Chapter 8: V1 C7 – Something New

As Joe approached the hotel he was staying at, he chose to pick Ralts’ brain right now rather than wait for the morning. He was too curious about her wanting to join his team. So they spoke in the empty streets periodically lit by bright yellow lights while the rest of New Bark Town slept.

It was as Looker said, Ralts were in-tune with the emotions of others, both people and Pokemon. They weren’t called the Feeling Pokemon for nothing. She simply wanted to join Joe because his emotions were easy to be around. He was an easygoing, happy person. On top of that, Ralts ended up with this strange urge to help out in some way. Even Ralts couldn’t explain it, she was not one to be courageous in times of danger. Ralts would usually be the first to save herself. Rotom theorised that Ralts was being affected by the emotions she was surrounded by. The overwhelming bravery of Joe and Absol was fueling Ralts’ own courage, giving her the chance to overcome her fear and fight back for a change.

Whether that was true or not, there was no reason for Joe to decline Ralts’ help. He didn’t even bother asking Rotom what she was capable of and what she would become. He was just happy to have another Pokemon on his team. The Feeling Pokemon Ralts became the fourth member in Joe’s growing party.

Arriving at his hotel room and swiftly face-planting the pillow, Joe thought about the last couple of days. They’d been actionpacked, to say the least. So much so that Joe felt like giving himself some downtime. He was informed by Rotom that a news article claimed the ferry travelling from Johto to Kanto would be resuming its normal route soon enough. The ferry would be coming to New Bark again, meaning in a few days Joe would finally be able to catch a ride to Kanto. While he drifted off to sleep, Joe thought about the productive activities he could do in the meantime, like train his Pokemon or expand his team further. He even had the choice of venturing West and going to Cherrygrove City. It wasn’t like heading to Kanto had to happen as soon as possible, he was free to do as he pleased. Maybe someone needed him in Cherrygrove.

But no, Joe felt like enjoying himself while he was still in New Bark Town. It may not be the largest settlement, it may not have the best events to enter or hobbies to indulge in, but Joe would be sure to pick out some interesting places to visit. The chances of him coming back to this town were slim, so he might as well explore while he was here.

Before he knew it, nine hours had passed and it was the start of a new day. Or at least it would usually be the start of a new day for Joe, but due to staying up later than normal last night he ended up sleeping in until after 10am. Quite late considering he was almost always on the early shift at the PokeMart. After begrudgingly getting out of bed and sorting himself out, Joe was off to explore the town.

Since he decided to eat out even though he was starving, Joe was quickly infatuated by the scent of food and followed it until he found a street of food stalls specialising in delicacies from around the world. He stuffed his face with at least one food item from each stall, all the while Absol furrowed her brow and Rotom tried to inform Joe that doing such a thing was sure to result in him falling ill. Needless to say, Joe felt nauseous after eating so much and ended up lying on a nearby park bench, his limbs thrown out all over the place. He was full to the point of bursting. Absol simply sighed as she sat down beside the bench, believing they’d be here for a while as her dumb Trainer recuperated from his food overdose. But not even five minutes later she was startled by Joe suddenly jumping to his feet. His recovery speed was something else.

From there he wandered around until he discovered a theatre venue holding a Pokemon beauty contest. He’d seen plenty of fancy places on TV, but this was his first time actually entering one. It may be small compared to a theatre from a city, but this building was still something to appreciate. Large glass doors were permanently open at the base of the man-made structure, and the building itself had been perfectly painted white. Not a single inch looked dull or like it was lacking a layer of paint. Orange brick outlining the arched windows was the only contrasting colour, making the windows stand out.

Entering the building, Joe couldn’t help but think he was in the most stereotypical theatre. Although that certainly wasn’t a bad thing. Red and gold went well together, he thought as he observed the patchwork carpet made of various shades of crimson. A one foot tall skirting board of gold led into a vibrant rogue wall. Once his eyes had adjusted to an altered state of light, Joe spotted a dark wooden reception desk to his left, which also had a gilded trim to it. As Joe became the second person awaiting service, he couldn’t help but reach out and touch the rope wrapped in velvet being held up by queue poles half his size.

Eventually he was seen by the receptionist and she went over the basics of what the event was. Joe’s understanding of Pokemon beauty contests, and just Pokemon contests in general, was that the Pokemon and their Trainer would get up on stage to perform in front of an audience. But that wasn’t the case for this contest. It was just a little competition in a small town so it wasn’t anything special. Pokemon would simply be judged based on their appearance. Nothing more. Seeing as he didn’t have to dance alongside his Pokemon, Joe grabbed an entry form hanging out of a clear plastic drawer atop the desk, scribbling down his name and what Pokemon he was entering into the beauty contest.

“Might as well enter Ralts, she’s quite cute.” He said, handing the form over to the woman behind the desk. She gave it a once over and looked at the young man in confusion, to which he responded with a wink. This seemed to get his point across so she filed his paperwork and used a hand to direct Joe to the theatre hall entrance.

Joe was blown away when he entered the main room of the building because it looked exactly how he thought it would. A whole lot of red and gold, with the only exceptions being white cylindrical lights stationed at regular intervals along the wall and the well-kept wooden stage.

It didn’t take long for the event to start once Joe was sitting in an end of row seat so Absol could sit on the floor beside him. The lights covering the theatre walls dimmed as Joe counted no more than two-hundred people here, with about thirty Pokemon entered into the competition. He felt like that was the perfect amount, he’d probably be out of here in an hour. Not too long to feel tedious, not too short to feel like a waste of time.

Whenever a Pokemon that Joe didn’t know stood on stage, which was most of them, he looked to Rotom for guidance. The floating phone made sure not to talk even though it wanted to, instead displaying information on its screen for Joe to read before the young man turned his attention back towards the stage.

Halfway through the contest, the announcer called out a name a certain Pokemon was not expecting. “Okay, next up we have an Absol! And this isn’t just any old Absol, ladies and gentlemen. It’s a shiny Absol!”

The Disaster Pokemon perked up and looked around the dimly lit room in disbelief. Another Absol being here? Sure, that could happen. But there was no way another shiny Absol was here at this very moment. The chances of such a coincidence happening at some random theatre were beyond astronomically small. As she looked around, her eyes eventually landed on her own Trainer, and then she saw it. That stupid, smug smile strewn across his face. 

“Go on, don’t keep them waiting Absol.”

There was no other shiny Absol. Of course there wasn’t. It was absurd to ever think there was in the first place. But Absol didn’t think she would be the one called to the stage. Joe had said he was entering Ralts, but both her Trainer and the receptionist were acting a little weird when he said that. Absol had picked up on such a detail, but thought nothing of it at the time. She simply chalked it up to Joe being weird again.

Feeling an immense amount of peer pressure as the announcer spoke into his microphone and asked for Absol once more, The Disaster Pokemon jammed her red claws into Joe’s leg as she hurried to get this over with, rushing up the stairs at the side of the stage. She clearly didn’t like the spotlights being on her as she glared out into the crowd. When her eyes reached Joe, she scowled even harder as it seemed like he was struggling to hold in his laughter. With her brief appearance on stage over, she speed-walked back to where she was originally sitting and gave her Trainer another hit, this time thrusting her claws into the top of his right foot. Never did Absol think she would experience such embarrassment. As she sat there flustered, her mind unable to move on from the humiliation, a hand found its way to her head.

“Don’t worry about it, you looked super cool up there.” Joe stated, moving his hand away and giving a thumbs up as the upset Pokemon looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

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Absol wasn’t having it, she pouted slightly and turned her head away so she didn’t have to look at her irritating Trainer. Although as the competition continued, and she began to calm down, Absol’s mind wandered as she thought about it in a different light. In all her years of living, she hadn’t experienced something like this. She was like a machine that simply did its job and moved on. But today, with her Trainer, she found herself wrapped up in something else. A beauty contest of all things. There was no urgency to their actions, no problem to solve, no one to save. They were just… having fun.

When Joe noticed his Pokemon had returned to her usual stoic self and was watching the end of the competition with a blank expression, he smiled slightly. As far as he was aware, Absol had not done anything like this. She didn’t seem like the type to engage with these sorts of activities of her own free will. He thought it would be a good change of pace for her. There was no need for her to worry about other people’s opinion of her, either. What she just did, going up on stage, was completely normal. It was something many Pokemon, and even people, did for a number of reasons. Absol was the only one overthinking the situation. The audience seemed to like her, as did the three judges, so there was no need to worry.

With the competition over, the lights dotted about the auditorium began to shine brighter, allowing everyone to see properly again. After what looked like a heated debate between people passionate about their job, Absol was called back on stage by the judges as the announcer prepared to hand out gifts. A soft pink ribbon shaped like an infinity symbol, the number ‘8’ on its side, was pinned to the thick fur situated on her chest. In the centre of the ribbon was a metallic bronze number signifying that Absol had earned 3rd place in the Pokemon beauty contest.

Apparently a stern, serious personality wasn’t one often seen in these sorts of events so Absol had earned herself a few fans, with one of the judges being among them. This small group of Absol fans appreciated what was different from their expectations. In first place was a Lilligant and second place belonged to a Togepi, so their adorable appearances and expressions paired with Absol’s tough look and constant glare created a great juxtaposition. This was not something the judges saw every day, and that was the exact reason why Absol deserved to be voted into a top three position.

People slowly began filtering out of the big room as the winners were announced and the event came to a close, with Joe and Absol arriving in the lobby area just to be stopped by a woman likely not much older than Joe. She was wearing a white and black dress which seemed a little bland for a theatre, until the young man noticed the back of the dress was slightly longer and revealed the fact that the inside of the dress was a lively pink. Considering a theatre was a place for people to express themselves in various, sometimes extravagant ways, Joe couldn’t help but think this dress was meant to be representative of how the woman saw herself. She appeared boring and normal on the outside, but on the inside she was like a different person. Atop her head was a large black and white sun hat to match her dress.

The woman brushed aside her long brunette hair that was so long it went down to her thighs. “You there, the young man with the Absol. I am Grace, a judge for the Pokemon Beauty Committee. I am approaching you in hopes of convincing you to take Pokemon beauty contests more seriously. Your Absol has great potential, but in the hands of one such as yourself I believe it is being stifled. No offence.”

“This was just a little bit of fun on my part, I don’t see this happening again. Especially not with Absol. She didn’t seem to like it.” Joe said, looking at his Pokemon. “We lean more towards fighting, these friendly contests don’t really suit us.”

Exhaling loudly with a “Hpmh!”, the woman was very clear about her dislike of Joe’s statement. “As if you are unable to do both. Mark my words, if you were to put in some effort, your Absol could become a force to be reckoned with in the beauty world.”

Grace began rambling about various details Joe honestly didn’t care about. Apparently her first idea was to braid the fur running down the left side of Absol’s face. This was to make the Pokemon more appealing. Braided hair could work for both a beautiful girl but also a powerful girl. The same principle applied to Pokemon, they could utilise hairstyles to enhance their potential for greatness. The red and white contrast between Absol’s skin and fur was a good start, but Grace claimed there needed to be a third colour. Since Absol would be going the ‘cool’ route in beauty contests, the colour black would be the best match. Red and black were colours that complimented each other well, so throwing some black highlights into the mix would further help Absol’s appearance.

At the end of the woman’s rambling, Joe simply declined again. He was happy with the way things were, with how well the competition went. There was no need to take it any further.

Stunned from being rejected, Grace closed her eyes for a moment before pointing at Joe and loudly declaring her intentions. “I will get you to enter a competition with Absol again!”

As Grace walked away, Joe realised he never introduced himself to the woman. He saw this as a sign. If she were so determined to enter Absol into more contests then she probably would’ve tried harder, both to appeal to Joe and to Absol. The easiest option would’ve been to get Joe’s number so she could bother him about it every day until he gave in. Shrugging his shoulder, Joe left with Absol walking beside him. It was a little hard to tell what his Pokemon was currently feeling, but at the very least she didn’t seem to be angry anymore. She also didn’t seem to care much for what Grace said, solidifying Joe’s opinion about not entering another beauty contest.

Next on the agenda was a small art museum. Joe stopped by a shop and bought some glasses before heading in, explaining to Absol that glasses make people look smart so everyone at an art museum would be wearing them. He soon found out less than half of the people attending were bespectacled. Annoyed, he claimed they were just wearing contact lenses because glasses had gone out of fashion. He spoke so confidently Absol forgot her Trainer knew nothing about fashion in the first place. He was just making a fool of himself at this point.

Joe and Absol spent roughly an hour at the art gallery before moving on to rest at the park near the street of food stalls they’d been at earlier. In half a day they’d explored just a small portion of what New Bark Town had to offer. Joe briefly mentioned that this was one of the things he enjoyed the most in life. Just going wherever his feet took him and discovering what a town or city had to offer. As he said this, the sound of rock music struck his ears. A band was performing publicly in this very park. Joe may not be a music aficionado but he seemed to have a knack for enjoying an event or hobby as long as others were enjoying it too. He was a model extrovert.

“See, this is what I’m talking about.” Joe excitedly got off the bench and focused on the music, eventually walking to where he believed the band was. “You never know what’s going to happen. We’ll never have a day like this again.”

Absol slowed down to think as her Trainer continued along the stone path leading towards a loud melody. She had become interested in understanding Joe and his way of life properly, having the thought completely take over her mind. While there will be many enjoyable days in the future, the stars had to align for this series of events to take place. Both the rock band and the Pokemon beauty contest were moments of opportunity. Joe had no idea these two events were going to happen. There was no great plan to get the most out of a spare day. Joe simply let himself be caught up in anything that peaked his interest. If she were understanding her Trainer correctly, not knowing what was going to happen was half the fun. She looked down to the pink ribbon nestled in her fur and the ends of her mouth curled up slightly. Perhaps this way of living wasn’t so bad.

“Hey Absol, c’mon! They’ve got a barbeque too!”

Joe had already made his way to the band, realised they had food, and was now waving a sausage on a stick at his partner Pokemon who was standing on the path not too far away. Her slight happiness grew into a full blown smile as she ran off to be with her Trainer.