A Rare Sight

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder: Part one

“Heh, this will be good,” I thought to myself.

I looked at my wristwatch; according to the schedule, we should be docked very soon.

“3…2…1,” I pointed to the ceiling.

*HHHHOOOOONNNNKKKKKK*

Just like a ripple effect, the boat’s horn had gone off, signaling everyone that the boat had docked into Slateport City.  All at once, Treeco, Buddy, Chole, Linoone, and Ruby jumped out of their beds as if they were on fire and screaming bloody murder.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” I said.

Everyone began to groan.

“Screw you Garrett,” Chole said while rubbing her head.

“No need to get grumpy now; you heard the boat, we need to get off.”

“Alright *sigh* alright fine.”

It was such a beautiful day that I decided not to put my Pokemon in their Pokeballs.  We all stepped outside the boat and stared at the port city, beautiful sandy beaches, hotels and giant shopping mall; it was like a dream vacation.  Ruby had somehow climbed on my back and was now sitting on my shoulders without me even knowing.  Ruby’s eyes began to expand as she looked out in the horizon.

“Larrrrrr!!!” Ruby yelled as she sat-jumped on my shoulders. 

“I agree Ruby, nice going Garrett, I could use a vacation,” Chole patted my back.

“For what?!  All you ever did was do one battle and then drain my wallet for berries!  Besides, we’re not here on vacation; this was the fastest way to get to Mauville City.”

“Oh come on, it wouldn’t hurt if we stayed for a few days, plllleeeeeaaassseee,” Chole fluttered her eyes at me.

“No Chole, I already spent so much on tickets to get us here.”

Chole began to pout, “fine!  Man you’re such a drag sometimes.”

“Larrr,” Ruby said with a sad tone.

I began to pet Ruby, “I’m sorry Ruby; believe me, if we could stay here longer then I would let us stay but we have to keep on moving if we are ever going to get all eight badges before the next Pokemon League.”

I picked Ruby up from my shoulders and hugged her, “I promise you, I’ll make it up somehow.”

“Lar!” Ruby began to hug me back.

“Come on guys, lets go to the Pokemon Center and have some breakfast.”

Before stepping off of the ship I began to feel a hand in my pocket, I reached into the pocket to find some kind of business card, it had a phone number and a note, it read, “If you ever need help, call me.  From Jade.”

“Huh, interesting,” I said. 

We all walked toward the center, enjoying our surroundings as we headed over there.  After about ten minutes of walking we finally reached the Pokemon Center, we all went up to the front counter and I pull out everyone’s Pokeball.

“I know you have had plenty of rest from the cruise but I still want you all to get checked out from the cave incident, alright?”

Everyone nodded except Ruby who, no doubt, was frightened to leave my side.  Buddy leaped up to the counter while I returned Treeco and Linoone into their Pokeballs.

I then took out Ruby’s ball, “Ok Ruby your turn.”

“Larr!!”  Ruby shoved the ball away and cowered in fear.

“What’s wrong Ruby?” I asked her.

“Lar Larvitar Lar!”

Chole tugged at my pant leg and whispered to me, “she said that she’s scared.”

I then looked at Ruby and gave her another hug.

“It’s alright Ruby, you don’t need to be frightened, this nurse here is just going to make sure that you’re okay.”

“Lar!!” Ruby buried her face in my shirt.

“Please do this Ruby, I want you to be healthy, please be a big girl for me.  I’ll tell you what, I may not have enough money to stay in one of these fancy hotels, but if you go with her, we can spend the night here in the Pokemon Center.  How does that sound hmm?”

Ruby looked at me and then wiped the tears from her eyes and then nodded.

“Awesome,” I gave her another big hug.

“How about this, I won’t put you in your ball and you can go with Buddy.  Does that sound better?”

“Lar!”  Ruby smiled.

I then handed Ruby to the nurse, “why hello there you cutie.  What is your name?” the nurse asked.

“Lar,” Ruby said in a frightened voice.

“Don’t worry; I’ll make sure your Eevee is right next to her.”

“Thank you, and please tell me if there is anything wrong with her, I had just recently caught her.”

“Of course, would you like me to take your Charmander as well?”

“Nah, she hasn’t fought since the last town, she’s fine.”

“Very well,” the nurse picked up the cart of Pokeballs and left with Ruby and Buddy.

Chole and I then walked over to a bench outside; being only the size of a Charmander, she had to climb up onto the bench. 

“Why not change into something taller?”

“I don’t know, I just like being a cute little Charmander, plus I look hot, don’t you think?” Chole then posed right in front of me.

“Har har.”

“You’re just jealous.”

“The only part of me being jealous is that you can take it easy while I have to do all of the work.”

“Hmm.”

“No response, didn’t think so.”

“You know if I didn’t know any better, I think Ruby considers you to be some type of father figure.”

“Me?  Nah, I treat all my Pokemon like that, when they’re sad I just try to cheer them up, that’s just how I am.”

“That’s my reason exactly, she always climbs into your bed when everyone’s asleep, she’s always wanting to have a piggy back ride, and she’s clinging to you for protection when she’s frightened, face it Garrett, Ruby’s more adopted than she is caught.  Poor thing must haven’t known her parents for long if she’s more dependant on you than her real father.”

“Wow, I haven’t thought about that.”

Chole turned her head the opposite way to read the bulletin board of upcoming events.  All of a sudden I hear her scream at the top of her lungs.

“What the…hell was that!”

“OH…MY…GOD, Garrett look at this,” Chole pointed to one of the posters.

I walked over to what she was pointing at.  Apparently, there’s a Pokemon Contest being held tomorrow.

“Garrett, we have got to enter into this contest.”

“Forget it.”

“Aw come on, please?”

“No Chole, I already promised Ruby that we would spend the day here, nothing more.”

“You know…”

“Hmm?”

“I bet it would mean a lot to Ruby if she went into that contest.”

“I-uh.”

“Think about it this way, if you do this for her she’ll trust you more, and the more she trusts you, the harder she’s going to fight for you which means more wins.”

“Interesting.”

“Come on, I’ve seen these contests before and I know the rules, I can teach you both, and plus,” she posed for me again, “you need two Pokemon for this thing.”

“I don’t know.”

“Come on it’ll be fun, I bet even you’ll love it.”

“*Sigh* I’ll think about it.”

“Yessssss!”

Chole then ripped the poster off of the board, folded it up into a tiny square, and shoved it into my pocket.  We both then walked back to the bench and began to talk about random things while we waited for my Pokemon to be done with their check up.

1 hour later

“…and then it goes back to looking normal.”

Chole nodded with a very interested look on her face.

The doors then opened and the nurse came out with my Pokemon.  Ruby jumped out of the nurse’s arms and gave me a big hug; I of course did the same thing.  I then knelt down and rubbed Buddy’s head and took the other two Pokeballs.

“Well all of your Pokemon are fine, including your Larvitar, but…”

“Yes?”

“I had taken a look at the type of moves that she has learned and it seems that she has learned an un-learnable move.”

“Really?  What is it?”

“A move called Rock Throw.”

“Wait a minute, come to think of it; I did see her use that move to save our team once.”

“Even if she could use that move, it’s incredible for her size to be using a move that involves a massive amount of strength.” 

“Wow, well Ruby, I guess I picked the right Larvitar to come with us.”

“Lar!”  Ruby smiled at me.

“Ahem!”  Chole pulled at my pant leg.

“*Sigh* alright.”

I pulled out the poster and unfolded it; I then showed it to Ruby.  She had a confused look on her face; she apparently didn’t know what it was about. 

“Ruby, if you want to, how would you like to be part of a talent contest?”

All of a sudden, Ruby’s face began to glow with excitement and began to jump in my arms.  I began to chuckle.

“I guess I’ll take that as a yes.”

“YAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Chole yelled.

I slapped her on the back of the head, “do you realize that you can talk!” I whispered to her.

“Sorry *groan*.”

“Come on, let’s go back inside the center, I know the perfect place for Ruby to practice.”

Later

“I love you Garrett.”

“I bet you do Chole; now, lets get closer to the ocean.”

“TREECO TREE!!!”

“VEE!!”

“LINOONE!!!!”

Treeco, Buddy and Linoone all ran off to have fun on the beach.

“Beautiful don’t you think Ruby?”

“Lar!”

“Come, lets get closer to the rocks over here.”

“Alright you contest virgins time to pop those cherries.”

“Keep it up and you’re going in the water Chole.”

“Ok, fine.”

“Good, now teach us the basics.”

“Alright, the first thing you have to get through in those tiny little minds of yours is that this isn’t a gym, this isn’t about who’s the strongest Pokemon, this is about the biggest showmanship and the types of moves you can bring to the table with the greatest creativity, this also includes your Pokemon and how they are dressed for the contest.”

“Hmm, interesting.”

“The contest is composed of two parts; the first part is showing off strictly, this part is to impress the judges the most.  Then comes the battle section of the contest, yes this involves fighting but creativity must be put in the attack as well, you and your opponent have style points, if your Pokemon manages to hit your opponent or if your Pokemon dodges with style your opponent loses style points, the way to win is to make your opponent faint, making your opponent lose all style points, or if the timer runs out and your opponent lost more points than you did.”

“Sounds difficult.”

“It can be either easy or hell depending on how much work Ruby is going to want to put in.”

“Lar!” Ruby replied in a serious tone.

I pulled out my Pokedex and pointed it at Ruby.

“I haven’t gotten a chance to check out your moves yet Ruby, give me a second.”

The Pokedex then flashed.

“Wow this is a good selection, Rock Smash, Rock Throw, Sandstorm, and Leer.”

“Lar!” Ruby said in a proud tone.

“You can say that again Ruby,” I rubbed her head.

“Alright you two lets get…HEY, CHOLE GET OVER HERE!”

Chole had turned herself into a Gardevoir and began to suntan.

“You two go on ahead, you know the rules and now you must take it from there, don’t worry about me I already know what I’m going to do.”

“You do realize you’re going to be in the second part.”

“Yeah yeah I know, get started already, you and Ruby only have one day to perfect this.”

Meanwhile

Treeco, Buddy, and Linoone were all in the water.  They were all playing some sort of splash-tag game when Buddy became “It.”  Everyone went underwater to hide; Buddy was the first to come back up for air.  He had some water in his eyes so it was a little difficult to see what was going on but in the distance, he could identify some sort of black figure in the distance.  Buddy then rubbed his eyes to get a better view but when he looked again, the figure was gone.

The Next Day

“All right everyone lets get ready for this competition,” I clap my hands to wake everyone up.

We all headed to the dining room to eat breakfast and discuss our plan once again.

“Wow and you successfully pulled it off in one day?”  Chole asked.

“Yep, it seems that Ruby is born for this type of event.”

“Lar!”

“Speaking of which, what the hell are you planning to do for this contest?”

“Tee hee, be patient Garrett, if we get into the finals then there’s no doubt we’ll win.”

“*Sigh* I hope you’re right, Ruby would be heartbroken if we lost during her first time.”

We all quickly ate our breakfast and then went back to our room to pack up so we can leave after the contest.  We then walked to the arena to begin our first ever contest.  It seems everyone was informed of this contest because almost everyone I saw was walking in our general direction.  Everyone seemed just as excited as we were when we began to get closer to the arena. 

I flung open the doors to the arena and was immediately flooded with cheering and clapping from the first competition. 

We went up to the counter, “is it too late to sign up for the next competition?”  I ask the lady from behind the counter.

“Nope, you’re just in time actually, just put your name here and your Pokemons’ names here.”

I wrote down my name and then put Ruby in the first part and Chole in the second part.

“Very good, now just walk down that hall and go through the door on the left at the end.”

I knelt down to look at Treeco, Buddy, and Linoone, “how about you guys go the other way and find a seat in the crowd so you can watch us.”

“Treeco Tree.”

“Vee.”

“Linoone.”

They all then go the other way to find their seat.

“Alright you two, lets get ready.”

“Actually, you go ahead; I’m going to give a quick makeover for Ruby.”

“Ok, but be quick, the next one is starting soon.”

“Got it.”

30 minutes later

I sat on the couch in the backstage room, wondering where the hell my Pokemon were at.  All of a sudden, I saw the door open with Chole as an Espeon.

“Before I show you Ruby, take this,” Chole handed me a shaded round object and a bunch of stickers.

“What is it?”

“You put Ruby’s Pokeball in there and when you release her again a giant explosion will happen depending on the type of sticker that you put on the ball.”

“Huh, cool,” I said while putting Ruby’s Pokeball in the shaded cover.

“And now, may I introduce to you, the new and improved Ruby.”

Ruby then entered the room, her body color was lighter; she had some blush makeup on her cheeks and her little horn was covered with daises. 

“Wow Ruby you look beautiful,” I said.

Ruby’s cheeks began to turn redder.

“Lar,” Ruby smiled.

“Ruby if you don’t mind, will you go inside your Pokeball?  This will let you make a great entrance when we’re on.”

“Lar!”  Ruby agreed and held out her arms.

“Alright sure,” I gave her a good luck hug.

I pointed the ball at her and watched as she disappeared into the decorated ball.

“Holy shit, GARRETT?!”

I turned around to find none other than my high school friend Matt.

“HOT DAMN, MATT?!”

“What’s up dude; long time, no see.”

“Nothing much man, what are you doing here?”

“You know me dude, I’ve wanted to do contests my whole life and now that I’ve graduated, I can go off and do what I always wanted to do.”

“I should be asking the same question to you, why are you here?”

“I caught a couple of Pokemon who were dying to be part of it.”

“Oh, well that’s nice of you.”

“No kiddin’, we could have been at the third gym already but they begged me to stay and so I caved in.”

We were having a great conversation when all of a sudden the announcer informed the crowd that the contest was now beginning. 

“Well, good luck,” Matt hit my shoulder.

“Thanks, you to.”

“Pshhh, I don’t need luck, I already won 3 ribbons.”

“Whatever.”

We watched as the contestants went onto the main stage, the television at the side of the room showed their performances.  Finally after five performances, it was Matt’s turn.

“Well, watch and be amazed,” Matt said.

Matt went through the curtain; I then turned to the television to watch him.

He pulled out his Pokeball and threw it in the air, the ball exploded with stars flying everywhere and the shape of his Pokemon began to form.  After three seconds, I can clearly see that his Pokemon of choice was a Mawile. 

“Let’s give them a show Mawile!”  Matt said.

“Mawile!”

“Now then, lets begin; Swords Dance!”

Mawile’s hands glowed white and all of a sudden, two swords flew out of one hand and one sword flew out of the other.  Each sword then aligned at the north, east, and west of Mawile.

“Mawile, use SolarBeam, Ice Beam, and then Flamethrower!”

Particles began to fly into Mawile’s hands, her giant mouth-hair then spat out a gigantic beam of light at the sword from the east side.  Her hands then glowed light blue and her mouth-hair spat out a beam of frost at the sword from the west side.  She then spread out her arms and flames exploded in her hands, the fire was then absorbed in her palms and her mouth-hair spat out a spiral of fire at the northern sword.  All three attacks bounced off each sword and were then redirected from above Mawile.  The attacks then collided and a giant explosion became the end result.

After the explosion ended, droplets of fire flew out of a giant glowing ball of light, the grand finale was when the fire reached the crowd and the feeling of coldness sent shivers down everyone’s spines.  Everyone began to cheer like crazy for Matt and his Mawile.  There was no doubt that he deserved it, that performance was insane.

“Ha, well that was fun.  What did you think of it?”

Chole’s jaw, as well as mine, was almost touching the floor.

“Mwa-ha-ha”

“How the hell…”

“Practice my friend, practice; with a fuck load of tweaking.”

Three more performances ended when my name was finally called.  Before I left I felt a hand slap my back.

“Good luck out there Garrett, just remember to have fun.”

“No problem.”

I stood behind the curtain until the volume of cheers were at its max, I began to wave to the crowd while walking to the middle of the arena.  I then threw Ruby’s Pokeball into the air and an explosion of hearts flew from the ball.  It was then that Ruby appeared; she looked up and saw a sea of faces.  Her face began to change from a smile to a frightened one.  I could tell that she was nervous from all the people staring at her. 

I walked over to Ruby, “it’s alright Ruby you don’t need to be scared, I’ll be right here.”

“Lar,” Ruby started to form a smile.

“Lets have some fun out here alright?”

“Lar!”

“That’s the spirit!”

I then walked back a few yards, “now Ruby, use Rock Throw!”

Ruby then dug her palms into the ground, creating a small shockwave.  Ruby then threw up her palms with two large boulders, one in each hand.

“Now use Rock Smash!”

The boulders were then flung up in the air and Ruby followed after them in the air, she then broke both boulders from each side and turned them into two smaller boulders.  Ruby then created a pattern, smashing two rocks into four, four into eight, eight into sixteen, sixteen into thirty two, and so on.  Her speed was so incredible; she was doing this combination while the rocks were still in the air.  After a few seconds, the giant boulders had become nothing but sand.

“Great job Ruby and now use sandstorm!”

Ruby then jumped in the air again and began to make circles with her arms.  Suddenly, the sand rose from the ground and began to surround Ruby; the sand then started to take shape of a giant being until it created a human figure standing at almost twenty feet tall.

“Excellent job Ruby and now use Leer!”

The sand being began to rumble and giant purple eyes formed at the “head” of the sand monster.  In an instant my ears were flooded with sound coming from cheers and clapping while Ruby’s sand figure waved to everyone; it was almost deafening from where I was standing.  The sand figure then began to “melt” until the only thing left standing was my little green Pokemon.  I ran over and gave her a congratulatory bear hug.

“You did excellent Ruby, I’m so proud of you.”

“Lar!” tears of joy started to run down her eyes.

I picked her up and then returned to the backstage.

“WOW!! That was something else Garrett, it seems your Larvitar was born for this.”

“No doubt about that.”

“You did great out there girl,” Matt said while petting her head.

“Lar!”

“Her name is Ruby; I named her that because of the gem around her neck.”

“Oh clever; so what’s going to be your second Pokemon?”

“How do you know I’ll be in the second round?”

“Are you shitting me?  Your performance was better than three-forth’s of these other people’s version of showmanship.”

We both sat down on the couch to watch the rest of the performances.

“Well if I am, I’ll be using Chole,” I pat my leg and Chole jumped on my lap and pretended to fall asleep.

“Wait a sec, you had two Eevees?!”

“Yeah I guess so; I caught her near the beginning of my journey and turned her into an Espeon later on.”

“Nice lie,” Chole whispered in my ear.

“Speaking of which, where’s Buddy?”

“He’s somewhere in the crowd, watching the performances.”

“Is he alone?”

“No, he has my other two Pokemon with him.”

“You already have 5 Pokemon?!”

“I…guess so.”

“Wow.”

We all then sat for an hour, watching the last of the performances.  Some were good and some were alright, Matt didn’t seem at all interested but Ruby, Chole, and I were in awe.  It was when the host came out to the middle of the arena and announced that the first part of the contest was over.  We then waited thirty minutes until the host came back with the winners of the first round. 

Out of the 50 contestants, 8 contestants were chosen and my name happened to be one of them.

“I told you,” Matt said, slapping my back.

“Thanks, congratulations on getting into the next round as well.”

“Thank you good sir, just make sure that you get into the final round, you seem like the only trainer here that’s good enough for my skill.”

“Keep on joking, but I’ll be the one that’s going to get the last laugh when I beat you.”

“Hahaha, that’s the spirit; you better get going you’re up first.”

Before I walked out onto the stage Chole tugged at my pant leg to try to get my attention.

“What is it Chole?”

“Go out there without me; trust me I’ll be right behind you.”

“Um…alright.”

I turned around to face the curtain, “hey Garrett!”

I looked back at Chole, “huh?”

“Let’s give them hell.”

“Oh yeah, I’m with you on that.”