Chapter 73 (Patreon)

March 26th.

That was the date Thomas provided when he finally called back.

It took almost a week of waiting for him to finally respond, but knowing Steven would be arriving soon helped calm my nerves. Like I had done before, Thomas hid the information within a casual conversation, and he hid it far more adeptly than I had. We caught up on how my attempts at Mega Evolution had been going (poorly, by the way), how Fortree had been treating him, and even talked a bit about how I’d been helping out Lacey with her Showcase.

Thomas didn’t drop any major update on me until the very end of the conversation, where he mentioned that he was sending a gift my way, and it was due on the twenty sixth.

He said that so casually and so smoothly, I actually thought he had sent me a gift rather than just subtly informing me of the date Steven would visit.

Either way, that was a faster turnaround than I expected for an ex-Champion to visit another region. Then again, if someone with knowledge of dangerous secrets like the ultimate weapon thought his presence was necessary, it probably was.

In the meantime, Lysandre had yet to show his face to me since our meeting. I had seen no further signs of Team Flare, nor had I seen Lysandre outside of a brief mention of him on the news. I was thankful I didn’t have to deal with him, but I was also terrified that his lack of presence might have meant he was up to something. However, there was nothing I could do until Steven arrived, so I forced myself to be patient.

My team continued training, I attempted and failed to Mega Evolve Altaria a few more times, and Lacey’s practice for the Showcase proceeded. Eventually, the date of that aforementioned Showcase, Saturday, March 16th, finally arrived, and it was time to see if Lacey’s practice would finally pay off.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

I ran as fast as my legs could take me and chased my target through the foliage of Sycamore’s garden.

"Come back! Please!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

I narrowly dodged under a branch that snapped towards my chest, and I finally laid my eyes on that no-good, far too clever, tricky little thief. The orange rodent, Dedene, pulled a sharp turn to lunge behind a tree, and the box dragged behind him with Electroweb disappeared from view as well. I tried to mimic his turn to continue the chase, but something suddenly wrapped around my foot, and I found myself tumbling towards the ground.

A faint gasp rang out, and a large, fluffy object softened my landing. Altaria let out a squawk of annoyance at being thrown underneath me, and I heard Azumarill’s classic “Tch.” Looking up, I saw that both my team and most of the wild Pokémon in the garden were surrounding me, and they were all looking to Dedenne’s box in hunger. I could find no new avenue of approach, as well as no escape routes. There was no way I could stop them, and my head dropped as I realized I had been betrayed.

“All of you? Really?” I groaned.

I pushed up into a seated position as Altaria squirmed his way out from under me, and he immediately moved to nest in my lap. Cheering, Whimsicott landing on my head, and the other Pokémon cheered along with him.

Dedenne called for silence with a loud squeak, then proceeded to squeak his name several times afterwards in an improvised speech. I folded my arms over the other as everyone listened intently. Finally, he pulled on his Electroweb, opened the box, and struck a bragging pose.

With the opening of the box, the stolen baked goods were finally revealed. Dedenne jumped on top to hand out the treats, and everyone gathered around him to collect one.

Seeing that, I slumped in defeat.

“We were supposed to save those until after the showcase!” I moaned.

Ninetales scoffed and used Extrasensory to bring a pastry over to me, where, with feigned reluctance, I ate it alongside everyone else. A pair of Combee grabbed a few Poké Puffs to take back to their hive, and the three Azurill that Azumarill had been lecturing these past few days took a single one to share between themselves.

Dedenne, meanwhile, took two and scurried off.

“We’re going on a diet after we leave Lumiose,” I said. “Lacey has been spoiling us too much. We won’t be having junk food for a while, if I can help it.”

My team froze at my words, and they snapped their heads to face the box on the ground. To their horror, it was empty, which meant none of them were able to take another while they had the chance.

With that horrifying realization sinking into my Pokémon, I stood up and brushed the dirt off my clothes. I waited for everyone to finish eating, and returned them once they were done. With this little bit of trickery done—I was half proud of, half annoyed at my team—I began to make my way out, intent on making it on time to the Showcase tonight.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

"Welcome, one and all, to this month’s Lumiose Pokémon Showcase!" A man in a half-orange, half-white coat and top hat yelled out. He had short blonde hair and held a cane in one hand, and he also had a few small keys on a necklace around his neck.

The man was currently situated in the center of a stage with a mock version of the Lumiose skyline painted on the wall behind him. The seats around the stage were set up like an indoor theater, and there were around a few thousand people in the audience.

Behind the man were a number of Pokémon Performers dressed up to compete in the Showcase, and I quickly identified Lacey and her rival, Juliette. Lacey was wearing a pocketed dress that had a yellow and white swirling stripes on it that matched Lemon and Vanilla, and Juliette was wearing a simple pink and white polkadot dress that matched her Slurpuff and Spritzee.

The announcer introduced each contestant, and when Lacey’s name was called, Ninetales and Florges cheered as loud as they could from their seats next to me. It took a few minutes to introduce every Performer due to the number competing, and once finished, the man turned back to face the audience.

“And of course, I, Monsieur Jean, will be your announcer! Tonight’s Pokémon Showcase will follow the same format as always. We will have an initial themed round, where Performers will create Lumiose’s most famous treat, the Poké Puff, and that will be followed up by the freestyle Performance, where Performers will show off their Pokémon’s capabilities in a wondrous display of skill! Only a third of these marvelous Performers will be standing here by the end, and from those that remain, a single victor shall be chosen.

“Now, without further ado, let’s begin!”

The announcer held his cane up, and his necklace unwrapped itself from around his neck, revealing itself to be a Klefki. The Fairy Type floated in the air for a moment before Monsieur Jean grabbed onto its keyring, and it carried him off the stage into the judges’ box. Behind him, the large group of Performers exited the stage to return to their dressing rooms.

I crossed my arms.

“There’s no way the Klefki lifted him like that,” I complained. “He had to have been attached to a wire.”

Ninetales snorted in a way that very clearly meant “shut up and enjoy the show,” and I obediently did as I was told. Ninetales and Florges had worked hard with Lacey, and as fans of Contests, I knew they were very much looking forward to the results. I stayed silent as the first Performers emerged back on the stage and smiled when I saw that Lacey was included.

This part of the performance was intended to be solely about baking, but Performers were expected to, well, perform at the same time. Three miniature kitchens rose up from under the stage, one for each Performer, and Lacey moved over to hers as Lemon and Vanilla followed. The two Alcremie jumped up onto the counter, and the second the timer started, everyone began to bake.

Lacey had the clear advantage here, being the only baker in this set. The other two Performers looked like they had the skills, but they obviously didn’t do it for a living.

Dividing the work among themselves, Lacey and her Pokémon split up the steps needed to create Poké Puffs. Lemon would mix, Vanilla would supervise, and Lacey would gather ingredients. Then, they would switch and Vanilla would mix, Lacey would supervise, and Lemon would gather ingredients. There was this constant rotation between the roles that caused them to move in a circle, which was mesmerizing when combined with the spiral pattern on both Lacey’s dress and her Pokémon’s bodies.

Unlike the other two Performers, Lacey wasn’t smiling but had her face locked in a look of pure determination. The other performers did a few simple tricks like using an Espurr to levitate a bowl closer for them, or using a Binacle’s Water Gun to clean off a spoon. Their Pokémon’s assistance was solely superficial, unlike Lemon and Vanilla’s assistance, which was key.

Once the Poké Puffs were out of the oven, Lacey demonstrated the next advantage she had. Contestants were limited in their ingredients, and had to either make everything themselves or use what was provided. That included the frosting, but due to Alcremie’s Decorate, Lacey didn’t need to bother and spent her limited time focusing on getting the base of the cake just right. The moment the plain Poké Puffs had properly cooled off, Lemon and Vanilla moved in to create the frosting with their signature move, forming cream in their hands and placing it carefully on top of each treat.

And then, they put our training to use.

There were five classic flavors of Poké Puff, but lemon and vanilla weren’t either of them. The two Alcremie named after those flavors created their appropriately flavored frosting, and they also created candies to go with it.

Conjured in their palms were hardened sweets that matched their flavors. Vanilla created flat circles of hard vanilla candy, and Lemon created lemon-flavored gummies that looked like slices of the fruit itself. They placed their candies on the top of the treats, and arranged them in a circle around the edge, creating a pattern that let them stand out from the rest.

The other two competitors were only given a handful of toppings, which meant out of the three, it was Lacey’s baking that made the entire audience’s mouths water.

Right before the timer ran out, Lemon and Vanilla puffed out a weak Aromatic Mist to enhance their Poké Puff’s scent. By the time the judges and their Pokémon tasted all of the Performer’s treats, there was no contest.

Lacey easily won.

The audience cheered at the end of the first round, and my Pokémon and I stood up to yell Lacey, Lemon, and Vanilla’s names as loud as possible. The three of them glanced our way, embarrassed, and I sat down smugly, having done my job.

After her group, the other sets of Performers went on stage, had a few minutes to make a few Poké Puffs, and a single victor emerged in each group. Juliette went up alongside her Slurpuff and Spritzee, and, despite winning, her Poké Puffs didn’t look nearly as impressive as Lacey’s. They were well made, though, and perfectly matched the exact idea of what someone pictured when the words “Poké Puff” were spoken. It took skill to make them appear so consistent, which was probably why the round was ruled in her favor.

As soon as the themed round was over, there was a brief break, and the freestyle performances began. Following the same order the themed round had gone, Lacey was up first.

It started simply enough, with Lemon and Vanilla running around her in opposite directions as she stood in place. Eventually, she started to rapidly point between her two Pokémon, and each time she did, they sent out puffs of Fairy Wind around the stage.

Soon, there was a cloud above Lacey and her Alcremie that lingered in the air. At the snap of her fingers, her Alcremie ran over and jumped into her arms, and, with a heave, she threw them into the cloud.

The audience gasped at the throw as each of her Pokémon reached a surprising height, but that gasp turned into a cheer as a pair of Dazzling Gleams lit up the mist and filled the room with reflecting, iridescent sparkles.

An applause broke out at the move, but despite the cheers, my eyes went wide and I watched in horror at what happened next.

Lacey had indeed positioned herself to catch her Pokemon, but Vanilla and Lemon had drifted ever so slightly apart. She tried to position herself to catch both, but Vanilla came down hard on her elbow, which knocked her to the side and Lemon completely missed.

The audience groaned at that impact, but Lemon was hardy enough that the fall barely affected it. Lacey winced and set Vanilla down, and continued her performance, sending a few worried glances Lemon’s way.

They went through a few similar move combinations, but that initial impact had hurt Lacey, and almost everything that followed was slightly delayed. Lacey was unable to hide all of her following winces.

When her performance was over, the audience cheered once more, but it wasn’t nearly as loud as it had been for some of the contestants in the themed round. Hearing that, I knew that there was no way that Lacey would pull off a win.

After all that time, all that work, Lacey’s performance fell flat because of a single mistake. It hurts to see, and I can only imagine what Lacey is feeling right now. Heck, it hurts me to know she won’t win, but at least she managed to get through the initial themed round. I should make sure she’s alright.

When Lacey left the stage, I left the amphitheater as well to enter the privacy of a side hallway, and Ninetales and Florges followed.

I used my Poké Gear to call Lacey, and it rang a few times before she picked up. When she spoke, her voice had seemingly lost all of its normally animated volume.

“...Hi Alex,” she mumbled.

The lack of energy caught me off guard, causing me to stumble over my words for a moment, and there was a brief, uncomfortable pause before I managed to speak.

“It was a good performance, but you had a bad fall. You might not win this time, but next month you’ll get it for sure.”

The other line of the call was silent for a long time until Lacey finally whispered a response on the other end.

“I think I’m going to pack up when I get home. I shouldn’t have expected this to go well. Kalos isn’t for me, Juliette was right. I’m just going to go back to Galar and-”

“No! What?” I shouted. “Just because you failed once, doesn’t mean you have to completely give up! Lacey, I’ve seen how much effort you’ve put into your practice, and your pastries are incredible! Come on, don’t just call it like that. I’m sure people will be swarming your bakery after seeing those Poké Puffs you made.”

“But what’s the point!” Lacey moaned. “Juliette spread all of those rumors about me, and even if they like what I make, they won’t want to stick around! Since I won’t win, no one is going to change their mind! There’s nothing I can do!”

I paused. An idea was starting to form.

“...What if I told you there was?”

Lacey didn’t immediately respond, but when she did, I could already hear some of the energy returning to her voice.

“Do you have a plan?”

I nodded, realized she couldn’t see me, then vocalized my affirmation instead.

“Of course. Juliette spread those rumors about you, and you think that if you can’t win, you can’t change people's minds. But what if instead of convincing people the rumors are wrong, you convince them the source of them was wrong?”

I heard her hum on the other side of the line, and when she next spoke, that little bit of returning energy had evolved into full-blown excitement.

“I’m in. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

And with that, I shared my plan, and we got to work.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

It took me a while to find a clipboard, and once I did, no one bothered me as I walked around, staring at it intently. I maneuvered past a few layers of security into the upper hallways of the ampitheatre, and I could hear the cheers echoing past the walls. Right now, I barely made out the announcer thanking Juliette for a wonderful performance.

I snorted.

Guess I missed Juliette’s performance. Well, nothing of value was lost.

I continued walking to my destination, and I soon found myself outside the booth where the audio was managed. A security guard stood outside the door, and as I approached, he stopped me.

“Hey, I don’t see a badge,” he said. “No badge, no entry.”

I looked up from the clipboard, and eyed him for a moment. Sighing, my shoulder sagged and my arms dropped to my side.

“I know, but I need to talk to the audio engineer. If I was back down, I could be eating a donut right now, but I can’t go back down until I fulfill my task.”

The security guard perked up at the mention of donuts.

“Sam brought donuts again? I thought they stopped doing that.”

I smiled thinly, then nodded.

“Not sure it was them, but there was definitely a box of donuts down there. Why, want to go down and get one?”

The security guard looked back and forth in the hallway and saw that there was no one around. He pursed his lips, furrowed his brows, then finally relaxed after looking like he came to a decision.

“Fine, you can go in. But in exchange, you can’t let anyone else in. Got it?”

I silently thanked the fact I had seen an open box of donuts on the way up, which would hopefully keep the security guard occupied while I worked.

“Got it,” I replied.

At my words, the security guard excitedly jogged down the hallway, then disappeared around the corner. With a smug smile on my face, I entered the booth and positioned myself in the back corner while an audio engineer focused on the show below.

“Let’s have another round of applause for our brilliant performers!” Monsieur Jean’s voice echoed out.

The audience cheered at the remaining Pokémon Performers on stage, who stood in a line in much smaller numbers than before.

“Now that you’ve seen their performances, it’s time to vote. Look under your seat for a Glow Caster, and change its color to match the Performer you want to win. The Performer with the most colored lights, weighted by the results of the judges, wins this month’s Lumiose Showcase!”

The audio engineer hit a labeled slider to turn down Jean’s voice, and a number of colored lights began to glow around the audience. Small, holographic orbs lit up in pastel colors swarmed the stage, and started to enter key-shaped ribbons on each Pokémon Performer’s chest. Lacey’s color was yellow, like her outfit, and Juliette’s was pink. I couldn’t help but sigh when I saw there was an obvious majority of pink orbs that moved towards Juliette.

Soon enough, the voting ended, and between all of the Performers, Juliette had the most by far. To be fair, Lacey at least didn’t get last, placing solidly in the middle of the pack, but she still didn’t win. I could barely make out the disappointed look on her face from my position so high up, and Juliette just looked more smug than usual.

With her victory confirmed, Monsieur Jean invited Juliette to step forward on the stage, where she was given a decorative key that served as a trophy. I watched as the audio engineer turned her mic up, and Juliette began to give a short speech.

“Thank you! Thank you! Oh, I’m so touched-”

I blocked her bragging words out of my ears, and readied myself to time this properly. I thanked the fact she had won, because otherwise, I would have had to turn up her mic myself. Once she was finished, the audio engineer started to move to turn off her mic again, but I interrupted him before he could.

“Um, excuse me. Sam told me to bring this to you?”

The man jumped in his chair and turned around—apparently, he hadn’t heard my entrance earlier—and I walked forward to place the clipboard in his hands. Blinking a few times to get the surprise off his face, he read the sheet over then looked back up to me, confused.

“This is a list of contestants?” he said.

I took the random clipboard I had “acquired” earlier, watching out of the corner of my eye as Juliette and Lacey exited the stage with the rest of the contestants. I pretended to read it over, then turned it around and placed it back into his grasp.

“No, no, no. See? Look at the bottom; there’s something there.”

“That’s a smudge.”

“Not that! Next to it.”

This back and forth continued for a while until a scoff echoed out through the arena, and the audio engineer’s eyes went wide. Before he could turn around to properly disable Juliette’s microphone, I interrupted him one last time.

“Please don’t turn off her mic,” I said, mustering as much genuineness as I could. “This needs to happen.”

The engineer gave me a discerning look, and I pretended like I wasn’t about to jump forward to stop him if he moved. He sighed, and thankfully, showed no further signs of turning around to disable the microphone pinned to Juliette’s dress. I inwardly cheered while giving him a thankful smile.

Juliette continued to speak, egged on by Lacey.

“Really now?” her voice echoed out. “You’re asking me why I’m so cruel? Well, first off, I’m not, and how dare you. And second off, why is someone like you trying to compete against someone like me?”

Indiscernible words echoed out of the speakers as Lacey responded on the other side, and the entire audience was now completely silent, listening in.

“Hah! You wanted to have your own bakery?” Juliette said. “Get a hold of yourself. You’re using Alcremie, of all things. This is Kalos, Lacey. Your Galar Pokémon are an embarrassment compared to ours. It’s better off if you return to that joke of a region of yours.”

The audience gasped, but Juliette continued, unaware of what was going on within the amphitheater proper.

“I don’t want to see someone like you living in our city, and I don’t want to see a ‘bakery’ like yours lasting any longer. You say I spread rumors about you? Well, I admit it. It’s the truth. But you have to understand I did it to help you. Your pastries will never compare to genuine Kalos Poké Puffs like mine, so it’s best for you to just go home.”

A new voice echoed out, and it slowly became more clear as whoever was trying to call out to Juliette got closer to her position.

“...mic is still hot.”

Everything was still as both Juliette and the audience didn’t make a single noise, until two words broke that silence.

“You bitch.”

There was a sudden shout and the sounds of fabric tearing and flesh hitting flesh, and the engineer hurriedly turned off the mic. The audience, which had been leaving the ampitheatre when the backstage confrontation began, started to mumble to themselves and returned to filing out.

“I’m going to get in trouble for this, but man, that’s the best drama we’ve had in months,” the engineer said. “It’s almost as good as the time three different Performers stole moves from the same person.”

I opened my mouth to thank him, but I was suddenly yanked back as that same security guard rushed in and began dragging me out of the room.

“You don’t work here,” he accused.

I tried to get his large hand off my shoulder, but was unable to.

“I never said I did,” I said through gritted teeth. “Technically, nothing I said to you was a lie.”

He froze at my words and wobbled his head back and forth as he recounted what I had told him in the past. As he slowly realized my entry into the booth was entirely on him, his face turned red with rage, and he violently dragged me away, purposely digging his fingers into my shoulders.

The audio engineer broke out into laughter behind us, finding everything I had set up absolutely hilarious, and I was pushed out of the booth, led out of the ampitheatre, then shoved out through the back door into the streets outside.

Thankfully, as I lost my balance and fell, Altaria released himself from his Love Ball to serve as a pillow for the second time today.

“You’re banned!” the security guard yelled. “If I see your face again, you’re going to be in trouble!”

He slammed the door as hard as he could, and I pushed myself to my feet. I patted Altaria and held him away as he tried to suffocate me with affection like usual, then returned him and started to make my way back to Lacey’s bakery.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Lacey had a black eye and a few scratches, but looked more satisfied than hurt when I arrived back at her shop.

“You should have seen the look on her face,” Lacey said, holding her arms out in wonder. “Oh, she was so mad, Alex. I didn’t fight back like you suggested, and the police arrested her, not me! Alex, I can’t thank you enough!”

I blinked when she mentioned Juliette was arrested, but considering Juliette did physically attack Lacey, it wasn’t too surprising.

I smiled.

“I’m glad I could help. So, think your business might be back in order?”

Lacey let loose the most genuine smile I had seen on her face in a while, and began to speak excitedly.

“Think so? I know so. One of the judges came up to me afterwards, and wanted to get my business information to get more of my Poké Puffs, and a few other contestants said they were sorry and would spread the word of what happened tonight! I already have a ton of orders I need to get a head start on, and while it’s going to be a busy night, it’ll be the most profitable night I’ve had, in, well, ever!

“Thank you, Alex. Thank you so much. Without your help, I’d probably be packing my bags to return to Galar by now. You’ve saved my business.”

I opened my mouth to say it was no problem, to say that I was just happy to have been able to work with a new Fairy Type, but I was suddenly interrupted by a box being thrust into my arms.

Stuttering in surprise, I could only watch as Lacey and her numerous Alcremie began to fill up that box, then another, and another.

“Most of these I made today, so while they might be a bit stale by now, you more than deserve it,” Lacey said. “Anything here, anything at all, is yours, at any time. You’ve saved my business. We’ll always be grateful.”

Smiling and shaking my head, I stayed silent as I slowly became more and more weighed down by a growing number of Poké Puffs.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

My Pokémon helped me carry the numerous baked goods back to Professor Sycamore’s lab, and when I returned that night, I found both Professor Sycamore and Hope waiting for me in the main hall.

“Good! I was wondering when you’d get back!” Professor Sycamore said excitedly. “I’ve figured out the solution to your and Hope’s Mega Evolution problems! Guess what? You two are going to Shalour City!”

====================================================
Author Note:

Imagine having the confidence of the Performer who brought a Binacle.

Pokémon Showcases are from the anime, but I created the idea of a local, Junior Class Pokémon Showcase for this fiction. Monsieur Pierre hosts the normal showcases, and Monsieur Jean was based off of him (he wears the same outfit, but with inverted colors).

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter (contains spoilers)
Alcremie
Binacle
Espurr
Klefki
Slurpuff
Spritzee

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