despite his attraction?"

"Whaaaaaat~!?" exclaimed Harvey in that usual loud voice. "Aw, nah, nooooo way, bro! Hit it with Brick Break, come on!"

I had managed to stand up during the time that Grog was confused - or attracted, rather - but that didn't change the fact that he was going to try to hit me again. I tried hopping off to the side, but saw that he didn't even swing his fist and just looked at me with an extremely goofy look.

"Well what do 'ya know... ha ha... Okay, Brandy, use Doubleslap to hit it a few times!" shouted Jack, sounding energized again and confident enough to give orders.

I brought my arm back and prepared to slap the infatuated Croagunk... but I felt really uneasy about having to hit it, especially if it was attracted to me like that... it didn't seem right to slap anything, much less something that wasn't even thinking straight.

I just couldn't do it. It reminded me of the times I'd been slapped... and how emotionally painful it was. It was just a contest... n-no, it wasn't just a contest, it was a contest that I was fighting to win! I was fighting to win it for Jack! I had to slap that Croagunk... I-... I...

"Brandy, come on!"

"Ha ha, it looks like she likes my Grog, too! Come on, hit 'er with Sucker Punch before she does anything."

Grog shook his head again and then used Sucker Punch, disappearing right before I was about to attack - slap or not.

That was it! I had to dodge him attacking me from behind and then hit him back. I could use anything but Doubleslap and be happy about it. Right when I heard the Croagunk appear from behind me, I twirled around and narrowly dodged its Sucker Punch, causing it to land on the ground on its face.

"Now's your chance, Brandy! Use Ice Beam to try and freeze it there!"

Following Jack's orders, I used Ice Beam, aiming for the fallen Croagunk's hands and feet with my icy beam of... ice. I managed to lock down the fighting frog, then continue blasting his back with the cold beam of arctic air.

"Ow! Grog is really taking that hit! His health is depleting rapidly, but with only forty seconds left, will he be able to hold out long enough to win anyway?" spoke the speaker, reminding me that I was running out of time.

"Come on, son, get up!" shouted Harvey, stomping his feet and sounding very nervous.

"Brandy! Do that move that you did in the performance round! The one with Thunderbolt!" exclaimed Jack, giving me a very good idea that might just win the thing.

I nodded as I looked back to him. "Right!" I then jumped forward, landing on the Croagunk's back and skated across him, then jumped off of him and started flying in a loop-de-loop fashion.

Just like earlier, I flew upside-down and right when I was about to crash into Grog, I used Thunderbolt to shatter the ice beneath me, sending ice crystals flying up by me and zapping the poor lovesick toad, all while keeping myself propelled in the air.

"Spectacular! What a difficult move to pull off, but look how beautiful it is!"

I kept zapping Grog with everything I had, trying my hardest to keep him stunned down there for the next few seconds, knowing that the ice keeping him down had shattered. My only hope was to run out the clock and keep the move going.

But I also remembered what Scotch told me, how it's not just about damage... so I decided to take the last few seconds to switch to using just one hand to fire the electricity down at Grog while using the other to help me spin around and swirl the electric ice shards all around me. It didn't do any extra damage, sure, but I was hoping that it would wow the crowd and judges enough.

"Fantastic! Brandy is even using that same spin maneuver!" A loud buzzer sound could be heard as time had been called. "That's time! Coordinators, cancel your Pokemon's attacks."

"Brandy, that's good!" exclaimed Jack.

I stopped my attack immediately, jumping down and taking a bow next to the Croagunk, earning a round of applause from the crowd.

"Let's look closely here... bring up the percentages - it looks like this is going to be too close to call!" spoke the speakers. As if on cue, the little yellow circle with black showing contest health lost changed to a percentage reading, showing '24%' underneath Jack and '22%' underneath Harvey.

"Noooooooo~!!" shouted Harvey, pulling off his bandanna and gnawing on it in a frustrated manner. "I had you, squirt, I HAD you!"

"Ha ha, well, it looked like your Croagunk was the one that had something. It had a thing for Brandy!" said Jack with a laugh, walking across the stage to shake his opponent's hand. Harvey didn't want to shake at first, but eventually gave in and gave Jack a big hug, nearly squeezing the poor human.

It was gestures like that that really reflected Jack's character. He seemed to always be a good sport about things. Though he was pretty disappointed after the last contest, he seemed to be in much better spirits in the one I was in now, and perhaps that showed off his sportsmanship a bit better.

I admired that about him and wanted to try do the same... so I turned around and reached down for the Croagunk's hand, grabbing it and helping him up. "I'm sorry... um, I didn't really want to hurt you..."

It stood up, shook its head a bit, and then crouched down in the same pose it was in at the start of the battle, inflating and deflating its orange sacs along the side of its face. "You're... cute... you're... cute..."

I blushed and smiled, actually finding it rather funny, but then walked over to Jack and hugged his side.

"Congratulations Jack Rose and Brandy! You two will be moving on to the final round to take on Mary Pickford and her Lopunny! Go ahead and get your Pokemon healed while we take a short break."

A contest official led Jack down off the stage, but took him to a different room instead. The room had Nurse Joy in it, who was standing by with a Chansey behind the desk, in sort of a makeshift Pokemon Center.

Jack put me in my Poke Ball temporarily, handed me to Nurse Joy, and I felt all healed. He released me immediately afterward, then gave me a huge hug.

"We did it, Brandy! We're in the finals!" He seemed so incredibly happy about that. It made me really glad to see... "Except that means we have to fight Mary. Wow... win or lose I'm going to be happy."

"Oh, excuse me, Mr. Rose," said Nurse Joy as she approached Jack. "We found your Pokemon, Scotch, in the locker room watching the TV set. As you will be guaranteed a prize, we took the liberty of gathering all of your things so you don't need to go back there." She looked back over to one of the open doors. "Come here, Scotch!"

Another Chansey led Scotch out, who quickly ran over to me and gave me a huge hug. It caught me off-guard that he ran to hug me before Jack, his Trainer and best friend for a long time... but it also made me really happy for some reason.

"I- I, ah... I'm so proud of you!" exclaimed Scotch, nuzzling himself into my chest and soaking it with his tears. "Y-you d-did so good! I saw it all!"

"I... I did..." It seemed almost too hard to believe that I actually had gotten as far as I did. To think that I managed to make such a significant improvement in just a week. It was certainly rather difficult and I knew that Jack and I still had a lot of work to do, but contests were actually kind of fun...

Of course, no matter how far I thought I had gotten, I knew that there was still one more fight I'd have to go through... I'd have to fight Vodka, Mary's Lopunny. There was no way that I could beat her... despite how badly I wanted to.

Contrary to what Jack felt, though, I wouldn't feel happy win or lose. If I lost against Vodka, it'd mean that Mary would be the winner, that I didn't have enough strength or skill to beat her - which, okay, I guess was rather obvious - and that Jack would wind up with Mary... I wouldn't have done anything to prove myself to him. But even if I won, he'd still probably be with her...

It was so difficult, because I wanted to win. I knew it was close to impossible given Mary's skill at contests. But... but... if I didn't give it my all... if I didn't do everything it took to win... I'd lose Jack.

Snapping me out of my thoughts was the laughter of my friend, Scotch, who was still hugging me tightly and trying to spin me around with him. It was great to see him happy, but despite his laughter, I still saw tears running down his face. I couldn't tell if they were tears of joy or something else, but I did know that it meant a lot that he was there for me.

"Okay, we're ready for you, Jack," said the announcer, holding a microphone and waving Jack and I over. "Your Charmeleon can watch from in here, don't worry."

"Wish me luck, buddy!" said Jack, waving back at Scotch.

"Scotch..." I said as well, slowly and softly...

"You can do it, Brandy!" he shouted back, closing his eyes and waving back at me, not giving me a chance to say thank you to him.

***

"Ladies and gentlemen," said the announcer as she walked up on the stage before the two of us.

It was the same voice that had been making all of the announcements in the speaker. Actually, she was projecting her voice into the speakers, so now I knew where it was coming from.

"It's time for our final match of the Hearthome Pokemon Contest! I'd like to introduce you to Mary Pickford and her Lopunny, Vodka! Give 'em a round of applause!" She directed her free hand over to one side of the stage as Mary and Vodka walked up from the steps and onto the other side of the stage. The announcer then walked over to Mary. "So Mary, what part of the Pokemon world do you hail from?"

The microphone was put in front of Mary's mouth. "I'm from Pewter City in Kanto!"

"Oh, yes, it's a beautiful city, Pewter City," said the announcer as she brought the microphone back to her. "The city of stone and fossils. How do you like Sinnoh so far, Mary?"

"It's certainly quite nice. I like Mt. Coronet quite a lot and I like that you can see it from anywhere in the region."

"Yes, yes you can, except perhaps Canalave City, ha ha!" The announcer then walked over to the center of the stage again. "Now I'd like to introduce the second Coordinator who has made it this far! Give a warm welcome to Jack Rose and his fairy tale rise to the final round, along with the fairy tale herself, Brandy the Clefable!"

I was cued to go on stage along with Jack, so I followed right behind Jack as he walked over to his side of the stage, then waved over at the audience. I did the same, of course, and it felt really nice to hear the audience cheer us on so much.

"Jack, it's sure great to see you up here today. Last week's performance was a little less than stellar. Do you have any thoughts you'd like to share on how you've improved?"

"Yeah! It's because I've got two awesome friends in Brandy and my Charmeleon, Scotch! They're real troopers."

"Yes, it's certainly quite the story you've got there. Now Jack, I'm sure the audience would love to know where you're from. Care to tell them?"

"I'm from Viridian City."

"Oh, another Kanto Coordinator! Not to mention one so close to your opponent, Mary." Wait, did that mean that Jack was from Kanto, too? How come he never told me about that? "Are you two friends?" the announcer asked.

Jack smiled and nodded. "Y-yeah, you could say that." He was blushing and putting his hands behind his head a bit embarrassedly.

"Nothing like a fight between friends for the final fight of a fantastic contest!" The announcer then walked over to the center of the stage. "Now let's get this contest battle started." She walked down the steps behind the stage, though was still visible. "Jack, Mary, Vodka, and Brandy... you have five minutes... begin!"

"Use Agility!" shouted Mary to her Lopunny, who quickly followed her orders by hopping around in circles, increasing in speed to the point where she was leaving a trail behind her.

"Wow, um... Brandy, better use Sing to try and put her to sleep!" said Jack, sounding a bit uncertain of what to do. At least putting her to sleep sounded like a good idea.

Hopping forward myself, I then placed one of my hands on my chest while extending the other out towards Vodka and began singing, hoping to put the Lopunny to sleep.

"It looks like Brandy is trying to force Vodka to have a quick nap! Will she be successful?" remarked the announcer, commenting on the fight like she'd done the whole time.

"Don't fall asleep, Vodka! Quick, get over there and use Jump Kick!" said Mary.

I opened my eyes while I was singing to keep an eye on Vodka. She was hopping over to me at a very quick pace, but right when she got near me, she took one hop forward and then fell face first into the stage. It looked like she was sleeping!

"Yes!!" exclaimed Jack, jumping up and down for joy.

"Brandy has succeeded in putting Vodka to sleep! Not only that, but Vodka's rather poor fall will certainly cost some contest health!"

"Use Ice Beam to freeze her in place!" shouted Jack, confidently pointing his finger right at the sleeping Lopunny.

I hopped back, getting enough distance from Vodka to play it safe, and then fired a beam of ice from my fingertips right at the downed Lopunny, hitting her directly and freezing some of the ground around her.

"So far Brandy has been performing flawlessly! But can she keep it up? Will Vodka wake up in time to change the score? A bit more than four minutes remain!"

"Vodka, please, get up! Vodka!!" shouted Mary, stomping her feet and trying anything to get her Pokemon to awaken. "Jack, that was a pretty good move!"

Jack laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "T-thank you!" He looked rather distracted after hearing that compliment.

I wasn't about to let him get distracted like that, though, so I ran a few feet and then hopped up on the Lopunny, sliding along the ice on her, though unfortunately found myself tripping and unable to pull off the move I was hoping to do. I guess it had to happen sometime...

"Ow! Looks like Brandy took a bit of a tumble while attempting what appeared to be her signature move! That's going to cost her..."

While I was on the ground, I noticed Vodka opening her eyes and looking at me. "You know you can't win. Why do you bother trying?"

It didn't look like she was in a position to do anything about it. I got up and glanced down at her. "Because I want to impress Jack. I want to win for him."

All of a sudden, the Lopunny smashed the ice covering her legs and did a backflip, freeing her from the rest of the ice. She then looked at me with her hands on her hips, leaning forward just a bit. "You're really ugly, did you know that, cream puff?"

"I... I don't care," I said back to her, genuinely not being hurt by her comment. It didn't matter to me. "I know I have friends that care about me... if I were prettier, that would just mean more males would-..." I stopped myself, not wanting to say too much to the Pokemon that I didn't really care for.

She stood up straight and raised her paw up to her head, then laughed into it. "Ha ha, they'd what? Have sex with you? You're right, they would, and because you're ugly you probably aren't getting any."

How far she was from the truth. I'd had more than enough and I hated most every bit of it because, in the end, it was with Pokemon that didn't care. Pokemon that probably deserved the likes of her, really. I was better than that.

"It appears the two Pokemon are having a word or two to say to each other while their Coordinators are figuring out what to do."

"Oh, whoops! Vodka, use Jump Kick and hit her hard!"

"Brandy, try dodge it!"

Vodka's speed made it impossible for me to dodge. The next thing I knew, Vodka had jumped up into the air and smashed down at me, hitting me right in the chest with her powerful foot and knocking me into the ground.

"Massive damage! That looked painful!" said the announcer with passion.

It did really hurt, I had to admit. It was one of the roughest blows I'd taken throughout the whole contest, if not the roughest, but I knew I had to get up from it.

I cautiously got up and stood steady, looking at Vodka staring at me, arms crossed and looking tough. "Go ahead, why don't you try attacking me and see where it gets you?"

"Brandy... use Thunderbolt on her to try paralyze her! That might slow her down!" exclaimed Jack as he clenched his fist and raised it to the air energetically.

I went along with it, charging up a bolt of electricity in my fingertips and then firing that stream of electricity right at Vodka.

"Mirror Coat!" shouted Mary.

With that, Vodka spun around and reflected the entire attack right back at me with her powerful ears. I was stricken with my own Thunderbolt! The electricity hit me pretty hard, not to mention it caught me off-guard.

"Weak," said the Lopunny, bringing a paw up to her eye and sticking her tongue out at me.

"Ah!" exclaimed Jack. "T-try Ice Beam!"

I shook the static pain off and charged up some frigid ice in my hands before firing a powerful Ice Beam right at the Lopunny, though was worried that she'd use Mirror Coat again to reflect it back at me.

"Do it again!" exclaimed Mary, giving Vodka the order I feared the most.

Vodka spun around once more and reflected the Ice Beam right back at me, blowing the icy stream of energy right at me and striking me much harder than the Thunderbolt did. Enough to knock me back several feet and feel incredibly cold from it.

"Without those attacks, what are you going to do? Sing at me again?" said Vodka in a teasing manner. "You know you only won those fights because you were going up against dumb males, right?"

It was somewhat true... my two previous opponents were both male. But I did a lot more than just win based on my gender. Even though that Croagunk was attracted to me, I was taking him pretty well... though... he would have knocked me out with Brick Break had he not have been attracted...

"Looks like you don't know what to do now, Jack," said Mary. "I knew that Mirror Coat would mess you up pretty good. And contest rules state that you're allowed to use only one other move, since you've used three different ones so far."

"She's right..." I could hear Jack say to himself. "Fine! Brandy... use Sing!"

I jumped back a few feet, though found it a lot harder to do so with the level of pain I was in, and started singing like I usually did, but keeping my eyes open just in case Vodka tried attacking me.

"Jump Kick!"

Following Mary's orders, Vodka jumped forward and came at me with a crushing kick, knocking me down onto the ground again in a very painful way. I had fallen so I was on my back.

Vodka started walking over towards me and looked down. "You know your friend, Scotch, right?" she asked, pausing and waiting for her Coordinator's command.

"Y-yes..." I said back, wondering what she was going to say while I also waited for Jack's orders.

Before Vodka could finish what she was going to say, Jack went ahead and gave his orders. "We're running out of time... I have to just trust that we get lucky! Brandy! Use Metronome!"

While still on the ground, I started waving my fingers in the air to use Metronome. The problem with Metronome was that its effects were always entirely random, copying any known attack in existence. I knew that Jack was desperate if he was having me use that... but then again, there weren't any other options I had, because I doubted I'd be able to Doubleslap her effectively.

Before the Metronome attack finished, though, Vodka went ahead and said what she was going to. "I fucked him so hard earlier in the locker room." That caused me to freeze and stop what I was doing entirely. "I had him pinned down and rode that poor lizard like a toy. You could have been his first if you acted sooner, but now he loves me, not you."

Hearing that completely threw me off. Scotch... you... you mated with her...? Her...? She may have forced you into it... she... she might have raped you... maybe he was struggling and didn't want to... or maybe he really did want to... maybe Vodka was right... maybe Scotch wanted to mate with me and never had the courage to ask.

Scotch... What you did to him, Vodka, wasn't right... I knew Scotch better than that, but I wouldn't put anything past that wicked Lopunny.

I quickly got up and charged at her, using the Doubleslap attack that I couldn't bear myself to use earlier. Vodka deserved it. She deserved every slap across the face she received by me. And thankfully I managed to hit her five times straight across the face, knocking her down on the ground that final time.

"What a powerful string of slaps!" The announcer paused and looked over to one of the judges, who was waving a red card in the air. "Oh, it looks like there's an issue."

A contest official ran over to the announcer and whispered something in her ear.

"It seems that Jack violated the rules, using five different attacks in a single contest battle! He will be penalized 25% of his contest health, which exceeds his remaining conte-"

"Wait!" exclaimed Mary. "I... I'd rather win fairly. Jack may have told Brandy to use Metronome, but she never finished the attack. It would be just the standard penalty for disobedience."

The announcer looked over at the judges at the side, who whispered to each other for a few seconds before nodding and raising a green card back.

"It appears that Mary is correct: Jack's Clefable, Brandy, never actually executed the attack, so the penalty is just the standard 5%, but Jack is unable to use moves other than the four he's chosen." She pointed up to the screen, which had the timer frozen. "There are 55 seconds remaining, which was what the clock was at before the penalty. Jack's new contest health score is 19% while Mary's is 34%. Resume your match, Coordinators!"

"Thanks, Mary..." Jack said over to Mary, who just smiled and nodded.

"I play by the rules." She looked over at her Lopunny. "Now Vodka, use Jump Kick against Brandy and let's win this thing!"

"My pleasure," said Vodka as she hopped up and quickly jumped forward, knocking me back with another painful kick.

I knew that I couldn't mess up anymore. I was running out of time and, though I couldn't look at the clock, I knew that I had to be low on that contest health score. Now I was wishing that I had used Metronome instead... Guillotine would have been great to use through that.

"Brandy... um... d-do what you need to! I trust you!" shouted Jack, giving me permission to basically do whatever I needed until further instruction. Scotch told me about that, that if a Coordinator tells a Pokemon to do whatever, they won't get penalized.

Scotch... maybe that was why he was hugging me so tight and he was crying... he didn't tell me... he didn't tell me what that poor Lopunny put him through... I wanted to get her back for that. I knew I absolutely had to!

I got up, gritting my teeth as the pain started kicking in even more, though the adrenaline I had going through my body was enough to put the pain aside for the next 40 seconds or so. I had one shot at winning and I wasn't about to blow it.

I charged at Vodka, furious enough with her to use another Doubleslap attack. She failed to dodge and took four more slaps across the face before once again getting knocked down to the ground. But before I could give her a chance to get up or spin around, I quickly used Ice Beam to send a chilling blast right down at her.

It froze her in place on the ground! Perfect!

"Ha ha... ha... I screwed your sweetheart, I screwed your sweetheart, brr," said Vodka in a teasing manner as she struggled to break free from the ice. She failed to break free due to her being on her back, making it a bit more difficult than before. She must have been trying to get me to do something reckless like I did before by taunting me like that.

I had to act quickly and rationally. I ran forward and slid on the Lopunny, sliding along her belly, past her chest, and nearly tripping on her face. Thankfully I managed to jump right off on her face and start doing my 'signature move,' as the announcer lady said.

Using my wings to guide me just enough, I did a loop-de-loop in the air, and then three-quarters of the way through, when I was staring right down at the frozen Lopunny, I used Thunderbolt down at her.

"Mirror Coat! Mirror Coat!" shouted Mary, but it was no use; Vodka was unable to comply.

The stream of lightning shattered the ice on top of Vodka and sent many shiny crystal ice shards flying up towards me while she convulsed due to the electricity beneath me.

Not wanting to waste any time, I shifted so I was shooting the lightning with just one finger while I extended my other arm, then started spinning around, swirling all of the sparkling ice around me in a vortex.

To add one final step to the combo, I opted to do something I'd never done before. I lifted myself up a bit so I was now horizontal, still having the ice shards spin around me and still zapping the Lopunny with one hand. I then flapped my wings to guide the swirling ice shards right down at Vodka.

It felt so satisfying seeing each and every shard strike her. I finally ran out of the energy to use Thunderbolt, so I just floated down to the side and panted as I watched for a response from Vodka.

"Pink... bitch..."

That same loud buzzer from earlier rang out. Immediately afterwards, the announcer shouted, "Time's up!"

It was over. It was finally over. I wasn't sure if I'd done enough to pull through... I wasn't even watching the scores.

"It looks like it's going to be another extremely close call!" As I glanced over to the giant display board, it showed both Vodka and I having just a sliver of contest health left. "In fact, it's too hard to make out, so let's check the actual percentages!"

The board changed and showed exact percentages rather than the meter. Beneath Mary it read '2.5%' and beneath Jack it read '2.9%.'

"Amazing! Talk about down to the wire! But folks, it looks like our victor here today is Jack Rose, squeaking by at the last minute by a margin of less than half a percent!" The announcer walked over to Jack, grabbed his hand, and raised it up in the air with her. "Congratulations Jack Rose and Brandy! You've earned yourself the prize of the Hearthome Ribbon as well as 10,000 Poke Dollars!"

Jack signaled for me to come over and join him, so I did, albeit rather slowly due to my injuries. When I got over to him, he hugged me tightly and lifted me up into the air before hugging me again. "Brandy!! We did it!! You did it!! Wahaaaa~!"

I saw Mary return Vodka to her Poke Ball in the corner of my eye before walking over to Jack and I. "Good job, Jack. And you, too, Brandy. You really did pretty good!"

Jack set me down and then reached his arm behind his head, scratching it bashfully. "Thanks..."

Mary leaned in forward and placed her hands on Jack's face, then kissed him passionately right in front of me and the rest of the audience. You could hear the audience cheering them on as they went at it, but it felt completely silent to me... after everything I'd just done for him, he was still kissing Mary and not me...

"Well, it looks like there are no hard feelings after this match!" said the announcer with a chuckle.

At least no hard feelings between those two... It felt like my heart was shattering watching the two kiss like that. Everything that I worked so hard for... it was all so I could be the one in Jack's arms... so I could be the one he was kissing...

Despite the fact that I was injured and the victorious winner, I didn't want to be up in front of the audience anymore... I didn't want to be in front of Jack and Mary... I just wanted to go away...

I walked down the steps without anyone noticing and went back into the waiting room that Scotch was waiting in.

***

As soon as I walked in, Scotch immediately noticed me and went running over to me, nearly tackling me to the ground and embracing me in a huge hug, once again crying into my chest. "You w-won! B-Brandy... I'm s-so happy... so happy... but... s-s-so s-sorry..."

"Scotch..." I had remembered what Vodka said during our fight... about her mating with Scotch. I worried so much for him the first two times I saw the two of them together because he looked so powerless and uncomfortable. The thought of him getting raped by her... or at the very least persuaded into doing something he'd rather not do... "A-are... are you okay?"

He pulled himself away from my chest and stared up into my eyes. He looked so completely sincere staring like that... But not only that... he looked so... caring... so worried...

"I- ah... I j-just... I saw J- Jack and Mary..."

"N-no! Scotch...! I mean you, not me!" I said, wanting to make it clear to him that I wanted to know how he was. He always seemed to deflect his problems and tie them into my own... "How are you, Scotch? You?"

"I... I feel bad... and, ah, v-very unsettled..." He glanced off to his side, looking very distant and uneasy about something. I had a feeling I knew what it was...

Knowing what happened earlier between him and Vodka, I wanted to know that I would have supported him if he needed it... I felt awful thinking that he was pressured into mating with Vodka. In fact, when I thought about it, right before we left breakfast he was about to ask me what mating felt like...

I should have known... I should have been there for him... I would have gladly mated with Scotch if it meant keeping him from making such a mistake as getting abused by that Lopunny in a similar way to how I was abused... I mean, sure, I knew that there had to be some sort of difference... but even the fact that they mated told me that there was at least something I could have done better for him...

"I'm... I'm sorry, Scotch..." I said to him. He looked back up at me, looking a little confused. "I... um... I would have... I..." It was actually a lot harder to say than I thought it'd be because I cared about him so much and didn't want to rub it in any... "I would have... I would have mated with you if you asked..."

His eyes lit up wider than I'd ever seen them light up before. It was like someone was painting his face pure red in just the few seconds after I said that, because his face turned just about that red after I said that. Not only that, but his mouth was inadvertently left open the whole time. "W-w-w-w-wh-... wha?!"

"Hey guys," said Jack, coming from behind me. "Great news! If we go now, we can get on the plane Mary's taking to Pewter! So let's get going!" He walked over to grab his backpack and put it around his back. "Wow, looks like Scotch is pretty happy about our victory. Okay, bud, time to go." Without allowing any more time for Scotch to answer, he returned the Charmeleon to his Poke Ball.

"And hey, Brandy, I'm really proud of you!" said Jack as he pet me on the forehead.

"Come on, Jack! We're gonna be late!" shouted Mary from the entrance to the waiting room.

"Alright! Let's go, Brandy. My little champion!" He reached for his other Poke Ball and pressed the button in the middle of it, returning me back to my capsule and keeping me isolated from Scotch, right at the time we needed each other the most.

I couldn't help but worry that maybe I'd said the wrong thing to him... that I somehow offended him or crossed that line... but without Jack in my future, at least as someone who loved me... maybe... maybe the one I was meant to be with was in front of me the whole time.

But with Vodka becoming an unofficial member of the party thanks to Jack's closeness with Mary... perhaps I was too late. It would figure... wouldn't it...?

-~ End of Chapter 6 ~-