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"Fuck yeah! Show them what you got, Evie! You got this!" Mal shouts from the stands while the other audience members around her glared in annoyance; however no one had the audacity to speak up. If looks could kill, Mal would have dropped dead on the spot from Uma and wartortle's looks of disapproval. The trainer and her pokemon were covering their faces to hide from all the glares of the other people in the audience. It was almost admirable how Mal did not notice or maybe she just did not care. Uma has to emphasize almost because this was definitely one of the most embarrassing situations Mal has ever put her in. Evie's eevee was also sitting with the duo because it was not going to participate in the contest this time around. The brown pokemon was sitting on Mal's lap and happily wagging her tail at the sight of Evie. Meanwhile Evie was standing on the stage and shyly waving to her friends' direction. Evie genuinely appreciated Mal's endless support, but she couldn't help but feel embarrassed for both herself and Uma.
It has been two months since Evie officially joined the duo and the girls have been nothing but supportive for one another. Mal and Uma succeeded in both obtaining their third gym badges as Evie guided them through the region. Likewise, Mal and Evie have officially started dating after what Mal would describe as the "perfect" confession. Although if anyone asked Uma, she would say "if you use the word 'perfect' loosely for wandering into a haunted house, getting attacked by wild ghost pokemon, almost getting your souls stolen by Spiritombs and only confessing because you thought it would be your last day on earth...then sure it was perfect." Uma truly will never understand why Mal has such a knack for attracting ghost pokemon.
"Listen loser, I know you are your girlfriend's number one fan, but I swear to Arceus that if you don't calm the fuck down, I am going to start a fight and have us both blacklisted from every Pokemon contest in this region. You're embarrassing Evie and me." Uma harshly tells her best friend and wartortle nods his head to show that he agrees. Hearing Uma's threat and knowing that her friend was gravely serious, Mal reluctantly toned down her excitement before Uma could jump her. She resorted to sulking, but still wanted to show Evie her support.
This is Evie's fifth contest and second attempt for her third contest ribbon. The brunette coordinator had lost the previous contest in the last city that the trio visited. Evie understands that winning isn't everything and you cannot expect to win every time, but winning this contest would help her reaffirm that this is the right profession for her. She took a deep breath and called out her partner for the first round.
"Fairest of them all, take the stage Ninetales!" Evie called out her partner and an Alolan Ninetales elegantly came out of the pokeball and onto the stage. The ice and fairy pokemon was quite a sight for the Sinnoh natives. Evie had received an Alolan Vulpix egg as a gift from Mal, which hatched rather quickly and after much training, it evolved into Ninetales. Evie gave her Ninetales one look and nodded to indicate that she was ready for their routine.
"Ninetales, use dazzling gleam! And then follow it up with ice beam!"
-
"And time is up! The winner of the contest is..." The announcer shouted to indicate the end of the final battle of round two. Evie and her competitor both looked up at the screen to see who had received more points. She held her breath as the smoke clears from the continuous attacks from both pokemon.
"Audrey and her Exploud!!"
The crowd erupts into an applause while Uma quickly held Mal down to prevent her from jumping onto the stage in a fit of rage. The blonde was shouting at the judges and threatening to fight every single one of them. Likewise, wartortle was holding eevee down, who was trying to run to her trainer. Evie stares at the screen incredulously, her score was just behind her competitor's by a little. If only she had more time.
But what's done is done.
The coordinator could feel tears building up in her eyes, but she runs up to hug her Ninetales, who looked just as disheartened.
"You were excellent out there Ninetales. You did your best and I'm so proud of you. I'm sorry I wasn't as good as you needed me to be." She tells her Ninetales while softly stroking its fur as the pokemon nuzzles her head against her trainer. Evie is not a sore loser, but it doesn't mean it hurts any less to come in second again.
"What are you talking about Evie? You fought well. You should be proud, both you and your pokemon." Audrey tells Evie. The Hoenn coordinator and her Exploud came up to Evie. Audrey had won fair and square and Evie couldn't have asked for a better rival. Evie did her best to avoid crying because it was indeed a well fought battle that she and Ninetales should be proud of, and also because her make up was not water proof. Evie had improved a lot in battling over the last few weeks thanks to Uma and Mal.
"Thank you Audrey. I hope to see you in the next contest." Evie fakes a smile.
"You definitely will. We will both be competing for our third ribbon and I promise I'll be even better next time, so you better step up your game too. You're my rival." Audrey grins and rubs Evie's shoulder.
Evie slowly nods, still devastated that she lost yet another contest. She knows that she did her best and that she's being too harsh on herself. But losing contests back to back was demoralizing for her. She does appreciate that Audrey was willing to give her such kind words of encouragement when she isn't obligated to.
"Thank you, Audrey. Next time we meet, I'll show you how much stronger I've become." Evie declares as she held her hand out.
Audrey giggles and shakes Evie's hand. "I'll bet."
"Also, you should hurry to your girlfriend, I think she is about to come onto the stage. Your friend can't hold her forever" whispers Audrey as she points to where Mal and Uma were indeed making a scene. Uma had her best friend in a choke hold while Mal was shouting words that the tv broadcasting crew would not be able to show due to the amount of censoring that would be needed.
"Mal Bertha! You dumb bitch! For the love of Arceus, chill out! Evie is the one who lost, yet you're the one losing your mind!" groaned Uma while Mal was furiously flailing her arms.
"Let me go Uma! I'm gonna give those pretentious ass judges a taste of my medicine! Evie worked hard as fuck for this bullshit and how do they repay her?!"
"I swear if you get us banned from contests permanently... think dumbass! How are you gonna cheer for Evie if you're banned or arrested?! Now let's go and meet Evie back stage!" Uma screams and drags Mal away from the bleachers and onto the dressing rooms. Similar to his trainer, wartortle was carrying eevee and following his trainer.
Evie sighed at Mal's antics, but secretly she was happy to see how far her girlfriend was willing to go to defend her. Although Uma is right and the last thing Evie wants is to see her girlfriend and friend barred from contest halls. The brunette waved goodbye to Audrey and made her way backstage to appease her fuming girlfriend. Even though she is still bummed that she lost, she can always count on Uma and Mal to cheer her up.
-
"You deserved to win that one!" Mal whines, her anger had now subsided to sulking and pouting. Uma rolled her eyes while Evie giggled at how childish Mal was being.
"Audrey won fair and square Mal. She and her exploud did a great job and definitely deserved their win. I just wasn't good enough this time and it costed me a win again. I made a few bad calls up there. That's all." Evie states.
Mal stops and holds Evie's right hand with both her hands. Uma gets the clue and walks to a nearby food stand to give the two some space.
"You are good enough. You're an amazing coordinator. I'm not just saying this because I am your girlfriend. From a battler's point of view, you were definitely the stronger battler. Audrey was flashier and I don't know how judges determine how many points to take off for looks because that's not my thing, but if that had been a gym battle, you would have won. Her Exploud was seconds away from fainting. You've improved so much from your first contest where you barely knew how to battle. You're strong enough to give some gym leaders a run for their money. So don't say you're not good enough because that is not true."
"If that's true, then why do I keep losing? Maybe I'm just not meant for this" Evie sighs with her eyes cast down, too ashamed to look at Mal. Mal places her hand on Evie's chin and lifts it up so the two could see eye to eye.
"There is never any shame in losing nor should it be considered a weakness, but not doing anything to improve yourself is what makes you truly weak. The next contest, you will show them what you're really made of and get that third ribbon. If anyone tells you otherwise, Charizard and I will kick their ass"
Evie's eyes looks at Mal's and for the first time today, a genuine smile was showing on her face. Mal grinned and kissed her girlfriend on the cheek.
"There's the princess I know!"
"You're the best, M" Evie mumbles, her eyes filled with adoration for the shorter Kalos trainer.
Mal smiles at Evie. The latter is always beautiful, but seeing her look at Mal with so much affection and hearing the peaceful silence around them stirs something inside her. The dragon trainer takes a deep breath and looks at Evie with eyes filled with determination.
"E..."
"Yeah, M?"
"I lo-"
"Are you two done?" Uma asks while holding a half eaten hot-dog.
Mal groans and angrily glares at her best friend.
"You have the worst timing, jackass"
Uma raised her eyebrow in confusion as Mal storms away with a shy Evie following closely behind.
-
"Hold up? You haven't told Evie that you love her?" Uma asks her best friend, who was watching Evie chase Mal's new gible, which was chasing after poor eevee. Apparently the gible had developed a huge crush on eevee and no amount of scolding from Mal appears to work. The brunette was running in circles and Mal still finds her adorable.
"Hey! Earth to Mal! Answer my question!" Uma pinches Mal's cheek to get her back into the conversation.
"Ouch!" Mal swatted Uma's hand away. "You know I hate it when you do that! Anyways, I tried! But you ruined it last time!" Mal whispered harshly.
"That was like 3 weeks ago." Uma replied, unimpressed that Mal was still using that interruption as an excuse.
"I...I just haven't found the right time okay?"
"You're just a chicken"
"So what if I am? It's not easy! What if she doesn't like...you know... love me back?"
If Uma wasn't so stunned by her best friend's stupidity, she would have smacked her across the head as a wake up call.
"If she doesn't... do you hear yourself when you speak? Are you blind or are you just dumb?! I've spent months with you two and you luvdiscs are like glued to the hip. I'm not even going to mention how many times I've caught you stick your tongue down her throat! And you want me to believe that she doesn't love you back? I'm friends with the dumbest girl on earth!" Uma shakes her head.
"I just need more time. Anyways..." Mal says and starts raising her voice, "Gible! Stop chasing eevee and get back here!!"
I'm friends with the biggest dumbass. Good luck, Evie. Uma thought.
-
"The challenger's Gabite is unable to battle! Magnezone is the winner!"
"Shit. Gabite, good job! Return!" Mal recalls her gabite, which had evolved only about 3 days ago from her gible. The evolution made her pokemon much more mature and obedient. The blonde had thought that she would win with gabite because of the type advantage that ground has over steel and electric, but it would seem the leader's magnezone was quite strong. The trio had made it to Canalave city and Mal and Uma challenged the local gym leader for their sixth badge. Uma had already received her badge yesterday and it was Mal's turn today. Uma and Evie were nervously watching the battle, the latter was especially worried because Mal was down to her last pokemon.
"You can do it, M!" Evie shouts from the sidelines and Mal turns to her girlfriend to nod.
"It's all up to you. Charizard! Let's go!" Mal calls out her strongest partner and the fire and flying pokemon comes out roaring in the air.
"What a magnificent pokemon!" The leader Byron compliments the flying lizard. "But my magnezone won't lose!"
"Bring it on! Charizard, use flare blitz!" Mal orders and her charizard quickly fires out its attack at magnezone.
"Dodge and use zap cannon!" the leader shouts and Magnezone fires its attack, which hit charizard directly. Charizard falls from the air, his whole body shaking from the electricity.
"Charizard! Are you okay?!"
The pokemon forces its way up through sheer will power and Mal proudly smiles.
"Alright! Byron, it's been fun, but we are going to win this now! Charizard, let's mega evolve!"
-
Mal laid on her hotel bed and grinned at the newest gym badge that was proudly displayed on her case. She only needed two more and then she's qualified for the league. Suddenly she felt a dip on her bed and she turned to her right to see Evie smiling at her. The brunette had managed to get 4 ribbons, she was just 1 more away from being eligible to enter the grand festival and Mal could not be any prouder of how far her girlfriend has come. Mal leaned forward to give Evie a gentle kiss on her red lips.
"You're going to win the league."
"And you, princess, are going to win the grand festival"
"And you two luvdiscs should've gotten your own room rather than share with me. If I wanted to see this cheesy shit, I'd turn on the television. Also I'm pretty sure I'm going to win the league." Uma interrupts them from her bed.
"You really don't know how to read the mood, do you?" Mal questions her friend.
"No, I do. And that's why I spoke because if I didn't remind you two that I was here, I'm sure you'd go from undressing each other with your eyes to literally undressing each other. I know we're close and all, but I'm not interested in seeing you two do your thing."
"Oh fuck you" Mal rolled her eyes and gave Uma the middle finger while Evie giggled.
"Nah, but I'm pretty sure Evie will fuck you soon."
Within seconds, Mal had jumped onto Uma's bed and the two proceeded to wrestle while Evie watched with amusement.
Mal's Charizard and Uma's Tyranitar watched their trainers fight while Gabite and Wartortle both cheered. Eevee was happily resting on Evie's bed and snuggling next to Mal's Espeon.
While Evie can never be truly sure that she's going to achieve her goal of being the best coordinator in the world, she is certain that she wants her foul-mouthed, battle-crazy dragon trainer by her side always.