Pokémon Heroes of Hoenn

A Master Ranked Contest Debut

“Is my hair okay?! What about my Pokémon?! Is my bandana straight?!” Sapphire asked frantically, pacing back and forth like she was going insane. She's been training like crazy the past few days with the help of Emerald, Crys, and Fire, meanwhile Gold, Silver and I hung out and watched them. I've been trying to figure out how to help Leaf, since he's been moping around for the past few days. By help, I mean how to snap him out of his ridiculous behavior. How am I supposed to call him my rival if he doesn't even try to train to surpass me? To be honest, it gets pretty annoying when he starts whining about his love life, but I guess I can't really be mad at him for feeling broken hearted.
I watched as Sapphire continued to panic, Emerald trying in vain to calm her. Today was the day of the Contest and she was already running late. Slateport City held the Normal, Super, Hyper, and Master ranks of the Cuteness contest. I don't exactly know how this works, but I'm being forced to watch this anyway, so I might as well cheer her on… mentally, of course. All I knew was Sapphire was entering the Master rank right off the bat, which, in my opinion, is a pretty bad idea. From my knowledge she's never been in a real Contest before, so entering the hardest one first isn't exactly the best idea for her debut, but who am I to stop her? I'm the one bringing type disadvantaged Pokémon to Gym battles.
“Sapphire, calm down. If you're all panicky like this your Pokémon will be nervous too, and then you won't perform well.” Fire stated calmly, placing a hand on Sapphire's shoulder supportively.
“...Really?” Sapphire asked softly, looking down at Mudkip and Skitty, the Pokémon Leaf helped her catch the other day.
“Yeah, here, lemme show you.” Fire state as she knelt beside Skitty, placing a gentle hand on its forehead. She closed her eyes, seemingly deep in thought for about a minute until she stood up again. “Skitty says it's really worried about you, but it wants to do its very best in the Contest for you.” Fire stated calmly, earning a cry of agreement from said Pokémon.
“How'd you do that?” I questioned, shocked that someone could possibly read the thoughts of a Pokémon like that.
“Huh? You mean talk to Skitty?” Fire asked, looking slightly more lost than I felt.
“Yeah, how are you able to do that?” I asked once again. Fire smiled shyly at me, dropping her gaze back to the Pokémon.
“In all honesty… I don't really know. It started when I had a dream about one of the Legendary Pokémon of Johto, Lugia. It appeared in my dreams twice, trying to communicate with me. I didn't get it at first, but when I finally met Lugia, I found I was able to speak to it by touching it and focusing my thoughts. Since then, my ability has slowly been growing from just Psychic types, to Fire types, and now even, Grass, Water, Electric, Normal, Flying, Poison, and Dark types too. I can't communicate with the other types of Pokémon yet though, but I'm trying to learn.” Fire explained.
“That's amazing… I didn't know people could do that.” Sapphire stated softly before the realization struck. “Ack!! I gotta get into the Contest Hall!” Sapphire exclaimed. Just before she ran off, I grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her in her tracks. She turned to face me with a puzzled look, relaxing a little in my grip.
“Hey, don't forget, we're all rooting for you. So get out there, give it your best shot, and don't be nervous, okay?” I said with a slightly bossy tone, staring into her eyes deeply. Sapphire stared back for a moment before nodding her head and dashing for the entry hall. I nodded to everyone else, leading the way to the bleachers. I sat between Emerald and Fire, Silver, Gold, and Crystal taking a seat to Fire's left.
“So how exactly do Pokémon Contests work? They don't hold these in Johto or Kanto from what I know.” Fire stated, smiling cheerfully as she asked us about Hoenn.
I get the feeling Fire likes to travel.
“Oh, well there are five rounds to Pokémon Contests. The first round is sort of the elimination round. If you're Pokémon shows off how cute, cool, clever, tough, or beautiful it is, depending on the Contest category, you'll move onto the next round, if not then you're out. The next four rounds are battles. Unlike regular battles, you have to make your Pokémon look appealing while it battles. That mean you have to use your own moves appropriately and attempt to use your opponent's moves to your advantage as well.” Emerald explained, interesting Fire quite a lot.
“Wow, that sounds tough! But it also sounds like a lot of fun, don't you think, Silv?” Fire asked cheerfully.
“Maybe…” Silver muttered, giving her a nervous smile in an attempt to hide how much he disagreed.
“So only about four to six Coordinators make it to the next rounds, huh? Man, that's tough luck. There's twenty competitors excepted in each Contest, so you only have about a one in five chance of making it…” Gold said more to himself than anyone in particular.
“Yeah, you gotta really wow these judges to make it through.” Crys added in agreement.
The announcer lady called out competitor after competitor, each using different move combinations with their Pokémon. I had to admit, this was really cool. Each Coordinator showing off just how cute their Pokémon are by using their moves to emphasize it. I watched closely, waiting for Sapphire to come up, when finally, the announcer called her name. Sapphire ran onto the stage, throwing Skitty's Pokéball in the air with a big smile on her face.
That's what I'm talking about! She's finally showing some confidence!
I realized I had been smirking as I thought this because Fire grinned softly at me, so I quickly made a neutral expression.  
“Alright Skitty, use Attract!!” Sapphire called out enthusiastically. Skitty winked at the crowd, a swirl of hearts surrounding it as it did a little flip. “Now use Double Slap!” Sapphire commanded loudly as if she didn't have any stage fright. Skitty swung its tail at the hearts, slapping them out towards the crowd and making them pop into little sparkles. “Wrap it up with Sing!!” Skitty sang an adorable tune, practically hypnotizing the crowd. Skitty landed on Sapphire's shoulder and they both gave a little bow. The crowd applauded them on a perfect performance before she left the stage with a big grin on her face.
Sapphire passed the elimination round and powered through each battle like it was nothing. It was now the final battle of the Cuteness Contest, Sapphire and Skitty were up against a Coordinator known as Paige and her partner, Kirlia. Skitty was almost down, forcing itself to its feet from the last Confusion attack. “Skitty, hang in there!” Sapphire called, a worried look on her face.
“Give up, it's over! Kirlia, Secret Power!” Paige ordered. Something came over me in that moment, causing me to stand up swiftly and surprise even myself with the words I called out.
“Sapphire, don't give up!!” I cried out, cupping my mouth so the sound would reach her. Based on the way her eyes widened for a moment and quickly focused in on the match, I assumed it worked. She got into a more battle ready pose, glaring out as determination obviously began to fill her heart.
“Skitty, use Assist!!” Sapphire ordered. Just as Kirlia sent its Secret Power attack at Skitty, their attack turned into Mudkip’s Water Gun, pushing through the Secret Power and blasting Kirlia into the wall.
“Kirlia!!” Paige cried out in shock, realizing her Pokémon had fainted.
“Kirlia is unable to battle! Skitty wins! So the winner of the Master rank Cuteness Contest is… Sapphire Birch and Skitty!!” the announcer called. The audience cheered and clapped, applauding her for a well earned victory.
“That's the way, Sapphire!” I called out, earning a smirk from Emerald, a grin from Fire, Gold, and Crys, and a puzzled look from Silver. I cleared my throat, slowly sitting back down as I shifted my gaze uncomfortably “What? You wanted me to cheer for her didn't you?” I questioned, trying to keep a steady tone, though I couldn't hide all of the sheepish feeling from my voice. Emerald playfully rolled her eyes while everyone else simply shrugged it off.
We met with Sapphire outside, everyone congratulating her on her well earned first Ribbon. A thought came to my head while the focus was on Sapphire and Skitty, so I slipped away while no one was looking. I found Leaf by the museum, leaning against the wall and hugging his knees to his chest as he sat and stared out into the horizon. I sighed, taking a seat beside him in the grass. A long moment of silence passed until Leaf surprisingly broke it.
"Do you think I'm being foolish for wasting my time moping out here?" Leaf asked softly as he shifted his gaze to me, pretending to be amused by his own words.
"No, if anybody's a fool it's me. I'm the one who lost my true self in my own demeanor." I muttered, staring out at the horizon just as Leaf was doing before.
I can see why he does this, it's really comforting.
"Leaf, you know what makes you a good guy? You're kind. I used to think kindness was for the weak, but I was wrong. Kindness is something only the strong can master. If you can take a punch to the chest and keep on smiling, do you know what that makes you? A hero, that's what! Leaf... you're gonna get knocked down. You're gonna trip and fall, but you gotta keep getting back up. Both of us do." I stated calmly, glancing back at Leaf for a reaction of some sort. He thought about what I said before turning to me with a genuine smile.
"Yeah... yeah, you're right, Ruby! I'm not acting like myself, am I? Thanks!" Leaf paused, standing up and reaching a hand out to help me up. "I'm sorry if I worried ya, but today I'm me again! So whaddya say we both restart our paths together? As both friends and rivals!" Leaf exclaimed cheerfully, smirking down at me as he awaited my response. I stared at his hand for a moment before smirking back at him and accepting it, letting him pull me to my feet.
"Right! Starting today, no more moping around for you, and no more being a jerk for me. Let's get on with this journey and get to the Pokémon League... rival." I stated with a smirk, putting emphasis in calling Leaf my rival. Leaf chuckled at my words as we began to head back to where I had left Sapphire and the others.
I guess everyone has setbacks on their journey, both great and small. But that's not gonna stop us. Fire called us the Heroes of Hoenn... if we're gonna live up to that title, then Leaf, Emerald, Sapphire and I are gonna have to really step up our game.

I believe we can do it... but only if we do it together.