Chapter 33 – Contest Training
Chapter 33 – Contest Training
They’d only stayed the one day at Bill’s, before heading back toward the city. Zoey was a slight bit disappointed at that, since Bill had only had a single guest room, and she’d seen the return of 2B’s glorious sleepwear because of it. Yet, at the same time, she’d been impatient for their plans on the way back. On the way up to Bill’s Cottage, they’d scouted some good places to train, and now they’d camped out in one for an important step in 2B’s career.
Training her and her pokémon for their first Contest!
Even if Zoey was taking a year off from the Contest circuit personally, being a Coordinator was still her first love. Which meant the chance to induct someone with 2B’s raw potential into the ranks was a delight second only to competing herself! The fact that she also got a bit of a fashion show out of the various ‘Contest’ outfits that Daisy and her Coordinator friend had put together for 2B was just a bonus really.
She wasn’t sure why one of those outfits was a Bunnygirl Costume and was bitterly disappointed that Buneary wasn’t anywhere close to ready for a Contest event. It would have been the perfect outfit for a routine with one of 2B’s newest pokémon, after all. Not to mention the eye candy delight it would have been for Zoey!
Not that her girlfriend wasn’t absolutely stunning in the outfit that they’d actually chosen. It looked a bit out of place in an out-of-the-way clearing just off Route 24, but she knew it would dazzle on stage. The dark purple dress with pink starlight sparkles was a good match for Jigglypuff too, which was honestly the more important part. While the Coordinator was part of the show, one should never, ever forget that the point of a Contest was to show off the pokémon, not the trainer!
Though, a part of Zoey’s mind noted that the Sensational Sisters in particular put just a bit more emphasis on the Trainer that she really liked. Which was actually why she’d settled on Jigglypuff and 2B in this getup. With any other Contest, she might have…eased 2B into things a bit more…by focusing on Scyther and a ‘sword dance’ show. Which 2B would have likely been more comfortable with and undoubtedly would knock out of the park.
Still, Jigglypuff was, by far, 2B’s most experienced partner. How thoroughly they were bonded and the number of spectacular original moves they had would go a long way to helping a newbie on the Contest scene. The fact that the little pokémon was one of 2B’s two that enjoyed the attention the most, with Vulpix being the other, didn’t hurt either.
Shaking off her thoughts, Zoey concentrated on the lesson she was giving to 2B.
“Right, as I’ve mentioned, but bares repeating, Kanto’s current Contest climate is weird. Hoenn and Sinnoh both have standardized setups for every contest. In example, in Hoenn you always have to use the same pokémon for the Appeal and Battle rounds, whereas in Sinnoh you can swap pokémon between rounds. Kanto, however, is so new to Contests that they haven’t created a broad standard like that just yet.”
Starting to pace, hands moving animatedly as she got just a bit into it, Zoey continued.
“While this is a problem in some ways, it’s actually an advantage in others. One which, I have to admit, the Sensational Sisters have been clever enough to make use of. Instead of having each of their Contests be roughly the same, they vary them. The first Contest, which you’ll be competing in, deliberately keeps things simple. One pokémon for both rounds. The second Contest allows a swap system instead, and the third actually does a Doubles Performance. This is honestly a really clever system, as it allows newbie Coordinators to ramp up over the course of the season. I rather like it!”
Shaking herself as she realized she’d gotten derailed…again…she focused back on the topic at hand.
“Frankly, the way you battle is so visually spectacular that the only thing you’re going to have to remember for the Battle Round is to not be too brutal. Fight with style, even draw it out a bit, in order to match with the expectations of properly showing off your pokémon. Counter moves, rather than just dodging, as you’ll earn points and deny them points by doing so.”
Zoey stopped pacing to grin at her girlfriend.
“Frankly, this is the part where both Daisy and I consider you such a natural, almost an accidental natural, that we won’t need to spend a lot of time on it. Not for your first Contest, at least.”
2B looked adorably confused, which made Zoey want to laugh. Despite the announcers at the Cerulean Gym and the fact she’d been featured on Battlecast, 2B just didn’t seem able to properly wrap her head around how unusual she was. She created all the new moves and tactics for her pokémon in order to make them the most efficient combatants she could.
Yet, in doing so, she also trained them in the sort of non-traditional use of moves that had incredibly high skill entry requirements. Even a single one of her major moves showed off insane levels of skill by most standards, and most of them were visually spectacular just as a bonus. While just doing as she normally did wouldn’t win her truly high-level Contests, facing mostly other rookies as she would be for her First Contest was almost unfair to her opponents.
But only almost. Because to even get there…
“Your real issue is going to be the Appeals Round. That is a pure show, which means you need to practice using some moves in a specific sequence that will be visually spectacular. Thankfully, Jigglypuff has an excellent move pool already that we can work with, as well as plenty of experience in modifying how moves express. Particularly important is going to be the fact she learned Ice Beam from an Articuno of all pokémon, alongside Vulpix. With a little creative tweaking, and some combination with Dazzling Gleam, I’m confident we can make something truly spectacular…”
At first, 2B still seemed to be trying to grasp the point of it all, as Zoey walked her through the combination of moves she thought would work. Thankfully, a light of understanding began to dawn on her as she realized that the entire display would take extremely good timing and pinpoint control. A display of raw skill that almost couldn’t happen in battles, as they moved too fast.
Happy to see 2B finally starting to get it, at least a little, Zoey enthusiastically poked and prodded both her and Jigglypuff for input. While she had a solid idea of a routine for them, as much as possible she wanted the pair to get there on their own. The planning and practice stage was just as much part of what being a Coordinator meant as the stage and cameras, after all…
… … …
2B was feeling surprisingly satisfied as she watched her partner pull off the combination move Zoey had first suggested smoothly. It was complex, required Jigglypuff to seamlessly transition between energy types in a way they’d only ever tried with Water and Fairy type energies before. Of course, Ice-Type was something they’d worked on heavily in Mt. Moon, not being stupid enough to pass up the resources there while they’d stayed. Articuno had taken a serious liking to Vulpix, and thankfully hadn’t minded at all that Jigglypuff learned alongside the little fox pokémon.
Now, that training was paying dividends as Jigglypuff had far better control than any non-Ice Type really ought to have in so little time. Something that was required to make the complex maneuver they were aiming for even remotely possible. The skill and complexity required was a fascinatingly new sort of training, that 2B believed Jigglypuff was going to benefit from amazingly!
Of course, it looked nice too. Which was the point, though a far lesser point as far as 2B was concerned. ‘Appeal’ still didn’t mean much to her, even if she could admit now that the idea of a skill display held far more merit than she’d really considered previously. She still rather doubted that she was ever going to be as enraptured by the idea of Contests as Daisy or Zoey were. But she could see the value in them now…or at least the value in the preparation for them. It was good training! Even if ‘showing off’ once they got it down still seemed a bit pointless.
Well, pointless in most ways.
Jigglypuff herself seemed pleased with the idea, which gave it some value, she supposed. For that matter, both Vulpix and Scyther seemed interested for their own reasons. Though, Buneary and Eevee both seemed as lost as 2B on the subject. At least those two were easy enough to get started on basic conditioning and move mastering while she worked with Jigglypuff on the fancy stuff…
Returning her attention to Jigglypuff as she tried to complete the final move and flubbed it a bit, 2B cocked her head and studied what had happened. Nodding, she addressed her pokémon.
“You’re not used to altering an existing move on the fly like that. I can see several uses for being able to disperse and reform it like this might be useful in the future, though. So we should work on getting it right. Let’s go back to basics and work with using Stockpile to gather Fairy Energy. When you first did that, you had trouble keeping it from dispersing. So let’s revisit how and why that happened and work from there.”
Pumping her fist cutely and crying her name, Jigglypuff launched into the new idea without fanfare. Smiling at how willing, even eager, her partner was to put effort into this, 2B joined her. By now, she could make her own energy Fairy-Type energy easily enough. So having 2B herself to compare against might help as well…
… … …
“Alright, Buneary, Eevee. I might be focused on getting Jigglypuff ready for our first Contest, but I still have training I want the two of you to work on. Vulpix had been handling helping you with conditioning, but that’s not enough! We need to start both of you working towards your first combos, which will lead in turn to making you some original moves!”
Both pokémon perked up at that, the pair having been awed from the start at the more advanced moves 2B’s other pokémon had developed. Satisfied as seeing that interest, she focused on Buneary first, as there was more to work with there.
“Buneary, you’re in better shape with the move poll you already have. Yet, you haven’t worked out the trick of properly stringing them together yet. So, your training for the moment is going to be focused on two moves, both of which you already have a good handle on. I want you to use Quick Attack for acceleration, then shift into Fire Punch once you have the speed poured on, using the extra momentum to make the attack land.”
Of course, that was going to mean needing to move from one Type Energy to the other in rapid succession. Which didn’t come easy to any pokémon that wasn’t a dual type. Thankfully, Lanturn was a dual type. Even more importantly, he had a gift for explaining it. So he could help Buneary get started on that process.
“Make what progress you can with Lanturn, then I’ll spend some one-on-one time with you to improve it. Got it?”
Buneary gave an eager nod, already having gotten thoroughly sick of the ‘conditioning’ training that 2B insisted on. Not that the little pokémon was going to be able to avoid more of that, but at least this new training aspect would give her something more interesting to work on as well.
“Right, Eevee. You’re a little bit of a different case. You know some great moves, with Baby Doll Eyes and Charm being fantastic for disrupting another pokémon’s pace. Yet they don’t lend themselves to combinations easily. Which is why our focus with you is going to be expanding your move pool. Once we get back somewhere we can acquire some more suitable TMs, I intend to acquire one for you. Possibly Trailblaze, Hyper Voice, Shadow Ball, or Hidden Power. Whatever is available in Cerulean, really, as all of those have their own advantages.”
Eevee looked both excited and disappointed, given they didn’t have those options yet. 2B smiled and reached down to rub her ears.
“Don’t worry. Until then, you’ll be working with Scyther to learn Quick Attack. It’s a move you can learn naturally, so it should come easy for you, and it will really help you be able to reposition yourself on the battlefield. Something I consider a key element to the battle style of the team as a whole uses. So work hard, okay?”
Getting a happy nod from Eevee, 2B turned her newest pair over the Lanturn and Scyther. In truth, she wished she could oversee their training personally at this stage. Yet there was only so much time left before the Contest, and the routine they had come up with was quite complex. She would have to make sure to give them plenty of extra one-on-one time after the Contest was over…
… … …
They spent three days in the clearing they’d found on route 24, just north of the City. There they’d worked through the moves required for the contest routine until they had them down as well as they could in a short time, before heading back to Cerulean City. It had taken a total of five day to get to Bill’s and back, plus those additional three for training, and they’d left just ten days before the Contest. Which meant by the time they’d made it back to the city, it was just two days before the Violet Sensation Contest was due to start. It would run multiple days, with the first day being Appeals and Round 1 of battles. Then the second day, after some recovery for the pokémon, would see the remaining battle rounds.
The city had filled up in the run up to the Contest, with both Coordinators and spectators trickling in. Something which delighted Zoey as, while the Pokécenter did have a room open, it only had been one. Which meant the return of 2B’s nightwear and, careful to make sure she was comfortable with it, snuggles! Ah, the fact that it had been a room with only one bed might have gotten them looks from the Nurse Joy, but 2B snuggles were worth it!
Now, they just needed to spend tomorrow getting 2B and Jigglypuff both properly pampered for her appearance. Yes, Zoey’s girlfriend was unfairly gorgeous for how little effort she put into her appearance. But a proper hair trim, a bit more of a schooling in makeup, and a full session of pampering for Jigglypuff was due! You had to go into Contests with both yourself and your pokémon looking at your absolute best, after all!
2B was confused where her shudder of horror came from, but quickly dismissed it. Snuggling with Zoey was too nice to worry about whatever phantom sensation that had been…
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A/N 1: The bunny girl costume thing is now just a running gag across all my stories :-p. Or most of them, at least.