PMP 39: Normal vs. Ghost?

The MC walked back into the center of the stage.

“All right! That’s it for the appeal round!” she said, “Now it’s time for the battling round! And let’s see which two co-ordinators made it to the second round!”

The screen turned black. To nobody’s surprise, Melissa’s picture appeared first. Cynthia and Mitsumi sat gripping the edge of their seats as they waited to see who would fight Melissa. Lukas’s picture soon appeared next to hers. The two girls breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Now he has to get past Melissa, though,” said Cynthia, “Will he make it?”

“I have faith in him,” said Mitsumi.

“All right!” said Marian, “Now we move onto the battle round! The two co-ordinators have five minutes to knock each other’s points to zero! The co-ordinator with the most points at the end of five minutes will be declared the winner! If a Pokémon is knocked out or a co-ordinator runs out of points before the end of five minutes, the battle will end and the remaining co-ordinator will win! Oh, and you can only use one of the Pokémon you used in the appeal round!”

The big screen switched. Now it displayed both the pictures, with the two yellow rings below them. Between the rings was a clock set for five minutes. Melissa and Lukas both came out from backstage and stood at opposite ends of the stage.

“And here we GO!” said Marian. The clock started.

“Okay, Clefairy, you’re up!” said Lukas. He let his pink Pokémon out of its Pokéball.

“Loony, show your stuff!” cried Melissa, letting her Drifblim out of its Pokéball.

“Well, this is an interesting matchup,” said Cynthia, “Loony can’t hit Clefairy because ghost attacks don’t affect normal-type Pokémon, and Clefairy can’t hit Loony because normal-type attacks don’t affect ghost-type Pokémon. I wonder what they’ll do…”

“We’ll get zees battle started weez Gust!” said Melissa. Loony sent a gust of wind flying at Clefairy, taking out a few of Lukas’s points.

“Okay, let’s see… Clefairy, metronome!” said Lukas. Clefairy wiggled its fingers for a moment before opening its mouth and letting loose a steam of flames. The flames hit Loony and took all gathered completely by surprise.

“Metronome is an attack that generates another attack at random!” the MC announced, “Looks like Metronome generated flamethrower!”

“Of course Lukas would pick metronome…” said Cynthia, “I would have done the same. He’s clever.”

“Incroyable!” said Melissa, “Loony, use gust once again!”

Loony used gust, hitting Clefairy.

“Metronome!”

Clefairy generated splash. Lukas smacked his forehead in embarrassment and his points fell.

“Zees weel not take long! Loony, anozer gust s'il vous plait!”

Loony used gust again. The judges seemed to be growing bored of Melissa’s repeated attacks, and her points fell a little. But what could she do? There was no other way to hit Clefairy. Meanwhile, metronome was keeping the judges surprised.

“Metronome, Clefairy!”

Clefairy generated the move dark pulse. The dark-type attack was super-effective on Loony, and the Pokémon was almost defeated.

“Loony, zees cannot be! Nefer geev up, nefer surrender! Loony, gust again!”

Mr. Contesta yawned politely.

“This isn’t very remarkable…” said Milo quietly.

Loony’s attack hit, but Clefairy was still going strong. It used metronome again, this time generating the grass-type move mega drain. Loony’s remaining health was sapped up and given to Clefairy. The balloon Pokémon crashed to the ground in defeat. A buzzer rang.

“Drifblim is unable to battle!” said Marian, “That means that the Yosuga city ribbon goes to Lukas!”

Melissa recalled her Pokémon in disbelief. The crowd was going wild. Mitsumi and Cynthia were on their feet, applauding. After Marian handed Lukas the ribbon, Melissa approached him.

“Nice work, leetle boy,” she said, “C’est magnifique! Your strategy eez very good. You haf some serious potential as co-ordinator.”

“T-thanks…” said Lukas.

“I encourage you to keep going!” said Melisaa, “Aim for zee Grand Festival! Zere eez no limit to how high you can soar! Meanwhile, I weel be looking forward to zee day when we battle again!”

Melissa and Lukas shook hands. People began to exit. The contest was over.