A red haired woman in an elegant sleeveless suit walked out to the center of the stadium and stood on the battlefield. Raising a microphone to her lips she addressed the audience gathered for the nearing contest.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the first ever Crystal Cavern Contest! I'm your host Miss Jubilee and these are our three judges!" Miss Jubilee spread her free arm forward gesturing towards the people seated behind three box shaped podiums.

"First up we have the Contest director Mr. Contesta! To his left is our city's very own Nurse Joy!  And due to unfortunate circumstances, the crystal guru could not attend. But thankfully his grandson Ferric was available to fill in the position as our third and final judge!" The audience gave the three judges a courteous round of applause in recognition of their merit and duties.

"Without further ado, let's get this contest underway!" This statement earned a much louder and joyful chorus of whooping and cheering.

"In the first round we have the all female team of Dena, Diana, and Serena! These lovely ladies might just be to hot for their opponent to handle. Let's hear it for them folks."

"You three got this in the bag!" Cal and Ash cheered as their friends walked onto the field. The three girls waved at the crowd as they were whooped at and cheered on. With nervous smiles blooming across their faces they took their position on the left side of the field.

"Speaking of their opponents!" Miss Jubilee turned to the other side of the field "This family of sibling is sure to give our beautiful maidens a run for their money! Please put your hands together for Jordan, Rachel, and Alex Schatten!"

The audience began cheering again as the three trainers strolled onto the right side of the field. From one glance anyone could gather that these three belonged to the same lineage. They all shared the same mischievous blue eyes and rugged auburn hair. The only features that distinguished one from another was the build of their bodies and the way they wore their hair.

"Looks like we're all set folks. Now let's start up the five minute timer and let the battle commence!"

The flatscreen above the field lit up displaying two large yellow circles for each team and a countdown timer set to go off in exactly five minutes.

Serena gave her allies a determined look asking them if they were ready to go. Reviving grins filled with the same zest she bore, they sent out their Pokémon.

"Lets give our all Braxien!", "It's showtime Torchic!", "Rise and shine Vulpix!"

The three fire types emerged from their Poké Balls and struck a pose as they landed on the field. As soon as they appeared a bright light formed above the field. Vulpix's ability drought had caused the entire battlefield to be drowned in harsh sunlight.

On the other side of the field their opponents released a Lairon, Parasect and Graveler. The type advantage was in our heroines favor until the rock and ground type Graveler was called to battle.

"Torchic, let's start this off right with Fire Spin!" The flame chick Pokémon jumped up and threw a spinning spiral of flames at the enemy Lairon.

"Lairon, fight it off with Ancient Power!" Lairon stomped on the ground and had five well sized rocks levitate up from the soil. It then proceeded to line up the stones into a floating wall of rock to dissipate Torchic's flames.

The encounter between the two moves ended with a small explosion and slight reduction of points for Dena's team. With only a slight pause between attacks the girls assessed that the battle would be more challenging than they had originally thought. The moment of reprieve pasted as the two other siblings made their move.

"Paresect Light Screen!", "Graveler Earth Power!"

The parasite Pokémon cast a mystical veil of energy over its teammates boosting their resistance to specialty moves. Meanwhile Graveler jumped into the air and, upon landing, slammed two of its fists into the ground. The collision caused a shock wave of energy to propel through the ground towards its opponents.

Reacting quickly Serena had Braixen scoop Vulpix off the ground and snatch Torchic before she hit the ground. Her swift decision saved the fire types from the super effect ground type move.

"Thanks for the save cousin." Dena said as Braixen returned to the earth.

"Yeah that attack could have been the end for one of us." Diana then had an idea as she watched her partner hop out of Braixen's hold.

Before she had time to relay her plan to her teammates, they were on the defensive again.

"Lairon Autotomize and then strike them down with Iron Head!", "Parasect fire off a Solar Beam!", "Graveler use Dynamic Punch to get rid of that bird!".

The steel type beast glowed an energized white and blue light as it drastically increased its speed. Then it and Graveler charged at the opposing fire types. Lairon's head became completely incased in a tough metal and Graveler's fists glowed an orange light as the two focused their attacks. All the while Parasect was using the bright sunlight to its full advantage. It was rapidly gathering up the intense sunlight into a concentrated point as it prepared to fire the powerful move.

Not missing a beat the girls shouted commands of their own. "Braixen cancel that Solar Beam with Fire Blast!", "Torchic dodge and use Rock Smash!", "Vulpix stand strong and fight back with Flame Charge!".

The two fox Pokémon summoned fire to their sides. Braixen morphing her flames into the Japanese character for Fire, before sending it off to extinguish the enemies attack. The strong fire was met with a bright blast of concentrated sunlight. Both moves were strong in nature but thanks to the excessive sunlight pouring over the field Braixen's Fire Blast was able to power through the attack.

The super powered flames even managed to strike the caster of the the grass type move causing significant damage.

During this exchange Vulpix embraced the flames it had summoned and sprinted headfirst at her steel type foe. Neither creature willing to let the other get the upper hand they tried to press forward. Eventually they concluded that their attacks were evenly matched and jumped back to their allies.

During this time Torchic had been busy fighting off the enemy Graveler. She'd been able to dodge its first punch, but as soon as she went on the offensive the Rock type met her with another one of its fists. They exchanged two more blows before Torchic was smacked backwards. She skidded to a stop landing between her two fox partners.

As soon as Torchic returned to their side of the field Diana called the attention of her partners. She offered up the strategy she'd formulated earlier. As Diana explained her plan, Serena spared a moment to look at the score board. Despite their best efforts the scores were practically identical. To make matters worse they had just barely a minute left before the timer ran out.

"So are you two okay with my plan?" Diana's voice drew Serena's attention back to the battle.

"It's not like we have much of a choice. We're running out of time and it's the best shot we've got. Dena, your thoughts?"

The young trainer turned to her allies an enthusiastic gleam in her eyes. "If you think it'll work then I'm all for it!" Dena said with an exuberant smirk.

"Okay then." The three trainers looked across the field directly at their opponents. "Let's win this!" They shouted with the immense determination.

"Braixen pick up Vulpix and use Fire Blast!" Braixen scooped up the small red fox and placed her upon her shoulder. She then grasped the stick residing in her tail and drew it out. Following the removal of her wand she used her flames to draw the fire character in the air.

"Vulpix, Flame Charge! Straight into the fire!" Vulpix dashed across Braixen's shoulder and arms, as she surrounded herself with fire of her own. When she reached the end of the yellow fox's arm she dove headlong into the symbol. The five armed character bent around Vulpix's Flame Charge and became part of its attack.

With the first two stages of the plan already covered it fell to Dena to finish the mission.

"Let's go for broke. Torchic, use Fire Spin!".

Torchic expelled a searing stream of fire and sent it spiraling up behind Vulpix. This spinning jet of flames caught up and surrounded the already intense blaze encasing Vulpix.

The addition of Torchic's Fire Spin caused all the existing fire around Vulpix to begin spinning in a vertical movement. This new motion turned the once simple Flame Charge into an incredible flaming vortex.

To the opponents standing across from them, it looked as if it Vulpix had been swallowed up by a second sun. The heat coming from the blaze was so intense that the very ground beneath the fox Pokémon was burning. As Vulpix advanced on her opponents she left a black scar in the ground behind her.

Knowing that this move could spell the end for them, the siblings called out desperate last commands. Lairon stepped hard on the ground attempting to use Stone Edge to construct a defensive barrier. Graveler curled up into a ball like began rapidly spinning. Attempting to use Roll Out to try and halter the impending orb of destruction.

Parasect's trainer decided to throw her cards in with the brother in charge of Graveler. She ordered her bug and grass type to propel Graveler forwards with a well placed Solar Beam.

The second sun easily burnt through the stone barrier as if it were paper, before continuing its advance on its foes. With mere seconds left before getting hit by the colossal ball of fire, Parasect fired off its Solar Beam and sent Graveler rocketing forward. The two spheres collided, neither one able to overcome the other.

Just when it seemed like a stalemate was about to take place Braixen and Torchic appeared above Vulpix's sun. Their faces were hardened in focus as they stared down at their foes from above. Yet they held an exhilarated gleam of joy in their eyes as they awaited their trainers orders.

"Braixen!", "Torchic!"

"FLAMETHROWER!"

The two fire types launched twin jets of fire down at the obstacle blocking Vulpix's path. Graveler could not handle the fire power it was facing and fainted under the pressure. No longer having the rock Pokémon slowing her down Vulpix dashed forwards, carrying the sun like vortex with her.

The might behind the triple combo move was far too powerful for the remaining two Pokémon to withstand. Right before they could be struck down by the frighteningly powerful fire Miss Jubilee spoke up.

"Time! The battle is over!"

Vulpix skidded to a stop and dissipated the moves causing confetti like embers to cascade over the battlefield. As the shimmering embers fell to the ground Vulpix collapsed with them, holding together the attack having drained her of all her energy. Naturally Diana rushed over to her weary partner and comforted her as she was resting.

"You were amazing Vulpix, I couldn't be prouder of you." She whispered to her friend as she carried her back to her side of the field.

"Ladies and gentlemen I think we all know who are the winners of this match are. But let's look to the board and see if the judges scores agree with our opinions."

Hundreds of eyes shifted to the screen above the field and waited with great expectation as the smoke concealing the scores dissipated. The whole stadium was so quiet with anticipation, such that if anyone were to take in a breath the entire audience would hear them.

The tense silence was broken by a thunderous eruption of cheering as the flatscreen displayed the results. Tears streamed down the girls cheeks as the looked upon the screen.

"The first round of the crystal Cavern contest goes to the team of Dena, Diana, and Serena!" Miss Jubilee shouted in excitement.
"What did I tell you folks! Those beautiful girls were to hot for the competition to handle! Well done ladies, we can't wait to see what you've got in store for us next round!"

The girls and their Pokémon happily embraced one another. Having poured so much effort into the previous battle, they were overcome with their emotions and didn't care, or realize, that they might be forced to fight each other later on. Waving to the crowd they walked back into the stadium to prepare for their next round together.

Little did the girls know that their performance with the second sun proved to much for some of the other contenders. Which resulted in half of the contestants dropping, out forcing the officials to move up the program to one on one battles.

All in all none of the other battles were as exhilarating as the first round. At one point Dena had gone against Diana with Duskull, but wound up loosing when Vulpix used Dark Pulse to KO the ghost type. The only battle that even came close to the level of excitement of the first round was in the final round between Serena and Diana.

Serena had decided to go with Sylveon as her champion. While Diana chose to use Nidorina in order to proclaim victory. The battle between the two had gone down to the wire each Pokémon giving it their all. Nidorina firing volleys of its needle like Poison Sting attack at the fairy fox, only to be repelled by Sylveon's Fairy Wind.

In the end it was Sylveon's dancing that earned her trainer the win. Had it not been for her nimble and graceful movements, Diana's Nidorina would have managed to secure a fatal blow and take the win. The young trainer was somewhat saddened by her loss but took it well.

"Congratulations on winning your first contest Serena! Here is the proof of your victory here today, the Crystal Cavern ribbon!" Miss Jubilee announced as she handed Serena a silver and black ribbon with a golden diamond in the center.

"Alright!" Serena exclaimed joyously as she showed off her prize, "I've got my first ribbon!"

A short time later, after Serena had received her ribbon, the gang regrouped at the main entrance to the contest hall. "You guys were amazing out there!" Ash said cheerfully as he recanted the first match of the contest.

"Yeah you guys pulled off an absolutely stunning display!" Cal merrily chimed in.

The girls smiled happily at the boys, enjoying the admiration and praise they were receiving. They continued to receive acclamations all the way to the exit, the lighthearted glorification dying off upon sighting Zeaks silvery hair.

"Diana", he said in a cold disinterested tone,"I saw your contest performances."

"You did now?" She replied in a somewhat sassy manner.

"Yes you were fairly good, you could have been quicker with some of your counters, but fought decently overall."

"High praise coming from you Zeak." She said sincerely,"What's the occasion?"

Zeak reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a folded over blue piece of paper. "A man approached me in the street asking if I knew you guys. When I said yes he handed me this paper. After I read it I decided I'd try and get a head start on that promise I made you."

"What promise was that?" Dena asked clueless as to what he was referring to.

Grumpily Zeak muttered something about a promise to not nitpick the clearly faulty battling styles of others as much. With that final remark Zeak passed on the paper over to Diana and hastily made his leave.

"Is he going to be-"

"Yeah he's fine. This is actually one of the best moods he's been in awhile. It's nice to see him so happy."

"If that was happy I don't think I want to see angry." Cal thought out loud.

"Did you say something sweetheart?" Diana asked with a sinister gleam in her eyes.

"Just that we should see what your brother so kindly brought to our attention ." Cal said in a desperate attempt to remain on her good side.

Diana's chipper demeanor returned. "Oh good, that's what I thought you'd said."

"Way to keep your integrity Cal." Ash smugly whispered to his friend.

"I'd rather loose my integrity than my head!" Cal hissed back.

"Ah hem!", Diana said in a hard tone, ending the conversion the boys were having. "Now that you two are done, let's see what my brother left for us."

They unfolded the blue parchment and began reading the elegant writing scripted across the paper.

"Dear
Ash, Cal, Dena, Diana, and Serena.

You are cordially invited to attend the New Years ball to be held on the grounds of the Danpen estate tomorrow. If you wish attendance simply bring this invitation to the manor house down the street from the Pokémon center. We hope to see you there.

Sincerely, The Danpen's

PS: Grandfather has something he wants to share with you. -Aura."

After a long day of battling, Serena has claimed her first contest ribbon and is on her way to becoming a top coordinator. Not only that but our heroes have also been invited to an exclusive New Years party at the Danpen manner. What excitement does the future hold for our heroes? You'll have to stay tuned to find out, as the journey continues!
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First of all happy New Years everyone, hope this ones better than the last. Secondly I will try and write a New Years special before Monday arrives, wish me luck.
I hope you all enjoyed reading this, don't forget to comment and vote. I'll see you all in the next chapter. Bye for now! 🤗