MY JOURNEY

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 10

The environment of the Contest Hall was completely different from yesterday, yes it still kept the same concept of showing off your pokemon's appeal but because it was the battle portion I could feel the excitement radiating off of everyone. "You sure you're ready for this?" I asked Jared who was extremely cool and confident and he nodded, it was just the two of us right now because all the contestants had to be up early and neither of us wanted to wake the others....plus I liked the alone time.

I blushed and stuffed my hands into my pockets as the two of us walked side by side to the front desk. "You must be Jared Jacobs!" The lady at the front desk assumed and Jared nodded.

"Jade Jacobs...that has a nice ring to it." I thought to myself and began to giggle, "What're you giggling about?" Jared asked and I chuckled, "Nothing ooh look it's Kyle and Selena." I changed the subject quickly and dragged Jared over to the two. Kyle and Selena both had panicked looks on their faces and I raised a brow. "What's wrong?" Jared questioned, "It's Olivia, she's sick in bed." Kyle answered, "Yeah she can barely move." Selena added. "Oh no, how is she gonna compete?" I questioned and they shook their heads, "That's the problem."

"Looks like she'll have to forfeit." Jared sighed and I looked down feeling bad for her, yeah Olivia gets on my nerves but I still have a beating heart, "Is there anyway we can help?" I asked and Kyle's eyes lit up and he nodded, "Yeah there actually is, in section four, paragraph three on the page 189 of the Pokemon Contest handbook it says and I quote, "If a contestant is unable to participate due to illness, injury, or any other limiting circumstance, said contestant has the ability to choose a representative." Kyle quoted and my brows furrowed in confusion, "That means Olivia can choose anyone to represent her in the competition, but who will she choose?" Jared responded and all eyes landed on me. I put my hands up and shook my head, "Oh no, I don't know the first thing about Pokemon Contests, let alone the Wallace Cup." I responded and Selena waved me off, "It's not that complicated, a contest battle is basically like any pokemon battle, except for a few rules, pokemon are battling to display their appeal so that means beauty, or toughness, a cool attitude, a cute nature, or their cleverness. Each trainer are given points and the object of the battle is to decrease the others points." She explained and I nodded.

"But keep in mind, you can loose points if an attack is dodged or if the opponent uses the move to their advantage." Kyle added. "Let's head to the front desk to get this all settled." Jared suggested and I nodded, "I'll call Olivia to inform her about what's happening, she'll also need to work it out with the front desk." Selena stated then began to dial Olivia on her phone, as Jared and I walked to the front desk I could here Olivia's shrieks in anger.

"Wow even when she's sick..." Jared trailed off and I chuckled. "Hi how may I help you?" The lady at the front desk asked and I smiled, "Hi, one of the contestants in the Battle Stage is unable to compete because she's sick." I informed and the lady nodded looking at something on the computer, "Oh I see...Olivia Smith is the only one not to register, is she who you're talking about?" The woman asked and I nodded, "Yes, you see Olivia sick so she asked me to come and represent her in the competition," I explained and the lady took the phone from Selena, speaking with Olivia for a few then hanging up, she looked at me then smiled, "Great well everything's settled, now all you need to do is register with a Contest Pass." She instructed and my eyes widened, "I don't have a contest pass..." I replied and she frowned, "Well I'm sorry but until I receive a contest pass you can't compete." She replied and I sighed.

"How long do we have to get one?" Jared asked and the lady looked at him, "You have 4 hours, until the contest begins." She replied then he nodded, "Come on I know where you can get a pass." Jared stated then taking my hand, my cheeks reddened when our hands met but I hid my face by turning away.

The two of us headed out of the Contest Hall and into Castelia City to the buildings where people lived. "This one right here," Jared spoke to himself and we stopped in front of a tall and clean looking building, the many windows signaled to me that there were a lot of residents. "Who lives here?" I asked and Jared turned from searching for the apartment number and smirked, "A friend." He replied then continued when his finger stopped on the name, "Hunter."

"Hey Hunt, it's me Jared." Jared said into the microphone and there was much noise before an actual voice was heard. "Jared it's been a long time, come right up!" A voice responded, I could tell this was an older man due to the sound of his voice. The door dinged allowing us entry. Jared and I took an elevator up to the sixth floor and I was quiet the whole time as we searched for this Hunter's door.

Jared and I entered the place and it was a cluttered mess, books and papers lying everywhere, different objects such as pokemon toys and fake fossils sprawled along the hardwood floor. "Jared!" The man exclaimed as he pulled him into a hug. The man was very old, hunched over and using a cane to get around but something about him told me he was not one to mess with.

"And who might this be, you're girlfriend?" Hunt asked and both our cheeks blushed, "Hunt this is my friend," Jared introduced and I smiled then shook his hand, "Hi, I'm Jade." I greeted. "Hunt I was wondering if you could help me with a favor." Jared started and Hunt sat down on his couch. "You see a friend of mine is sick and she was supposed to be competing in the pokemon contest-" Jared began but Hunt interrupted by shouting in excitement, "Oh yes! I caught you and Watchog's performance on the T.V yesterday, why didn't you tell me little Patrat evolved?" Hunt interrupted and Jared chuckled, "Sorry Hunt, I've just been a little caught up." Jared replied and I crossed my arms and began scanning the room a bit more. A map of Unova was strung up on the wall with little red tacs sticking out in different locations.

"Those are where I found Key stones." Hunt stated, interrupting his conversation with Jared and I raised a brow in confusion, "Key stones?" I questioned and his stood up then walked over to me, "Key stones." He answered then opened his hand to reveal a bright multicolored stone with a black symbol inside inside. "What is that?" I asked, "An essential part of mega evolution," He replied and my eyes widened, "What is mega evolution?" I asked and Jared groaned as we still had no Contest pass but I really wanted to know.

"Well not much is known but it's theorized that pokemon can evolve further..." Hunt explained and I nodded, "This theory is known as Mega evolution, when a trainer and their pokemon share a powerful bond it is believed that certain pokemon have the ability to grow strong through mega evolution, evolution only available during battle." Hunt explained and my eyes lit up in excitement, "Here, for my grandson's girlfriend a key stone." Hunt gifted and my excitement for the key stone overpowered my embarrassment. I took the key stone and placed it in the front of my bag.

"Now can we get the contest pass?" Jared whined and Hunt chuckled then left the room coming back a few minutes after with a pass, "This pass is completely blank so all you need to do is feel it out." Hunt instructed and I nodded and took the pass graciously. "Thank you so much Hunter." I waved as we exited the house and Jared rushed me out.

"Sorry about rushing you two but when you get Hunt going, he never stops." Jared apologized and I nodded, "It's fine, we should get back to the contest hall and fast, I need to get some training in before the concert." I advised and Jared nodded, the both of us exited Hunt's apartment building and headed back to the concert hall. Everything went smoothly and I was able to fill out my Contest Pass with no problem. Now I've just gotta make it through this Contest.