pokemon adventure

chapter eighty Three

Chapter 83

The Hoenn Grand Festival

It wasn't long till the gang finally made it to Slateport City, where the Hoenn Grand Festival was being placed. And they made it to the area where the stadium for the Grand Festival stood. "Wow," said May "I can't believe that we are really here at the Hoenn Grand Festival stadium". "We are here all right" laughed Ash. There were hotels and restaurants surrounding the stadium and they were where the contestants and their guests were going to stay and eat during the Hoenn Grand Festival. "With us being here all ready, it feels like only yesterday that we started collecting ribbons" Ash said to May. "You're right" agreed May.

The gang headed for the contest hall, where Ash and May had to register. The lady at the desk scanned Ash's ribbons and registered him in with his pokedex and did the same for May. Then she gave them both a guide book which explained the rules of the contest tournament and had maps of the stadium and where restaurants were. After the registering was done, the gang headed over to the door rooms, where they would be staying. The door rooms were outside the stadium, and surprisingly enough they were so big they were like hotels. "Wow, I can't believe that we'll be staying here" said May. "You should see what the dorm rooms are like that the pokemon leagues" said Ash. "Yeah those rooms were glamorous as well" said Brock.

Suddenly a surprise sneaked up on May; it was Caroline. Caroline had come to Slateport City to watch Ash and May participate in the Hoenn Grand Festival. May and Max were happy to see their mum again. Caroline explained that Norman wanted to come too but he couldn't leave the gym, but he did say he would watch it all on TV. Caroline and the gang checked out the rooms they were staying in, and May was like over the moon. The rooms were big and luxurious and they had a big view of the ocean, even Ash, Tomo, Brock and Max were impressed. "Come on May we better see what the rules are for this tournament" said Ash. Brock took a good look through the guide and looked at the rules. "Well for starters," he said "like the Rubello Contest you use different pokemon in each round of the tournament. Second you have to pass the preliminary rounds to get into the main tournament, and get this; only 64 trainers out of 247 trainers will pass the preliminaries". Ash and May were surprised by that. "Well then May, you and I will have to practice then," said Ash "that way both of us can pass the preliminary rounds". "How can you be so calm Ash?" asked May. "Because they had something like this at the Silver Conference in Johto" said Ash. He explained that only 48 trainers out of 200 trainers, including him, made it into the main tournament in the Silver Conference. "Gosh, so pokemon leagues have tough rules too huh?" said May.

Ash and May decided to practice for the preliminary rounds at once; they wanted to pass the preliminary rounds. So everyone went outside so Ash and May could figure what to do. May introduced Caroline to her Combusken, Beautifly, Skitty, Bellossom, Azumaril and Altaria. "Wow May," said Caroline "these six pokemon look wonderful. And I saw your other pokemon; Bulbasaur, Plusle, Minun, Volbeat, Illumise, Starmie, Lileep and Munchlax at Prof Birch's lab when I last spoke to him on the video phone and all of them looked wonderful". "Take a good look at my new pokemon mum" said Max. He showed off his newest pokemon Beldum to Caroline. "Wow Max your Beldum is lovely," smiled Caroline "both you and May have got wonderful pokemon".

Just then at that moment Drew walked up to the gang. "I see you made it here huh May?" asked Drew. "Yes Drew I did," said May "and so did Ash". She and Ash showed Drew their five ribbons. "Impressive, but I doubt you'll be going home with the ribbon cup" said Drew. "We shall see about that Drew" said May, crossly. Caroline asked Max if Drew was a friend of May's, but Max explained that Drew was a rival and that he like to boast about being a great pokemon coordinator. Suddenly Harley appeared and he congratulated Ash and May for getting into the Hoenn Grand Festival. The gang was not happy to see Harley, especially May. Max explained to Caroline that Harley was a deceitful type of person. Harley started apologizing for what he did to May in past contests, but Ash stopped him. "Don't think about putting on a masquerade Harley, because it won't work" he said, crossly. Ash saw that Harley was only acting nice now so that he could try to do something mean later. "Come on May, we need to start our training". So the gang and Caroline left, leaving Harley alone. "Ash please make sure you tell me if Harley is going to try and trick me again" whispered May. "Certainly" said Ash. He and Ash were certainly not going to let Harley ruin their time at the grand festival.