392: Hi Ho Silver Wind
|
394: Kaimaku! Gurando Fesuteibaru!
|
May hands over her card at the Registration Desk and her Contest Ribbons are scanned to make sure they're not fakes. She is handed a Guidebook with a map to the stadium, contest rules and restaurant locations. They move to the Coordinator Dorm Rooms which is more like a luxury hotel (Ash and Brock, expert freeloaders, are delighted) and May is even happier when hands cover her eyes and she turns to find her mother! Max hugs her in delight and Caroline explains that her father can't be there due to being busy at the Gym (after all, the Hoenn League stragglers will be desperately trying to get their eighth ribbons) but he will be watching on television. They head upstairs to their rooms, where cards and letters for May are waiting from various people they have met over their journey to date. May explains to her mother that she keeps in touch with them all through e-mail and telephone (presumably at the Pokémon Centres) while Ash sits there not calling his mother. May's hand clenches on one of the letters and Ash thinks something is wrong, but she says that she's just so excited at the thought of entering that stadium.
Brock explains the set-up of the Festival to Caroline (and the benefit of the viewers) - the 247 eligible Coordinators will compete in preliminary Contest Battles, and a top 64 from that group will then move on to the second round of Competition matches. Brock suggests May get in some last minute training, after all 183 trainers who were good enough to get 5 ribbons will have their hearts broken tomorrow.
Meanwhile, a small boy is walking amongst all the market stalls set up to gouge the Festival-goers when he hears a woman calling on people to gather round for a chance to meet the famous Gym leader Norman! Excited, the boy runs up and asks if he is REALLY Norman, and the man and his red-haired female companion explain that they are... in the form of a motto!
"Yes, prepare for trouble little boy!"
"And make it double, I'm the real McCoy!"
"To protect all Gyms from devastation."
"And from Gym Leader impersonation!"
"To give in to evil if you just can't beat her!"
"To extend our reach to.... the Gym Leader!"
"Whose name is..."
"It's Norman!"
Well... that was weird!
The boy is confused though, he doesn't look like his pictures. "Norman" explains that this is to keep the photographers from swarming him (that makes NO SENSE!) but when the boy asks for an autograph, the woman shows him a flier on "free" Pokémon Counselling where he can get an autograph instead. A little man covered in fur in a blue suit waddles by holding up a sign with the flier on it, followed by a delighted Wobbuffet and happy Chimecho. The boy, confused by all this, turns to Jesse and asks her,"Are you Norman's Mum?"
Oh snap!
Furious she growls that she is his manager AND much younger than he is, and "Norman" has to physically get in her way and restrain her from beating a small child to death.
May has headed down for her last minute training, watching the other trainers doing the same. She shows off her Pokémon to Caroline, who especially likes Beautifly, and then Ash has to get involved by calling out Snorunt to practise Ice beam some more, causing menace and peril to these people who are working their asses off towards their life's dream.
Munchlax hides behind May's ass while Pikachu jumps in front of Max to protect him, while Ash ends up taking a full frontal blast of ice to the face and frozen in place, much to Snorunt's delight.
Munchlax spots a Zigzagoon being fed Pokeblock and leaps in the way to grab some itself, and May has to try and physically drag it away and calls over Max to give it some pink surprise. As it falls asleep in bloated delight, May explains that you have to constantly keep an eye on it... and then eyes up something else - Drew!
She rushes over to him to taunt him for not believing she would make it, and he admits that he is surprised to see her. Feeling cocky, she tells him that now he has to admit she is every bit as good as he is, but he replies smugly that just saying it doesn't make it so, then disarms her fury by offering her a rose.
Ahahahaha, she wants him to bone her so badly!
He tells her that he does respect her enthusiasm, but that is no substitute for real talent, and she angrily slaps his rose away to get in his face once more.... which is when Harley shows up!
YAY!
Calling out to her, he minces over quickly with arms flailing and bends over to catch his breath, showing off all that junk in his trunk! He brags about making the Grand Festival and then campily begs her to forgive him for his less than moral activities the last time they met. She stammers out that it is okay and he is delighted, then looks DIRECTLY at her tits, points and says,"Wow just look at that!"
He is talking, of course, about the rose that Drew gave her. He asks if it comes from "this young man" and points at Drew, and Harley introduces them. Harley says Drew is the one all the other coordinators are gunning for, and that he didn't know May had such powerful friends. May laughs it off, saying Drew usually just makes fun of her, but Harley insists that this can't be the case or he wouldn't have given her a rose and OH! GASP! THERE'S SOMETHING ROMANTIC GOING ON HERE!
Harley is the most incredible, amazing BITCH! It's glorious!
May blushes in horror, Drew is just confused, and Harley snaps a photo and says his goodbyes, leaving May standing alone and utterly bamboozled. She can't figure out if Drew is on the up and up or not, and Max and the others tell her it is best to presume he is up to no good. This seems to be pretty good advice, as the camera returns to Drew who is chortling to himself that nothing will stop him from getting his revenge on May.
At the Counselling Session, "Norman" is checking over trainer's Pokémon and offering to do give it some training sessions and then return it to the trainers. Harley spots Norman and is delighted, while in the back of the tent Jesse and Meowth are putting the Pokémon into cages, Jesse refusing to take their success and run when they can stick around, overextend themselves and end up getting blasted off, again!
May is trying out Beautifly's Silver Wind and Harley shows up to tell her how great the move is and how she should use that and ONLY that as her move in the contest to show just how good a move it is. May seems unsure and points out that she might have to face Harley who would then know her strategy, but Harley gasps that he would never do such a thing and he seems so genuine that May ends up trying to assure him that she really believes he has changed and to prove it she WILL do just that and only use one move in the preliminary stages and.... my God woman, are you fucking stupid!?!
Drew certainly thinks so, he's been watching Harley and May and doesn't like what he sees (that emerald outfit really is gauche!) and says so, telling May it would be foolish to restrict yourself to one move when taking part in the Grand Festival against scores of opponents who have shown enough ability/talent to win five ribbons. Harley insists that that Drew is just trying to psyche May out and insist that May come with her to see Norman, surprising everyone else (especially Caroline!), and Harley discovers for the first time despite his normal high level of research that May is Norman's daughter!
At the Counselling Tent, a huge crowd has formed as Harley, Caroline and the twerps show up and push their way through to the front where Caroline picks out that it isn't her husband because of the way he talks.
Also the fact that he has a different face and is at least 15 years younger.
Once accused, however, James refuses to give up the pretence and insists that he IS Norman. May has Beautifly use Silver Wind and blows their disguises and clothes off (it's never what you think it is, Gentle Dodgers), and removes the tent to reveal the caged Pokémon. Meowth hits a switch and a rotor comes out of the skeleton of the tent, lifting Team Rocket and the cage off the air to safety as nobody has a small animal capable of devastating ranged attacks.
A Thunderbolt sends Team Rocket blasting off again and drops the cages holding the Pokémon, Beautifly slowing their fall with Silver Wind so they land safely. The trainers are reunited with their Pokémon and thank May for her work, and Harley bursts out of nowhere to agree and stress once again how amazing Silver Wind is, May seeming to take it all in and agree that she SHOULD just use Silver Wind... an idea that Drew doesn't seem too impressed with.
The next day, Vivian introduces everyone to the rules and the first stage - the Appeals Round. Amongst the 247 competitors are Drew and Harley, of course, impressing with Roselia's Petal Dance and Cacturne's Bullet Seed. Drew gets a score of 95 and Harley gets an 84, both good scores, but only 64 competitors can get through to the Second Round. Harley heads backstage and encourages May once again to go with Silver Wind, and she heads out onto the biggest stage of her life. Calling out Beautifly with a shimmer of falling light, it blasts Silver Wind up into the sky so that it flashes against the sunlight and rains down a mist of light over the enthralled crowd.
Backstage, Harley smugly thinks to himself that this won't be good enough to get through to the second round, but she scores an 88, better than him. He's shocked and horrified, but quickly covers it up when he sees Drew watching him, waving hello with his oddly pudgy hands.
May rejoins the twerps and Harley sweeps up from behind her unexpectedly once more to continue insisting that she stick with Silver Wind. May tells him he scored well too and Harley affects false modesty, and then the final results come in with the top 64 revealed. Harley placed 3rd, May is there in 48th and bringing up the rear (ho ho!) is Harley, not number 64 but behind May nonetheless. Everyone celebrates and Ash tells Harley he did great too, while May continues to agree with Harley that she should go with Silver Wind as her only move because she is a huge idiot. Drew watches on, not overly pleased to see Harley and May getting on so well and May seemingly falling for Harley's transparent tactics.
|
