//------------------------------//
// Coordination for that next ribbon 
// Story: My Little Pokémon 
// by Amarvax 
//------------------------------//

Equestria. Baltimare. Afternoon.

Baltimare. Here, a Contest Hall could be found. And where there was a Contest Hall, Pokemon Coordinators were soon to follow. Sweetie Belle was one of those coordinators. She had arrived at Baltimare, ready for her next contest. And coming to watch her was one of the teachers at the Pokemon School and essentially the perfect mentor for all Pokemon Coordinators.

Fantina.

"Ah, Sweetie Belle, you made it. I was expecting you today," said Fantina, approaching Sweetie Belle and her friends. "Right on time."

"Thanks, Ms Fantina. I almost ran late since I stayed up all night." Sweetie Belle chuckled as her usual habit of practising contest moves intensively continued. "Phione was there to help keep me up. He's been big help back home."

"Staying up late again? Non, non, Sweetie Belle." Fantina wagged her finger in disapproval. "You don't want to suddenly fall flat on your face during a contest, do you?"

"Sorry. Major force of habit."

"So. Which number ribbon is this?" Fantina asked. "I heard here in Equestria that 8 Ribbons are needed to enter the Grand Festival. A bit too harsh, in my opinion. Back in our world, only five are needed."

"Wait, it's 5?" Rarity gasped. "Oh, that would have made things far easier for us. Why did it go up to 8 then?"

Says here that it was a typo." Goh looked at his Rotomphone to find out why. "One of BigTime Ben's Pokemon ended up entering 8 and it was too late to change it. So the organizers went through with it."

"Is that why?" Rainbow Dash and the others leaned in, gazing at the phone. They found some humour in that reason. "That's kinda funny. Heh."

"Who cares how long it is? As long as I get to have some fun!"

"Fun is always key. Mais! There is a condition." Fantina snapped her fingers. "If you have five ribbons, you are made eligible and you can skip the other three and enter the Grand Festival. Or you can choose to go all the way. Which will it be, Sweetie Belle?"

"If it would get you to stop exhausting yourself every night, Sweetie Belle, I would choose the 5 Ribbon limit." Rarity leaned in, suggesting the quicker option to her little sister.

"Hmm..." Sweetie Belle pondered, shuffling through the two decisions in her mind. She already reached a conclusion that she had revealed to everyone. "Eh. I'll see when I get there. But right now, I wanna get this next ribbon so badly!"

"Compris!" Fantina clapped her hands. "Then let us get going as they say!"

They made their way to the Contest Hall with Sweetie Belle getting ready to sign herself up. But also there to sign up was Jessie, who was always looking for the next contest ribbon. She had already brought along her clothes to disguise herself as Jesselle and would use the Rocket Prize Machine to find bring herself some Pokemon.



Baltimare's Contest Hall.

Inside the Contest Hall, the usual announcer Marian, who was prominent in a lot of, if not every single Pokemon Contest out there. The spotlight shined on her as she adjusted her hair quickly. "Hm?" She soon noticed how the light had shined on her, getting into position. "Good afternoon! Prepare yourselves to be charmed with an unbelievable assortment of Pokemon as we bring you exciting Contest interactions between Pokemon and Coordinator! So without further ado, it's time to witness the majesty of the Baltimare Pokemon Contest!"

Cheers roared through the hall as all of the coordinators had either prepared themselves or were preparing themselves. Sweetie Belle, right after signing up, went into the preparation room. And there, she saw a few familiar faces.

Mainly Velvetwind, who had been seen once more. Other familiar faces involved Premium Polish who still had Princess Flurry Heart from another world as her bodyguard. Flurry Heart still kept that bodyguard disguise to conceal herself.

"Good to see you all again," said Sweetie Belle with a wave. "I haven't seen you in a while, Velvetwind."

"Me neither." She waved back at the unicorn. "I'm here for my next ribbon. It took a long time to get here. What about you?"

"Well, I've only got three ribbons. Couldn't win the fourth ribbon, so this is my fifth contest right now." The unicorn chuckled as she was just two ribbons short at the moment. "I've gone up some scary and tough competition. I wonder if Gelidity's here this time?"

"No. But I sure am." Arriving at the scene and stepping forward was another resident from Ponyville here to participate. And a resident that had finally shown herself at a Pokemon Contest. Sweetie Belle turned around to see Diamond Tiara's presence arriving. "I'll replace Gelidity as the biggest coordinator. She won't have to be here."

"Diamond Tiara? You're finally at a contest!" Sweetie Belle gasped. "Sweet! Is this your first time?"

"First time?" Premium blinked for a moment. "That means she's way behind, isn't she?"

"Don't worry about that." But Diamond Tiara didn't reveal anything to them, despite the fact that she had been making far too many preparations to appear larger than life in a Pokemon Contest. "You should worry about how I'm going to win this. It won't be just me and Purrloin this time."

Diamond Tiara showed great confidence. Sweetie Belle could even see parts of the old Diamond Tiara creeping out with this confidence. But that was only natural in competitions such as this.

"I'll have the style to breeze through this. And nopony's got more style than me." She wagged her hoof along with Purrloin wagging her paw.

"Purr."

"I don't know about that..." But Premium begged to differ as she shifted her eyes. "If anything, I think I've got some great style going. Mom always said to make yourself look bigger. I'm used to it by now and nopony does it better than me." She winked.

"We'll see about that. I won't just dethrone Gelidity as the strongest coordinator, but I'll also be the best at style too. Just you watch!" Diamond Tiara aimed her hoof at Premium Polish. Premium Polish saw that was a direct challenge.

"I don't think so!" Premium wasn't about to let anyone steal her mojo and presence as the most stylish coordinator. Due to this conversation and encounter, there were tiny sparks of lightning that flew from their eyes, clashing to show how they were the most competitive here at the moment. "This contest's mine!"

"Nuh-uh!" Diamond Tiara heavily denied that.

"Yuh-huh!" Only for Premium Polish to reinstate it as a destined fact.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

They went back and forth with this, truly acting like their age. Children. Purrloin stayed out of it, licking her paws and choosing not to engage at all. The other coordinators just gazed at these duelling fillies.

"Hope you can prove it on stage." Diamond Tiara smirked before the monitor on the wall had brought Marian's face. All attention was drawn to it.

"Our victorious Contest Coordinator will receive the prestigious Baltimare Ribbon!" Marian then held out the ribbon to them all, revealing Baltimare's exclusive ribbon that could go to anyone here.



"And after five wins, a coordinator is eligible to compete in the Grand Festival! Or, if they want to go the extra mile, shoot for the full 8 here in Equestria! And now, it is my distinct honour to our panel of judges!" Marian then showed off three judges that were present here. The first two were very noticeable. "Our head judge, Mr Contesta!"

"Thank you!" Contesta put his hands together. "I can't wait to be thrilled by the many brilliant performances I'm sure are ready to be shown to all of us today."

"Next, from the Pokemon Fanclub, Mr Sukizo!"

"I just had a Baltimare Salad coming here. Already, this city is remarkable!" Sukizo uttered, complimenting the locations as always.

"And finally, a great helper to young and upcoming Pokemon Coordinators, the Gym Leader of Hearthome City and a teacher at the Pokemon School, it's Fantina!"

"I'm hoping to see a lot of my students here today." Fantina giggled excitedly, knowing that one of her students, Sweetie Belle, would be here. "No fan favourites, toutefois."

"And I'm your announcer, Marian. The pleasure is all mine! So now, let's begin with Round One! The Performance Stage! Where all of the gifted Pokemon show off their moves! And here is our first entrance!" Marian then turned to the curtains, ready to reveal the first coordinator. "You're on!"

"Hello there!" Rushing out into the scene was Jessie. Or rather, Jesselle as her newest contest disguise. Upon rushing out, she held out the Poke Ball, throwing it upwards to reveal the Pokemon within. "Show yourself, Oricorio!"

"Oricorio!" The Oricorio of her choice in this was the Sensu Style Oricorio. Once Oricorio emerged, ghostly wisps flew out, adding some quick and easy style points. Watching this contest were Jessie's trusted friends, James, Meowth and Wobbuffet. They took the disguise of janitors. Mainly the janitor disguise they keep at the Pokemon School.

"Our Jessie has some talent for having a new Pokemon be prepared for contests. First time too." James commented. "Perhaps that's her true talent among everything else."

"True that." Meowth agreed. "Only took 7 minutes tops. Wish I could get stuff done that quickly."

"Wobbuffet."

"Watch this! Oricorio, show them why you're the Dancing Pokemon with Sky Attack and Agility!" 

"Ori!" Oricorio's eyes glinted for a split second. Afterwards, it had coated itself in the usual golden aura of Sky Attack. And after doing so, Oricorio started dancing but not before using Agility while still having that aura. While dancing, moving from spot to spot, Oricorio's speed was building.

The golden trail of Sky Attack's Aura started forming a shape, correlating with Oricorio's dancing. In fact, Oricorio was starting to form something from the Aura. And while doing so, there was another one of it. Or rather, an afterimage. The speed increase of Agility allowed Oricorio to create an afterimage that also had the golden trail.

Everyone's eyes were now struggling to keep up as more afterimages of Oricorio showed themselves, moving in different directions depending on where the real Oricorio had been to previously. "Look at that! All the afterimages from Agility are leaving their own Sky Attacks!" Marian commented. "And what's that they're drawing?"

"Show them, Oricorio!"

"Corio!" The Dancing Pokemon cawed as its afterimages and itself had eventually finished their Sky Attack drawing. And soon, it was revealed to be a drawing of Jessadia's face, made out of the golden gleaming aura of Sky Attack.

"Oh, it's her face!" The face could be seen by everyone as its reflection reached the ceiling due to how overwhelmingly bright it was, causing everyone to look up and down. Oricorio then landed gracefully, taking a bow as the energy of Sky Attack had combusted, resulting in a golden explosion afterwards that dropped sparkles. 

"I didn't know you could do that..." Sweetie Belle gawked at the performance that Oricorio had made. "I mean, I kinda did but..."

"Uh-huh..." Diamond Tiara and Premium Polish were slightly intimidated by this. Jesselle was a genuine threat as at the end of the day, it was still Jessie and she did have past contest experiences to make herself skilled enough. If anything, Jessie's previous disguise as Jessalina the coordinator is most likely why she was such a quick learner. Experience certainly pays, even if she was among younger characters.

"It's not every day that you get to see the artwork done via Pokemon moves." Mr Contesta give his opinion and it was strikingly positive.

"I thought only Smeargle could do that, but it seems not! Remarkable!" So did Mr Sukizo.

"I always said that Pokemon Battling can sometimes be art, and I'm thrilled that someone showed it off! Bravo!" Fantina applauded. And so did everyone else. It was safe to say that they all enjoyed Jessie's display.

"Light work." Jessie chuckled before returning Oricorio. She then walked off the stage, knowing that she had impressed many once more.

"And now, onto our next coordinators!" Marian exclaimed as the next coordinators came through, showing off what their Pokemon were capable of. Four coordinators came on, showing off their Pokemon and their new skills. And after those four, Diamond Tiara came out to perform. 

"I've been waiting for this! Go, Purrloin!" Diamond Tiara sent her Purrloin in, throwing the Poke Ball. Cat scratches emerged once the Poke Ball had been opened for extra flair.

"Purrloin!"

"Make yourself stand out with this new move! Lash Out!"

"Purr..!" Purrloin sat down as her fur stood up. The Devious Pokemon had then allowed the darkness within her to manifest, forming into something. Lash out usually has tendrils that come with them and Purrloin would use those tendrils to full effect. "Purrloin!"

And that effect started with Purrloin immediately using the aura of Lash Out to darken herself, essentially creating a shadow over her body. And it worked well as her green eyes shined in the darkness. Afterwards, from behind her, the tendrils had shown up in their black and red appearance, flowing behind Purrloin and acting like tails.

If anything, Purrloin looked like an alternate Ninetales as the black and red of the tendrils managed to illuminate within the shadow spot. The green glow was a bonus. "Nice! Using all of those tendrils to mimic a group of tails! It looks a lot like the tails of a Ninetales! Only there are...I think 15 of them? How many times have I said tails now?" Marian squinted, trying to count how many tendrils were there.

Purrloin appeared as some sort of demon with the way she presented herself. Some were intimidated but amazed nonetheless. Purrloin then purred once, allowing the tendrils to intensify. "Purr!"

"You were right about it resembling that of a Ninetales! I wouldn't be surprised if another kind of Ninetales exists out there that matches that appearance!" Contesta certainly liked it.

"Adorable yet intimidating. Exactly what a Pokemon can be. But overall, remarkable!"

"Yes! How Terrifiant! It reminded me of those old childhood stories my mother would read to me. How nostalgic." Fantina enjoyed it too for some nostalgic value.

"Beat that." Diamond Tiara then grinned, gazing at the curtains where Premium Polish, who was up next, peeked through. Premium pouted before giving a narrow-eyed expression.

"That was awesome!" So far, that one was a personal favourite of Ash. "I bet they could grab something if used in a battle!"

"Pikachu!"

"Kinda gave me the creeps..." Goh chuckled nervously. "Something with lots of limbs makes me uneasy."

"Good work, my little pony. We'll have the next coordinator come in, but first, a quick minute break to talk about the new Poke Ball developed her in Equestria!" Marian winked as the contest took a brief break. 

Meanwhile, Premium now felt a greater drive to outperform Diamond Tiara. Or have the judges prefer her performance. She was up next. Diamond Tiara walked past her with a bright grin as a rivalry had already sparked between them. However, the moment she went out of view, Diamond Tiara hid behind a wall before taking a deep breath.

"Yes!" And after that deep breath, she pumped her hooves, feeling proud of herself. "I didn't think I would do well on my first try...But I did it. And it's all thanks to you, Purrloin."

"Purrloin." In truth, Diamond Tiara was nervous. Rightfully so. Anyone would be nervous for big moments such as this and it paid off swimmingly. Purrloin then went up to her partner, nuzzling on her. 

"Great job, Diamond Tiara." Catching Diamond Tiara off guard was Sweetie Belle who peeked around the corner. Diamond Tiara jumped from this sudden surprise as she was hoping no one would spot her acting like this.

"Gh! You scared me...Where you listening in the whole time...?" She sighed.

"Just the last part." Sweetie Belle giggled. "You sounded pretty nervous though."

"Don't worry about that." Diamond Tiara tried shrugging it off as light work. "It was nothing for Purrloin and me. I'm sure you'll do good too out there. I've seen your performances after all."

"Thanks."

"But don't get it twisted. I'm still aiming to get ahead of you. I'll rack up as many ribbons as I can. I'll beat you and everyone else. Even that scarily talented Jessadia and Geliditiy." Diamond Tiara proclaimed, essentially deciding to seal her fate as the best coordinator out there.

"Okay. If you say so. Just till you see what Meowstic can do." Sweetie Belle was just as confident in herself as Diamond Tiara, albeit with some more oomph since she's been at this a bit longer. Eventually, Premium Polish went out and did what she could, having Masquerain as her choice.

Diamond Tiara watched carefully, seeing what Masquerain could pull off. Just to observe her opponent carefully. Although, there is a chance she wouldn't use Masquerain in the battle section. If she passed. Masquerain used Bug Buzz and Aqua Jet, using the speed of Aqua Jet to juggle the green spheres of Bug Buzz that were made. The Eyeball Pokemon certainly performed well.

It was coming down to the last performances and the remaining two would be Velvetwind and Sweetie Belle. And once Velvetwind came into the scene, she sent out her Pokemon. Her first Pokemon and trusted partner who was now fully evolved. 

Drifblim. Drifblim showed up, also having Ghost wisps with its Poke Ball emergence. Drifblim's appearance immediately brought dread to the area with the aura it was exuding. Marian felt a chill coarse through her body."Gh...! Chilling!"

"Drifblim! Self-Destruct!" Velvetwind commanded, giving the riskiest command to date as everyone gasped. 

"Wait, what?! Won't Self-Destruct make it faint?!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "What's she doing?!"

"Unless..." Twilight thought for a moment, recalling the last time Self-Destruct had been used. And the most memorable moment of it was Spiritomb. That was when she realized what this meant. "Oh, that's why!"

"Drif...!" Drifblim's body started radiating an orange light as his body was on the verge of combustion and releasing a highly volatile explosion. The judges even seemed intimidated by this.

"Phantom Force, quick!"

"Blim!" With impressive speeds, Drifblim had manipulated reality, forming a portal of Ghost energy below. And right as he did that, his body released all of the Infinity Energy, causing a dome-shaped explosion. And that explosion managed to go well with the Ghost portal as Drifblim sunk into it. But not before turning himself intangible, allowing the explosion to phase through him.

"Oh! Drifblim used its Ghost intangibility to phase through the explosion and even made a nice formation with the orange colours of the explosion and the purple colours of the portal! Splendid!"

"Blim!" Afterwards, Driflbim popped out, still in one piece as the smoke cleared. It was a success. Risky, but a success either way. Velvetwind had certainly improved since the last time. And her parents were always there to support her.

"They had me worried there for a bit with Self-Destruct. But I suppose I should've known that the bond they share was powerful enough for them to work around it."

"Remarkable! Now that is trust!"

"The things you can pull off with Ghost-Type intangibility is endless! I am so glad that everyone could see what could be done!" Fantina loved this since she owned a Drifblim and was a Ghost-Type specialist.

"The same trick that Spiritomb used," Twilight called back to the Spiritomb attack. Spiritomb did do so something similar indeed. Velvetwind then walked off, returning as Sweetie Belle was the last one.

"Wow...I never saw her in that much action at all...But she's gotten good. Guess that was my first taste of things to come, huh?" Sweetie Belle said to herself as Diamond Tiara and Premium Polish weren't too impressed. Not yet at least "Okay...here goes." Sweetie Belle gulped as Marian called for the next coordinator. Rushing out of the curtains was Sweetie Belle was she then threw the Poke Ball into the air. Out of it came Meowstic.

"Meowstic!"

"Meowstic! Make yourself look all fancy with Psyshock!"

"Meow! Meow...!" No one was wasting time. Meowstic started by jumping into the air and putting her arms out in the front. She had then formed masses of thick light blue, blue and purple energy that was held in place. It seemed to be as squishy as jelly from how she was holding it. "Stic...!"

"Mush and change it!"

"Meow-Meow!" Meowstic then started using her arms to change the shape of the Psyshock. Despite it being energy, the masses could still be interacted with. Meowstic was essentially performing arts and crafts in front of everyone as her arms were moving rapidly to form this new shape.

And it turned out to be a cape, amulet and a crown. Meowstic had used those three masses each, forming regal wear. Fit for royalty. Meowstic had then placed the crown on her first, then the amulet and then the cape. Surprisingly, the energy from the Psyshock did not go off.

"Look at that!" Marian gained stars in her eyes. "Isn't that royal?! What do our judges think?!"

"Royal indeed. Now that's a getup fit for a princess or a queen." Contesta approved of this clothing choice within a contest.

"Now the Pokemon is as stylish as the trainer! And that glow makes it all the more remarkable!"

"What else can I say? A quick learner and an innovative trainer. No wonder her sister is a fashionista." Fantina complimented her, referring to Rarity as well. Rarity felt some joy from being mentioned. It was safe to say that Sweetie Belle's performance was enjoyed greatly.

Meowstic, acting cocky at the moment, made the masses disappear as they re-entered her power. Sweetie Belle pranced joyfully before turning Meowstic. Afterwards, she left to the waiting room and with that final performance done, the first stage was over.

"How'd Meowstic do that without being hurt or anything?!" Pinkie Pie wondered. "Last time I checked, Psychic-Types aren't immune to each other!" Pikie Pie exclaimed.

"Either that defence is otherworldly and Meowstic is good at holding back the pain or some parts of Psyshock protected her. Either way, it was impressive."

"Espeon!"

"And that brings us to the end of round one! So please be patient while the results of our judges are gathered and then announced!"

The moment of truth was incoming. Only 8 of them would advance to the next round and have that chance of gaining the Baltimare Ribbon. But with 8 still being a low number in retrospect, the pressure was on. Sweetie Belle felt relieved after doing so well but was hoping to make it to the next round.

"Phew..." She sat on the couch with Meowstic, deciding to take a slight rest. "I might get that next ribbon after so long..."

"I might get a major win there," said Premium. "After that, it'll e almost time for me to go to the Grand Festival. I'm gonna be leaving a lot of you behind."

"We'll see about that." Diamond Tiara begged to differ. 

"How many ribbons do you have?" Premium leaned in. "Because at least Sweetie Belle has like...three I think? You make it sound like you're new to this."

"Pssh! So what if I'm new?" Diamond Tiara scoffed as it was hard to tell if she was this new to Pokemon Contests. Only she, and a few others at Ponyville, knew this answer. "I'm still great at what I do. Isn't that right, Purrloin?"

"Purr."

5 minutes later and the judges made up their minds. They knew who they were going to go for. 8 contests were about to be chosen and hearts were beating fast. So fast that Audino could hear them all once the crowd of people's voices had simmered down.

"Alright! Our long and anticipated wait is finally over. After careful consideration by our panel of judges, we now present to you our 8 talented coordinators who will be moving on to the second round!" Marian announced as all eyes were on the giant monitor.

8 faces showed up with question marks. The many coordinators held their breaths, standing there frozen. Afterwards, the questions marks faded away as the rest had been revealed. Sweetie Belle was first and her first opponent was revealed to be Velvetwind. Jessie was second with someone else being her opponent in the second round.

Diamond Tiara and Premium Polish were paired up. Of all the times for this to happen, especially during their newly found rivalry. And finally, two other coordinators would challenge each other. Those were the 8.

"Made it!" Sweetie Belle cheered. "And I get to see Velvetwind's move up close and personal too."

"They totally heard us." Diamond Tiara said to Premium Polish. "I don't blame them. If there was a chance for us to go against each other, it would be this. I can't wait to show you what I've got."

"I should say the same thing. Cause I'm winning this." An equally confident Premium held out her Poke Ball, anticipating for this second round to begin.

"I kinda have a bad feeling about this...but it should be fine." A nervous Sweetie Belle commented as Jessie gazed at her competitors. By this point, Jessie knew how challenging they could be.

Any one of these coordinators could take her out. Especially the ones closely related to the friend group of Ash Ketchum and Pikachu. Jessie by now knows that any friend of Ash is bound to be a threat. "I won't lose this..." Jessie said to herself, scrunching her face. "I need that next ribbon right now, and I won't let all these twerpettes stop me. Baltimare Ribbon, you'll be mine!"

The Baltimare Contest was heating up now. 8 coordinators remain and two of them had already sparked a fierce rivalry. And a return of a familiar face. With the sun high in the skies this afternoon, it wasn't time for its orange glow to form a sunset yet as the journey continues.


Chapter 693 End