A Tale of Two Rivals

Watching May During 'Disguise Da Limit'

I was lucky to have even found a seat within the audience in Verdanturf Hall that day.

The entire stadium was jampacked. It was the most crowded contest I had seen in the entire contest circuit by then. It was nothing short of a true testament to the fact that contests were starting to become more and more popular, and the thought of it all warmed my heart to say the least. Coordinators worked just as hard as trainers had, and they even worked harder than trainers in certain ways. From my standpoint, it was about time that coordinators the world over started to gain some recognition for all the hard work they always put into their pokémon's contest appeals and battling routines.

I felt right at home in Verdanturf Hall. I felt so safe and relaxed in my familiar environment. It was not anything like how the Pokémon Center felt at all. There was energy in the contest hall, energy that I could easily feed off of for my own appeals in future contests. All of the energy I would absorb from contest halls always gave me endless inspiration and boundless focus. It always gave a sense of belonging that I felt nowhere else. It reminded me as to why I had chosen the life of a pokémon contest coordinator and even why I loved it, and it never once got old for me. There was absolutely nothing that could have ever even been compared to the feeling I got from just being in a contest hall during the days of the pokémon contests. Whether one would compete or just observe said contests, they would find something to which to look forward, be it a certain participant's appeal from the first round or whomever won the ribbon at the end. Of course, I would have rather been a contestant in the Verdanturf Pokémon Contest, but being there in Verdanturf Hall with all the screaming fans and all the people who loved to show off the best in their pokémon like I always did... it felt just right to me.

I made extra sure to keep my head down and threw a few or more 'excuse me's here and there as I cut through a row in the crown of the stadium's audience, finding the perfect seat to observe the contest from center stage. I had made it just in time for the contest to finally begin because the minute I took my seat, Vivian Meridian, the MC, took the stage, then greeted everyone in the audience.

Vivian Meridian: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, fans and contestants, to the Verdanturf Town Pokémon Contest! I'm your host, Vivian Meridian, and you can just feel the excitement building here!

The opening ceremony for the Verdanturf Town Pokémon Contest went the same way every other contest in the Hoenn circuit that year did, standardly and traditionally. The judges announced the rules, the rules were reviewed and the ribbon was displayed for all to see and admire atop Vivian's hands. It was pretty rushed through, though. With a packed venue of fans eager to get the contest underway and a limited amount of time for the contest to even occur, I could have easily guaranteed that Vivian knew that, herself. She had always been the perfect host in any and every contest, be it at reading the crowd or knowing exactly what to say to please them. She had always been the perfect host in every contest of which she had been a part ever since the previous host, who was last seen in the Rustboro City Pokémon Contest Hall had retired from hosting pokémon contests altogether.

Now that I really thought about it, I suddenly remembered having watched that contest via television screen and remembered seeing a girl and a little boy who looked exactly like May and her kid brother, Max, helping out one of the better contestants in that particular contest.

What I had remembered most about that contest, however, had nothing to do with any astounding appeal or the winner of that contest ribbon. The thing I remembered most about that contest in particular was just how totally atrocious the final spectacle on the appeal stage really was compared to the others. I mean it. The contestant there was poorly prepared for the contest just by enough to score a solid zero. I suppose I had mentioned that before back when I had graced the contest with my presence back in Slateport City, though.