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With Dena and Serena a few minutes after Ash and Cal left
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Serena and Dena quickly finished dressing themselves, gathered up their belongings and ran to find a space where they could train for their contest. Right before they ran out the hotel doors the receptionist stopped them and asked why they were in such a rush. After explaining their predicament the receptionist informed them of the hotels private training grounds and offered to let them use it.

They thanked the employee and followed him to a large silver and gold elevator with the time displayed across the top frame. Once the lift had arrived they stepped inside and waited as it descended several stories to a deep subterranean level.

The hotel employee gestured them to follow him and lead them down marble halls to a sizable stone room. The entire room was about as large as an ample theater and could easily accommodate their needs.

On opposite sides of the room two platforms were suspended above the ground. Below them a large metal hatch in the floor was shut. Something was familiar about the setup of the room but the girls couldn't place their fingers on it; until their escort spoke up.

"This room was originally intended to be a training ground for trainers participating in a Pokémon League Tournament; hence the design being modeled after the League arenas. We even designed it so the battlefield can be changed to reflect a multitude of environments; it even has a referee setting that can be used for both contests and battling." Their escort proudly said.

"Wow! This place is perfect!" Dena exclaimed in amazement, as she ran towards the opposite side of the room.

"Thank you so much...er sorry what was your name?" Serena sheepishly asked.

"My name is Sicarius and your welcome." Sicarius said while walking back to the exit, "Oh before I go, there's a medical center just down the hall and to the left if you need it. I'll be back around noon to bring you some grub." He said as he pointed in the opposite direction he was headed.

"Thanks again Sicarius." Serena said as she waved him goodbye.

"Hey Serena are we gonna do this or what!" Dena yelled down from the platform on the other side of the room.

Serena looked up at her cousin and smiled at her.

"Hang on I'll be right there!" Serena hollered back before running with her partners to her platform.

Serena began climbing up a metal staircase that connected her platform to the ground. Halfway up the stairs, the room started to shake; the vibrations nearly knocked Serena off her feet. After reestablishing her balance Serena towards the center of the room to see the floor opening up and a battlefield begin rising from the it's depths.

"Hey Serena hope you don't mind but I picked the first area!" Dena called from her perch.

Serena climbed her remaining stairs and looked at the battlefield spread before her. It was a simple rock and dirt field that Serena's Pokémon could easily navigate. a smile formed on her lips as she masterminded different ways to show off her partners skills.

"Doesn't matter to me cause I'm going to win this no matter what!" Serena cockily shouted to her cousin.

"You seem pretty sure of yourself," Dena yelled back across the field, "Well if your so confident that you'll win why don't we make a little wager." Dena said as a crafty idea took shape in her mind.

"What are the stakes?" Serena asked with slight unease.

Dena smiled a cunning grin and answered her cousins question. "The looser has to pay for a dinner tomorrow night at a restaurant of the winners choosing; and the winner picks what the looser wears to the meal."

"Deal! Braxien, Sylveon we've got a dinner to win!" Serena said as she called her partners forward.

"Duskull, Torchic lets go!" Dena said as her Pokémon leap onto the field.

As soon as the Pokémon touched the ground a small robot popped up on the side of the field.

"Please designate battle format!" The automaton said.

"Uhh... contests?" Dena warily said, unsure of how to address the metal man.

"Battle format -contests- accepted!" A large flatscreen tv descended from the ceiling and displayed two headshots of Serena and Dena with yellow circles underneath them.
"Systems reformatted; you may begin when ready!" It said before moving to the outskirts of the field.

The girls were confused by the robot and the screen with their faces on it, but decided to ignore them for the time being. Without any further interruptions they started their training match.

"Duskull Shadow Ball! Torchic Flamethrower!" Dena hollered at her Pokémon.

Duskull summoned a purple and black sphere of energy in front of it and thrusted it forward. Torchic sucked in a deep breath of air and blew out a concentrated stream of fire. The flames fell behind Duskull's flying black orb and sent it rocketing forward.

"Dodge it; then strike back with Hidden Power and Swift!" Serena told her partners.

Serena's Pokémon swiftly obeyed their trainers orders and jumped away from the incoming projectile. Braxien then summoned seven white spheres of energy and launched them at her opponents. Sylveon jumped up and with a spin she fired off a volley of golden star shaped projectiles that fell in place around Braxien's Hidden Power.

The combo move began spiraling towards Dena's team. Just before it hit her partners Dena thought up a last minute defense.

"Duskull Ice Beam straight down!"

The ghost type shot a beam of light blue energy at the ground in front of her. The area where the beam hit sprouted a wall of ice that provided ample protection for the two Pokémon. The Hidden Power Swift combo slammed into the ice barrier and caused an eruption of gold, white, and blue light that sparked down across the entire field. Everyone stopped and watched in awe as the light particles slowly fell to the floor.

Both trainers returned their gazes to their opponents and gave each other a look of elation before returning to their battle.

"Sylveon use Fairy Wind!"

The pink and white fox jumped up and rapidly spun its ribbons in a fan like motion. A gust of wind with pink sparkly particles was whipped up and blown towards her opponents.

"Duskull get behind Torchic and use Sunny Day!"

Duskull ducked behind Torchic and formed a sphere of orange light from its mouth. With great haste Duskull turned her head up and propelled the orb into the air and began to float overhead. As soon as it had left Duskull's hold the sphere had begun expanding and expelling heat making the room as hot and bright as a midsummer day.

Back on the ground Dena issued another order to her Pokémon just before the fairy type move collided with her team. Torchic planted its feet firmly into the ground and opened its beak expelling a spiraling vortex of flames that stopped the Fairy Wind from reaching it as well as creating a mesmerizing wall of sparkly pink and red flames.

Serena was impressed by Dena's quick use of Sunny Day to boost Torchic's Fire Spin attack. Not willing to let Dena win Serena started her next attack.

"Braxin use Fire Blast; Sylveon help her out with Swift!"

Both Pokémon started moving to carry out Serena's orders when the robotic referee rolled out onto the field.

"Time! The battle is over!"

"What!" Both trainers shouted in confusion; not knowing that there were time limits in Pokémon Contests.

"The time limit has been reached and Dena is currently in the lead! According to protocol I must declare her the winner! Would you like to try again?!" It shouted.

"Hey Dena maybe we should take a break to heal up our Pokémon; and possibly learn a bit more about contest rules while we're waiting." Serena said hopefully.

"Your probably right." Dena said while having the same ulterior motive as Serena, "We're all good for now Mr. Robot."

"I am designated as autonomous unit 3-8-2-1-3-1-1 or Chuck, not Mr. Robot!" Chuck huffily said before returning to the hole he had popped out of.

"I didn't know a robot could be so defensive." Dena said after Chuck had left.

"You obviously haven't been around enough robots." Serena said while thinking back to her Kalosian friend Clemont and his robotic counterpart Clembot.

Dena not sure how to respond just shrugged and walked down from her platform. Serena followed Dena's lead and headed down to meet her at the door. Once on the ground again they turned into the hallway and walked towards the medical center Sicarius had earlier pointed  out.

Halfway down the hall Dena had a moment of realization and smugly turned to face her cousin.

"Hey Serena I just realized Chuck said I was the winner of the contest." Dena said as a villainous smile took place on her lips. "That means I also win our bet."

Serena stopped walking and let what Dena had just said sink in. She faced her cousin in disbelief.

"You gotta be kidding me." Serena glumly said

"Nope looks like your going to be paying for dinner tomorrow night; but don't worry I'll pick out something nice for you to wear." Dena said with a wink before skipping ahead into the med center with her partners at her heels.

Serena drearily followed her into the room; once inside she took in her surroundings. Stark white tiles lined the walls and floors and the only real color came from a cream colored couch resting across from a small counter. The entire room smelt of disinfectant and there was a pink haired lady in a nurses hat standing behind a nurses station with a large pink and white Pokémon next to her.

"Oh hello there, Sicarius told me you might come down here." Nurse Joy commented, "I assume you'd like me to heal up your team?" Nurse Joy asked cheerily.

The girls nodded and handed over their Poké Balls.

"Alright now if you would please follow my assistant Blissey into the back." Nurse Joy said to the Pokémon who promptly did as she instructed. "Now I'll be back with in an hour with your Pokémon fighting fit; can I help you with anything else before I leave?"

"Do you have anything a coordinator could read to better understand contests?" Serena asked.

"Let me see what we have." Nurse Joy said before disappearing behind into a back room.

Twenty minutes later she returned with a small stack of six moderately sized books, which she discarded onto the counter.

"These were the only books I could find, I do hope they will suffice." Nurse Joy said somewhat disheartened by her inability to find more material.

"Thanks Nurse Joy this is more than enough." Dena said as she picked up the stack of books.

"I'm so glad!" Nurse Joy happily said. "Can I help you with anything else?"

"Thank you but you've helped us more than enough already." Serena said.

"Your very welcome; I'll be back in awhile with your Pokémon so don't go to far."

With that the pink haired nurse disappeared behind another door. Serena and Dena walked over to the couch, sat down and opened up the first book. The first page was written in a fine print and contained at least four hundred and fifty words. The girls looked at the print in horror thinking "what have we signed up for".

Serena spent the next five minutes reading the page while Dena lay upside down on the sofa trying to find an easier manuscript to read.

"Uhhhg," an exasperated Dena groaned,"we're going to be here for hours!" She said having been unable to find anything less complicated to read.

"It will go by faster if you just choose a book to read." Serena replied with a tight voice.

Dena sighed, grabbed one of the other five books and begrudgingly began reading it.

They spent the next two hours reading, and had only managed to make it through their first books when Nurse Joy returned with their Pokémon. With the return of her Pokémon Serena's quick witted brain formulated a brilliant idea. She smiled and slammed her book shut and struck a heroic pose; her sudden and peculiar actions grabbed the attention of everyone in the room.

"Alright team I have an idea!" Serena proudly exclaimed. "We're going to work together to understand the complex nature of Pokémon contests!"

"Okay and how do you suppose we do that?" Dena asked lethargically.

"Nurse Joy do you have any post it notes!"

"I believe I have some in my desk; why what do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking our Pokémon could read through the other books and mark off important parts with post it notes; meanwhile Dena and I finish with our books, and then go back and read the parts our Pokémon highlighted for us!"

"Sounds like a plan." Dena said, encouraging the notion of minimizing the number of books she had to read.

"I'll go get those post it notes then." Nurse Joy said as she went to rummage around her desk for the office supplies.

With post it notes in hand, paw, and other appendages, the group began their contest cram session. An hour in both girls had finished with their first books and moved onto the ones their partners had annotated for them.

Three grueling hours of reading later they had finished with their studies and were ready to try the area again. Bidding a thankful farewell to Nurse Joy, they walked back to the blimp sized room and climbed up to their platforms.

"Welcome back ladies; would you care to battle again!" Chuck said

"You bet Chuck and this time we know what we're doing!" Dena said enthusiastically.

"Very well then let the contest battle begin!"

Right before they sent out their partners they heard a frantic rapping of heels on the hard marble floor. Looking down below the girls saw Nurse Joy come running in, panting heavily from moving so quickly.

"Dena, Serena I just got a message from the front desk; they say the contest organizers are calling all contestants to the contest hall. Apparently they had to move the contest up a few hours to have enough time for all the contestants to participate."

"What!" They exclaimed in surprised panic.

"If you want to make it you'll have to go now the contest starts at 5:00." Nurse Joy urged.

The girls and their Pokémon rushed down the steps and ran past the Pokémon nurse, but not before thank her for passing on the information. They dashed all the way to the elevator, they'd come down in, only to have their spirits crushed by an out of order sign across the doors. Groaning they opened a door leading to a long stairwell and hiked up at least twelve flights of stairs before reaching the main lobby.

"I- hate- stairs!", Dena gasped as she hauled herself out of the stairwell.

"Come on Dena we have to keep going it's already, 4:00!", Serena exclaimed as she looked at the clock above the elevator, "We've got to hurry the contest starts in an hour!"

"Hold up I'm right behind you!" Dena says as she finds some reserved willpower to keep going.

Ten minutes of continuous running the girls find the contest hall and rush inside covered from head to toe in sweat.

"We-made it." Dena said happily before slumping down onto the cold floor to catch her breath.

"Yeah and its only-", Serena stopped what she was saying and gawked at the clock hanging in the halls main entrance. The time read 3:15 nearly two whole hours before the contests were supposed to start.

"Serena what's wrong? We made it didn't w-...; oh you have got to be kidding me." Dena said bitterly, as she glared daggers at the timekeeper who in an instant, turned all her desperate running into an overdone action.

"Well on the bright side we're not late." Serena said with a quaver of pained exhaustion in her words.

Her meager attempt to cheer Dena up only earned a slight groan of exhaustion from the brunette hair girl.

"Hey you two, I've been looking for you!" A cheery girls voice said behind them.

Spinning around they saw the smiling face of their recent purple and red haired friend Diana.

"Did you hear the last minute changes the officials made to the contest." Diana said excitedly.

"Great what form of torture do they have in store for us now." Dena sharply said.

"Cheer up you grumpy gus", Diana said in a playful voice, "They made first two contest rounds triple team battles!"

"What's a triple team battle, and why would they change the rules so drastically?" Serena asked in bewilderment.

"To answer your first question the head contest aficionados said, it's a three on three trainer battle with one Pokémon per participate; trainers have to work with their Pokémon and fellow contenders in order to triumph over their opponents. Trainers shall either win as a team or loose as a team there are no exceptions!" Diana said in a poor imitation of an elderly man with a British accent; which earned her a round of laughter from the other two trainers.

"As for your second question they big wigs said it was because of the overly abundant turnout of contenders; but I think it's because they wanted to make it so only the best make it to the single elimination rounds."

"Sounds like its going to be intense." Serena said with an underline hit of concern.

"Yeah; but don't expect any mercy from me if I have to face off with either of you!" Dena said definitely.

"We don't need to worry about that until round three, cause we're all on the same team!" Diana said giddily, as she practically was bursting with excitement.

Both trainers joined Diana in her overzealous joy.

"That's awesome Diana, but before we do anything else, do you know where a girl can get a fresh pair of clothes?" Dena asked as she gestured to her sweat sodden clothing.

It was only then that Diana noticed how sweaty and worn out her teammates were; apologetically she lead them to the hall's showers and dressing room.

"I'll be waiting for you two outside come find me whenever you're ready; oh and I took the liberty of laying out dresses for you to wear for the contest." Diana said before leaving them to get cleaned up.

Twenty minutes later both girls were clean as a whistle and were changing into the dresses Diana had chosen for them. Serena's was a ruby colored strapless dress with fiery pink ruffles that ended just before her knees. She knew it was a gorgeous gown but felt it was missing a little something extra. She began rummaging in her bag for the missing pièce de résistance.

A moment later she found what she was looking for and had fashioned a thin blue ribbon belt around her waist, with a large bow on the side. Admiring her handy work she walked out of her changing stall and into the room, to find Dena strutting around in an emerald green Queen Anne style dress with a citrine crystal sash across her waist.

The girls stopped what they were doing to marvel at the beauty of the other. Diana had proved to be an excellent judge of fashion and provided them with a fantastic wardrobe.

As they headed towards the doors they heard an odd cracking noise coming from the wall behind them. Knowing they should ignore the noise but turning around anyways, they watched as a large web like crack spread across the wall; a moment later the entire section of wall collapsed and a cloud of dust flew up around the newly formed hole.

In the center of the hole stood the outline of four people and Pokémon. One of the figures stepped forwards and spoke one inquisitive word. "Serena?"

[To be continued!]

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Hope you all liked this chapter I thought it would be fun to leave you on another cliff hanger for a little while. On a somewhat separate note I don't think I'll be able to write a Christmas chapter by Christmas so I wanted to know if you guys would like one a while after Christmas or if you'd prefer I not write one until next year.

I'd also like to thank NonProGaming , Amourshipper444 and JMurlz319 for consistently voting on my chapters and encouraging me to keep on writing.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you all in the next chapter.