Chapter 26

The next day, Serena got out of bed feeling refreshed. She got dressed and went downstairs, where Brock, Pikachu, and Ash are already in the Pokemon Center's cafeteria and have started eating breakfast.

"Good morning, everyone," she says cheerfully.

"Good morning, Serena," Ash greets.

"You're looking cheerful," Brock comments. "Are you feeling pumped for the contest?"

"I sure am," Serena replies as she fills a tray with some food. "After all the practice I did with my Pokemon last night, I feel like I can earn that ribbon before my opponents figure out what hit them."

"That's the spirit," Ash says.

"Pikachu," Pikachu adds.

"Oh, really? Do you think it will be that easy?"

Serena turns around to find Giselle standing behind her with a cocky grin. Serena glares at her rival disapprovingly.

"Where have you been?" She asks bitterly. "We haven't seen you since Ash's rematch."

"I was hanging out on the outskirts of the city training my Pokemon," Giselle says plainly. "I need to keep my Pokemon in shape for when they earn me my ribbon."

"It's not your ribbon yet," Serena counters.

"And it's not yours either," Giselle says matter-of-factly. "But, the fact is I am prepared for you and any other competitor in the contest."

"We will see about that," Serena says.

"Oh, I suppose you will," Giselle says uncaringly as she walks away.

Serena continues to glare at the brunette girl bitterly as she walks out of sight. Then she takes a deep breath to calm herself down before she sits next to Ash and starts eating her breakfast.

"You better take it easy, Serena," Brock says. "You know Giselle is just trying to get under your skin."

"I know," Serena says. "I guess I get frustrated easily when I come across an opponent like her. It feels like I have another Miette mocking me with every chance she gets."

"Miette?" Brock asks.

"Miette is a friend of ours from the Kalos region who was Serena's rival during Pokemon showcases," Ash explains before turning to Serena. "Even so, Serena, you know the way you're acting is just what Giselle wants. Just focus on your own performance and have fun."

Serena sighs again before giving Ash a smile.

"You're right, Ash," she says. "For all I know, I won't even have to face Giselle during the battling round. I just need to focus on giving the best performance I can."

"There you go," Ash says encouragingly.

"Pikachu," Pikachu says in agreement.

*******************************************************************************

"Good afternoon, Celadon City!" Lilian calls out from the stage inside Celadon City Hall. "Welcome to this year's Celadon City Pokemon contest!"

The audience cheers in response. Brock, however, stands up and stares at Lilian with a lovestruck look.

"Wow! Lillian is looking prettier by the day!" He says before Ash forces him to sit down.

"Calm down, Brock, seriously," the raven-haired boy says. "You always say things like that whenever we see Lilian on stage."

"And now, let's start off with the winner of the Saffron City contest, Serena!" Lilian announces.

Ash, Brock, and Pikachu all stand up and cheer for Serena as loudly as possible. Serena enters the stage waving at the crowd with a bright smile before taking out her Pokeball.

"Sylveon, come on out and use Double Team," she commands.

Sylveon comes out of its Pokeball, and with a cute smile, uses Double Team, creating a dozen copies of the fairy Pokemon.

"Now project yourself into the air using Fairy Wind," Serena says.

The group of Sylveon all jump into the air doing twists and flips before they pull their feelers together, and the air around them glows blue. Then right as they are about to land on the ground face first, they spread their feelers wide open, causing a strong gust of wind that propels them higher into the air. The crowd gasps in awe as the combination of Fairy Wind creates several pink, sparkling dust all over the stage.

"Now use Swift," Serena says.

The Sylveon fires multiple golden stares at the center of the stage. The stars explode on impact, creating golden fireworks. The judges and the audience gasp again in amazement as the fireworks disappear to reveal only one Sylveon making a pose beside Serena.

"Ta-da! All done!" Serena shouts.

The crowd applauds, and Serena's heart grows warm at the sight of so many people happy with her performance. She turns to Sylveon and kneels down to hug her Pokemon. Sylveon hugs her back with its feelers before the two exit the stage.

"Wow, that performance was so awesome," Ash says.

"Yeah, Serena really worked hard on it with Sylveon," Brock agrees.

The performances go on for twenty minutes, with many other coordinators performing with their Pokemon. Most of them give entertaining performances while a few of them awkwardly mess up on their routine. Finally, Lilian comes up to announce the final competitor.

"Last but not least, making her debut right here in Celadon City, give it up for Giselle!" She says.

The audience gives Giselle a respectable applause as she enters the stage waving at them with a proud smile. Even Ash and Brock clap modestly as she tosses a Pokeball into the air.

"Marowak, go!" she shouts.

The ball opens to reveal a Marowak looking more ready for battle than performing.

"Hey, is that Marowak the Cubone Pikachu and I battled against when we were at Pokemon Tech?" Ash asks.

"I think it is," Brock says. "She did mention that she has a Marowak at Erika's store. Guess she got to keep some of the Pokemon she used at that school."

"Marowak, use Boomerang!" Giselle commands.

Marowak throws its bone into the air, and it spins high up above the audience before it loops around and heads back to its owner.

"Now hit it with Fire Punch," Giselle says.

"What?!" Ash and Brock shout.

Marowak makes a fist, and its hand catches fire before it punches its bone right as it is about to come back to it. The impact causes the bone to catch fire and spin above the audience again before it comes back to Marowak, who repeats the process. The crowd watches the fiery bone fly above their heads, amazed. Marowak continues to hit its bone with Fire Punch until Giselle speaks again.

"Now catch your bone and then use Fire Blast!" She shouts.

"Fire Blast?!" Ash and Brock exclaim.

Marowak catches its bone and starts spinning it up into the air until a large Fire Blast comes out. The Fire Blast flies high to the ceiling until it explodes into several tiny balls of fire. The audience and the judges stare at the display until they suddenly roar with applause. Giselle smirks proudly before she and her Marowak take a bow and leave.

"I hate to admit it for Serena's sake, but that was a good performance," Brock says.

"Yeah, I didn't know Marowak could know Fire Punch and Fire Blast?" Ash asks.

"Alright, the judges have made their choices, so look at the screen to see who will be moving on to the next round," she says.

Ash, Brock, Pikachu, and the rest of the audience watch the screen intently. Giselle's picture is the first to appear, followed by several others. Ash, Brock, and Pikachu start to worry about Serena until her picture appears third to last. They sigh in relief before cheering for the honey blonde girl as the audience applauds for everyone who is moving on.

"Alright, now we'll randomly decide who will compete against each other in the battle stage," Lilian announces.

The pictures on the screen get mixed together and move around until a bracket appears to show Giselle battling someone first and Serena's picture appearing on the other side.

"Okay, first up for battle is Giselle and George," Lilian announces.

The crowd applauds again, and Giselle enters the stage proudly while a younger boy with orange hair appears on the other side of the field.

"Golem, time for battle," Giselle announces as she tosses her ball, and it opens to reveal a Golem.

"Hey, I think that Golem is the same Graveler she used against Misty's Starmie," Ash says.

"That's a safe bet, Ash," Brock says.

"Doduo, let's go," the orange-haired boy named George says.

"Alright, five minutes are on the clock, so let's battle," Lilian says.

The clock on the screen starts to count down from five minutes, and Giselle and George make their battle poses.

"Doduo, use Drill Peck," George calls out."

"Oh please," Giselle says with a boastful smirk. "Golem, use Defense Curl."

Golem pulls its arms and legs into its shell and hides its head just before Doduo jumps into the air and lands right on Golem's shell, beaks first. The two-headed bird Pokemon backs away in pain while Giselle grins.

"Golem, use Earthquake," she commands.

Golem jumps high into the air and crashes into the ground feet first causing a large earthquake. George's Doduo gets hit and is flown into the air, and the poor boy grows nervous, his points bar lowers slightly.

"Doduo, use Quick Attack," he says desperately.

"Golem, use Defense Curl again," Giselle says with an uncaring sigh.

Golem hides its arms, legs, and head again as Doduo charges at it with rapid speed. The bird Pokemon rams into Golem only for it to back away in pain.

"Now use Stone Edge," Giselle says.

Golem raises its hands, and large borders appear and fly toward Doduo. The Twin Bird Pokemon is too distracted from hurting itself to dodge, and so the boulders slam on top of it. The impact creates a cloud of dust that slowly disappears to reveal Doduo on the ground with swirly eyes. George looks at his poor Pokemon devastated while the judges press their buzzards.

"Looks like Doduo was no match for Golem, so Giselle wins this round," Lilian announces.

The crowd applauds, and Giselle and her Golem wave at them before the brunette returns her Pokemon back into her Pokeball and leaves.

"That wasn't much of a performance battle," Ash comments.

"Pika, Pika," Pikachu says in agreement.

"You're right," Brock says. "I think Giselle is treating this less like a performance and more like a normal Pokemon battle. Though George wasn't very well prepared for facing a Pokemon like Golem, whether this is a contest battle or not."

Ash nods as the three of them continue watching the next several battle performances until it is finally time for Serena's first match.

"And now, for our next battle, it's Martin and Serena," Lilian announces.

Ash, Pikachu, and Brock cheer with the rest of the crowd as Serena appears on one side of the field, and a tall, confident-looking man with ruby-red hair walks over from the other side.

"Venomoth, showtime," the man named Martin says plainly as he throws a Pokeball and a Venomoth appears.

"Huh? What is that Pokemon?" Serena asks herself as she takes out her Pokedex.

"Venomoth, the poison moth Pokemon and the evolved form of Venonat," her Pokedex says. "Tiny scales on its wings disperse various spores when they are flapped."

"The poison moth Pokemon, huh?" Serena says. "Then it looks like I need to be careful since it probably knows poisonous attacks."

The honey blonde girl reaches out for her Pokeballs but hesitates with which Pokemon to take out.

"Braixen would probably do the most damage since it's a fire type, but I might have to face Giselle and her Golem, which is resistant against fire attacks," Serena thinks to herself, growing nervous. "I can only use one Pokemon throughout the entire battle stage, so I have to make it count."

She rattles her brain while Martin, Lilian, and the judges are all waiting on her. She shuts her eyes and whimpers as she tries to make up her mind.

"It's probably the best option I have," she says to herself as she takes out a Pokeball. "Poliwag, I choose you!"

She throws the ball, and it opens to reveal Poliwag happily bouncing up and down.

"Alright, battle begin," Lilian announces as the clock on the screen starts counting down from five minutes again.

"Poliwag, use Bubble Beam!" Serena calls out.

Poliwag takes a deep breath and fires several bubbles at Venomoth.

"Counter with Psybeam," Martin says plainly.

Venomoth fires a multicolored beam from its eyes, and the beam collides with Poliwag's Bubble Beam, causing a multicolored explosion that amazes the audience and causes Serena to lose points.

"Quick, use Bubble Beam again,"

"Use Disable," Martin commands.

Venomoth's eyes glow light blue, and Poliwag becomes outlined in light blue for a moment before it opens its mouth only for no bubbles to come out.

"Oh, not again," Serena says worriedly.

"Now use Confusion," Martin orders.

Venomoth's eyes glow blue again, and Poliwag is lifted up from the ground and thrown toward the wall behind Serena.

"Oh, what do I do?" Serena thinks to herself worriedly before her face turns serious. "Think, Serena. Think. Think."

Her eyes widen as she gets an idea.

"Poliwag, move your feet toward the wall and jump!" She shouts. "Then use Double Slap!"

Poliwag stops panicking as it flies toward the wall and flips its body to land on the wall feet first. Then it jumps toward Venomoth and tackles it head-on before slapping it twice with its tail.

"What?" Martin says, surprised as he loses points on the screen.

"Now, use Double Slap multiple times!" Serena calls out confidently.

Still in the air, Poliwag starts slapping Venomoth multiple times with its tail. Serena's confidence grows as Martin's points go down rapidly. The man with ruby-red hair grinds his teeth angrily, the honey blonde girl's Pokemon.

"Venomoth, use Confusion again!" Martin shouts.

Venomoth eyes glow blue, and Poliwag is lifted up into the air again.

"We're still not helpless," Serena says. "Poliwag, use Water Gun! Give it everything you've got!"

Poliwag takes another deep breath and shoots a large spiral of water from its mouth. The attack hits Venomoth, which frees the tadpole Pokemon from its psychic grasp and send its opponent crashing into the wall behind Martin. Martin stares in shock as his Pokemon falls to the ground with swirly eyes, and the judges hit their buzzards.

"Venomoth is unable to continue, so Poliwag wins!" Lilian declares.

"Alright!" Serena says happily as Poliwag runs over to her and hops onto her arms. "Great job, Poliwag. Now let's keep it up."

"Poliwag," Poliwag says happily.

For the next hour and a half, the battle round continues with Giselle continuing to simply crush her opponents with Golem rather than focusing on wowing the judges while Serena successfully bests her opponents by amazing the judges or beating her opponents by their own game. Finally, both girls make it to the final round with Giselle defeating a poor girl's Happiny and Serena outsmarting a woman with her Clefable.

"Alright, now comes the moment of truth," Lilian says. "Who will win? Giselle or Serena? Let's find out!"

The audience cheers excited for the last battle while Giselle and Serena enter the arena.

"Giselle, I'm impressed that you made this far on your debut, but that ribbon is going to be mine," Serena says confidently.

"We'll see about that," Giselle says without a care. "Go, Golem!"

"Poliwag, I choose you!" Serena shouts.

The two balls open and Golem and Poliwag come out ready for battle.

"Let the final match begin!" Lilian shouts as the timer starts again.

"Poliwag, use Bubble Beam!" Serena shouts.

"Golem, Defense Curl," Giselle says plainly.

Poliwag fires a bunch of bubbles, and Golem hides its arms, legs, and face, protecting itself from the water attack.

"Now use Rock Slide," Giselle commands.

Serena becomes uneasy with the large rocks appearing ready to attack her little Pokemon until she gets an idea.

"Poliwag, start jumping up on the rocks," she says.

Poliwag smiles and starts jumping up on each rock heading towards it.

"What?" Giselle exclaims, surprised. "Keep using Rock Slide until you hit it!"

Golem summons more giant rocks and throws it at Poliwag only for the tadpole Pokemon to jump on every single one easily with great speed. It gets higher and higher until it jumps so high from the last rock that it's above Golem.

"Now use Bubble Beam once more," Serena calls out.

Poliwag looks down and fires Bubble Beam right on top of Golem. The megaton Pokemon howls in pain, greatly affected by the water attack. Giselle grinds her teeth as Poliwag lands on the ground perfectly.

"That's it, no more Ms. Nice Girl," she snarls. "Golem, use Thunder Punch!"

"What?!" Serena, Ash, and Brock shout simultaneously in shock while they watch Golem race toward Poliwag with electricity appearing on its fist and punch Poliwag hard on the stomach. Poliwag squeals as it is sent crashing in front of Serena's feet.

"Poliwag!" She screams worriedly.

"Now, use Thunder Punch again!" Giselle orders.

Electricity appears on Golem's fist again, and it charges at Poliwag, who is still lying on the ground.

"Poliwag, please get up," Serena begs.

Poliwag whimpers in pain before it slowly opens its eyes to see Serena's pleading face. It then groans as it slowly gets up and makes it's best fighting stance.

"Impressive, but it won't stop Golem from hitting it again," Giselle taunts.

Serena scratches her chin in thought, thinking about what to do next until she gets another idea.

"Poliwag, use Water Gun on the floor in front of Golem," she says.

Giselle and the judges look at her in confusion while Poliwag fires a stream of water in front of the charging Golem. Golem runs through the water only to suddenly slip and fall down on its back. Serena and Poliwag both smile, pleased to see their opponent incapacitated.

"Oh, no!" Giselle yells in shock. "Golem, get up!"

But it is no use. No matter how hard Golem tries, the water on the floor is too slippery to get itself back up. Then Serena smirks and gets another amusing idea.

"Poliwag, get on top of Golem and start rolling it around," she says.

Poliwag smiles excitedly, understanding its trainer's command. It hops on top of Golem's shell and starts rolling it around with its feet. The judges and the crowd smile and laugh amused at Poliwag rolling Golem around the wet floor like it's balancing on a ball. Giselle's face turns deep red in frustration as she helplessly watches her Pokemon be treated like a prop.

Suddenly, a loud ding is heard, and everyone looks up on the screen to find that Giselle's point bar is completely out.

"Looks like Giselle has lost all of her points," Lilian says. "That means the winner of this year's Celadon City contest is Serena!"

"Alright!" Serena shouts happily as Poliwag hops off of Golem and jumps into Serena's arms again. "Great job, Poliwag, we did it!"

"Poliwag!" Poliwag shouts joyously as its trainer spins it around while holding it tightly in her arms.

"Yay, Serena!" Ash calls out.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu shouts.

"Way to go, Serena!" Brock shouts.

Giselle frowns bitterly as she returns Golem back into its Pokeball and leaves. Meanwhile, Serena and Poliwag meet on stage with Mr. Contesta walking over to them, carrying a ribbon.

"Congratulations, Serena," he says. "Here is your Celadon City ribbon."

"Thank you very much," Serena says before she presents her ribbon, shouting, "Alright! I got my second contest ribbon!"

"Poli, Poliwag!" Poliwag shouts happily while bouncing up and down next to Serena.

The crowd applauds even louder and Serena's smile grows at the sight of so many people happy with her performance. Even if she wanted to humiliate Giselle, it still warms her heart to see so many people happy from her and Poliwag performing together.

****************************************

Ten minutes later, Serena meets up with Ash, Pikachu, and Brock outside of Celadon City Hall. Serena is smiling proudly as she opens her ribbon case to present her new contest ribbon laying next to her first one.

"Great job, Serena," Ash compliments.

"Now you only need three more," Brock says.

"Yep, I'm on a roll," Serena says cheerfully.

"Well, lucky you," says a voice coming from behind her.

Serena jumps and turns around to see Giselle standing with her hands on her hips and a bitter look on her face.

"I just want you to know that you got lucky," she says coldly. "Your Poliwag should have been beaten to a pulp with another Thunder Punch. I don't know what the judges were thinking of taking all of my points just because Poliwag was just using Golem as a ball to do tricks on."

"Giselle, performing is part of the battling stage," Brock says. "It's not about just knocking out your opponent's Pokemon, it's about making creative spectacles and outwitting your opponent and having fun."

"You're just defending her because she is your friend," Giselle accuses.

Serena frowns and stands in front of Giselle, rubbing her arm with a guilty look.

"No, it's true," she explains. "I admit that I got the idea partly because I wanted to humiliate you after what you said to me at the perfume shop, and I'm sorry about that. But I also did it because I want to create performances that are fun, not just for myself and my Pokemon, but for all the people and Pokemon watching to smile and be happy. That dream is why I decided to compete in Pokemon contests, and that's what is expected of coordinators during the battle round who want to win ribbons and compete in the Grand Festival, not just simply defeating your opponent's Pokemon like a normal battle. That is why you lost."

Giselle keeps looking at Serena skeptically for a moment before she sighs in defeat.

"Guess it's clear that I still have much to learn about things like this with my Pokemon," she admits before giving Serena a warning glare. "Still, though, I made it pretty far on my debut, and I still caught you and your Poliwag off guard with that Thunder Punch. So you better be ready, Serena, because next time we face each other, I'll be better prepared."

Serena smiles, satisfied with her rival's response.

"I'm looking forward to it," she says.

Giselle nods and turns to Ash with a confident smirk.

"And Ash, while some of your battling ideas are sloppy, I admit that you have matured a lot as a trainer since we first met," she says. "I expect you to put your all into getting your business in order with the Viridian City gym because I'm going to enter the Indigo League stronger than ever, and I expect you to do the same."

"Right, it's a deal," Ash says with a toothy grin.

"Pikachu," Pikachu says.

Giselle chuckles with her mouth closed in amusement before turning around and saying, "Well, I better be off. You're two ribbons ahead of me, and I have much work to do to catch up."

"Alright, see you later then, Giselle," Brock says.

"Yeah, take care," Serena says.

"Bye, everyone!" Giselle says, not looking back at them as she walks away with everyone waving at her until she is out of sight.

"Alright," Ash says before turning to Serena. "Where to for your next contest?"

Serena's smiles at Ash's sincerity of following her all the way till she gets her remaining ribbons before she nods and takes out her tablet.

"The closest one that is going to start next is all the way in Fuchsia City," she says. "By the look of things, we will have to take a detour past Cycling Road to get there since none of us have bikes."

"Sounds good," Ash says. "It is a long walk, but we've taken that path before to help Celebi. Right, Pikachu?"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu says happily.

"Huh? You met a Celebi there?" Serena asks, shocked.

"Oh yeah, we did," Brock says, remembering. "Didn't Ash tell you about that?"

"I think this is another story I have yet to tell her," Ash admits before looking at Serena apologetically. "Sorry, Serena."

"Oh, it's okay, Ash," Serena says sincerely. "You can tell me all about it along the way."

"Good idea," Ash says as the three of them and Pikachu start walking. "Let's see, I think we were on our way to -"

Suddenly, Ash stops speaking when he hears the sounds of loud footsteps. The group looks at each other in confusion until they turn around to find a Primeape running towards them. It looks enraged as it is running towards them with its eyes dead sent on Ash. Everyone becomes uneasy and ready to run until Ash's look of worry turns into one of confusion.

"Hey, wait a minute," he says. "Is that -?"

Before he could finish his sentence, the Primeape tackled Ash to the ground and begins crushing his body with its arms.

"ASH!" Serena screams.