Purika Contest

Today the gang had made it to Izabe Island, where the next Pokémon contest was. It was to be held in a city called Purika City. May signed up for the contest at once. Ashlyn knew this was the contest when Harley would appear and try to embarrass May during the contest. Before they arrived, Ashlyn told May about certain Pokémon to watch out for in contests. Surskit, for example, are very speedy Pokémon.

=======================

Right now, they were waiting for Max; he had gone off to the bathroom, but he hadn't turned up yet. Just then Max turned up with Harley.

"Oh hey, Harley. Max, where have you been? I was starting to get worried." May asked.

"Oh, please don't be mad at Max because this was all my fault." Harley pleaded.

"Huh?" May blinked in confusion.

"Well it like this; I tend to get a little nervous before a contest, so I was having a cup of tea to calm down a little bit when I suddenly bumped into your little Maximus. When I learned he was your brother, May, I insisted that he come along with me." Harley explained.

"He also bought me this huge ice cream sundae with sprinkles and everything!" Max beamed.

"That was nice of you, Harley. Thanks." May thanked him.

'I wouldn't thank him just yet.' Ashlyn thought.

"No problem. Your little brother is quite a gentleman." Harley complimented May.

"Not to be rude, Harley. But we have to get going, right May?" Ashlyn asked.

"Oh right. See you later, Harley." May greeted.

"See you later as well. Chow!" Harley waved goodbye started to walk to the waiting rooms. Ashlyn stared at Harley; he was always her least favorite character on the show.

"Come on guys we better get to our seats and May better get to the waiting room." Brock suggested.

"Hold on, May and I need to have a quick talk," Ashlyn said, "You guys you go on ahead."

So Brock, Alain and Max went to the seats while May and Ashlyn had a talk.

"What's wrong, Ashlyn?" May asked.

"I had a look into Harley's mind, and he's the lying type and the picking on people type," Ashlyn warned, "So May, be careful around him and watch out for his lies."

"Are you sure, Ashlyn?" May asked.

Ashlyn nodded, "Positive. So please, be careful."

May nodded, "I will."

============================

Now it was time for the contest. Vivian did the normal introductions and showed off the Purika Ribbon. The Purika Ribbon was pinkish red with a yellow outline.

============================

May went out first in the appeal rounds and called out her Bulbasaur. She ordered her Bulbasaur to use Razor Leaf and then use Vine Whip to hit the leaves. The audience was impressed when Bulbasaur whacked the leaves with her vine whip attack. Mr. Contesta and Mr. Suziko, who remembered May's Bulbasaur, could see that May and Bulbasaur were really in sync with each other now. There were some other great performances after May; there was a Camerupt, a Surskit, an Azurill and a Tentacruel. Until at last, it was Harley's turn and he called out his Cacturne.

"Cacturne looks kinda scary." May commented.

Harley ordered his Cacturne to use Bullet Seed on the ground, and Cacturne fires bullet stage on the ground while moving around. The yellow glowing seeds had made a big picture of skull and crossbones on the ground. Both the audience and judges loved it.

==============================

The results soon came and this time only four trainers got into the battle round. May and Harley were in the battle rounds and so were two other male trainers. May and Harley had to battle the other two male trainers first before they could face each other. The trainer that Harley had to face was Bob; the trainer with the Azurill. May's opponent was Kent; the trainer with the Surskit. Harley easily defeated Bill in a couple of seconds thanks to Cacturn's Bullet Seed attack. May congratulated Harley on his win; being a good sport.

"I'm sure you will easily defeat your opponent, May, because Surskit are really slow Pokémon." Harley said before he left.

May knew at once that Harley just made that up. She and her friends had met Surskit before and they all found out that Surskit was a fast Pokémon.

"Ashlyn was right," May whispered to herself, "Harley is the lying type. Well I'll show him and then I will beat him in the next round." She clenched her fist in determination.

==================================

May and Bulbasaur had won against Kent his Surskit, much to Harley's disappointment. Ashlyn had to admit that Harley looked hilarious as he gritted his teeth in anger about May winning against Kent. It was a good thing that May remembered that Surskit is a speedy Pokémon. Bulbasaur mostly used Sweet Scent to distract Surskit and attack with Vine Whip and Petal Dance, earning her victory.

But Ashlyn knew that May and Harley will go against each other in this contest. She hoped that May will be able to pull through the stunt of embarrassment Harley will pull.

==================================

Now it was time for May and Harley to face each other, and they called out their Pokémon. Harley started first by ordering Cacturne to use poison sting. When Cacturne fired the Poison Sting attack, Bulbasaur whacked the pins with Vine Whip so the Poison Sting failed. May went next by telling Bulbasaur to use Razor Leaf, but Cacturne blocked the attack with Bullet Seed. May and Harley were losing points by the second, but they were still tied. May then told Bulbasaur to use Energy Ball and Cacturne got hit by it.

Harley was losing points fast, but he wasn't willing to lose yet. He had a secret weapon planned to try and put May off and make her lose. He pressed a button a remote control that he kept in his pocket.

Suddenly a voice, which seemed to Max's voice, was heard in the arena. Apparently, a tape recorder was taped to a sound system and Max's voice was on the tape recorder and being played; this was Harley's doing.

"Max, what's going on?" Alain asked.

"Well, I uh, told something about May to Harley when we met up." Max admitted.

"What did you tell him, Max?" Ashlyn questioned.

The voice started telling a story about what had happened to May when she was younger. The story was one day she and her family were out for a day on the beach and May was swimming in the sea. Her swimsuit and float were both blue so she nearly looked like a Tentacool. A wild Tentacool was in the sea too and May wanted to pet it. But then suddenly she got surrounded by a school of Tentacool and they thought she was a Tentacool too. Of course, May got scared of that and called out for her parents. Norman and Caroline heard her scream and Caroline grabbed a Pokéball to help her out. But because May looked like a Tentacool swimming amongst the other wild Tentacool, Caroline thought that May was another Tentacool and had the attempt to capture her.

The audience thought the story was very funny and they all laughed, except Ashlyn, Alain, Max and Brock of course. Harley also thought it was funny and began calling May Tenta-girl. May felt really humiliated, upset and very angry from this. She glared angrily at Max from the audience. Max quivered in fear; he didn't really know that Harley would do something like this.

"Okay no more mister nice guy." May declared, angrily. She had enough of Harley's bullying.

"Bulbasaur fire Toxic at Cacturne now!" Bulbasaur fired a stream of purple liquid from her bulb and then the liquid hit Cacturne. Cacturne became poisoned at once and it started to lose energy at once.

Harley was shocked by that. "Oh no Cacturne!" he cried.

"Now Bulbasaur use Sludge Bomb now!" May ordered.

Bulbasaur fired a sludge bomb attack from her mouth at Cacturne and Cacturne got hit by it. As Cacturne was weak against poison, the sludge bomb attack was too much for Cacturne to take and it fainted. So May was the winner of the contest.

================================

May received the Purika Ribbon and was happy to have earned her fifth ribbon. Ashlyn was glad that May was able to wipe the floor with Harley. She could tell that May was getting stronger and better as a Pokémon coordinator. She couldn't be prouder of her achievements.

Harley of course was not happy that May won; he really had a sore loser attitude. So he returned Cacturne, left the building and vowed that he would defeat May next time.

=============================

The gang was outside the contest hall. Happy that May had won her final ribbon. Ashlyn and May were happy to know that they'll be able to compete in the Grand Festival.

"May, I'm really sorry. Can you forgive me?" Max apologized, nervously.

"I'm very angry with you for telling Harley that story you know?" May stated and then let out a sigh, "I'll forgive you this time." She accepted Max's apology.

Max let out a sigh of relief, "That's a relief."

"But if you tell any embarrassing stories about me to strangers again, I won't be so forgiving." May declared.

Max flinched at the angry look on May's face.

"So now that this contest is over, Ashlyn and May both have five ribbons, where do we go now?" Alain asked, changing the subject.

"How about we take a detour around the island?" Max suggested.

"Sounds like it's a great idea since it's so big." Brock agreed.

"Then let's head out tomorrow." Ashlyn decided.

"Raichu!" Tesla agreed.

The others agreed to that plan, and they headed off for the Pokémon center to rest for tonight. May was happy to have her fifth contest ribbon. Now she and Ashlyn can enter the Hoenn Grand Festival.

========================

Pokémon Caught: Mightyena (Lela)(F), Marshtomp (Finn)(M), Shiny Blaziken (Hestia)(F), Kirlia (Miku)(F), Kirlia (Lancelot)(M), Swellow (Percy)(M), Linoone (Ziggy)(M), Grovyle (Kazuki)(M), Beautifly (Willow)(F), Shiny Milotic (Ula)(F), Crawdaunt (Sebastian)(M), Lairon (Hagane)(M), Sableye (Jacinth)(M), Shiny Flygon (Libelle)(F), Shiny Manectric (Damini)(F), Shiny Salamence (Idris)(F), Torkoal (Shula)(F), Swablu (Alta)(F), Mawile (Trixie)(F), Clamperl (Coral)(F), Spoink (Sumire)(F), Armaldo (Brynja)(F), Cradily (Liana)(F)