"Would No. 3 please come up on stage!" The PA rang, Mrs. Starr and Polo walked up the ramp and walked up and down the stage as if it were a fashion show. There were three judges, one was Nurse Joy, the second was the mayor of Rosemond Town, and the third was a judge that signed up to be judge from some other town.

Mrs. Starr finished the walk and then stood in front of the judges, giving them a full view of Polo’s side body. Polo’s flame mane and tail were bright, probably from the protein Mrs. Starr fed to him. Amber and Firefly watched from a short distance, Wing and Moondancer were far away, trying to keep his discolored mane and tail a secret till they were on stage.

"No. 3, Mrs. Terry Starr passed with a 9.5 out of a 10.0!" the PA announced. Amber looked at her pontya, they either needed to tie with Polo, or get a 10.0 to at least win! But she has a slim chance of getting that high on her first try!

No. 4 was a young girl no older then eight had a cute eevee with a shining coat and tail. The next numbers went fast, but no one other then Mrs. Starr got a 9.5.

"Would No. 13 please come to the stage!" the PA rang. Amber and Firefly walked up the ramp as Terry and Polo did.

Amber walked Firefly up and down the stage as her mother did by her halter. Firefly seemed to be keeping herself from twitching from excitement. She was cooperating and trying to look her best. They finally came up to the judges and stood the same way as Polo and Terry did. Firefly had noticed the three and flared her mane and tail up beautifully, a mix of yellow, orange, and red burned in her mane and tail. Her coat adding more satisfaction, it gleamed brilliantly when the sun peaked over the treetops.

The judges held up their own opinion, they added up to 9.7! Amber could hardly believe it, she beaten her mother! When Amber walked Firefly off the stage, she hugged Firefly and praised her.

"You were great out there girl!" Amber complemented; she found Wing and Moondancer walking up from behind her. "Good luck," Wing nodded as he got ready for the PA to welcome him to the stage.

"No. 14 please come to the stage!" the PA rang, Amber and Firefly quickly walked over to see him and Moondancer. Everyone’s eyes widened at the blue flames. Wing was nervous, Amber could tell, but Moondancer seemed to be having the time of his life! He was given the chance to show off his unnatural color to large amount of people.

When Wing and Moondancer came up in front of the judges, they put up their opinion.

"No. 14, Young Wing Starsin passed with a 9.7 as well! This is going to be an awesome turnover if the last three don’t get any higher!" the PA announced, everyone made sarcastic bets on Wing and Moondancer.

"Cool! We passed with the same score," Amber said as he and Moondancer walked off the stage and towards her and Firefly.

"If you two are the highest score, you have to have a tie-breaker!" Mrs. Starr came up to them, Polo and Marco right behind her, Ron approached as well.

"I wish you two luck if you do have to battle, Terry has been in six contests in all and this is the first one she has ever lost!" Ron said with a smile. Amber grinned, Firefly snorted in agreement.

"Confident aren’t we?" Amber joked.

The last three went on, not one passed with a 9.7; Amber and Wing had to battle each other to clarify the winner.

"The tie-breaker between Wing Starsin from Lavender Town and Amber Starr from Celadon City will take place as a battle at the battlefield in the ring!" The PA rang, everyone began to move towards the ring, not knowing where it was, Amber and Wing followed, Moondancer and Firefly following.

"Trainers take your place at the battlefield!" a referee shouted, Amber took the green side, Wing took the red side. "Release pokemon!" Firefly and Moondancer got on the field and faced each other.

"BEGIN!" the referee shouted.

"Moondancer! Use Ember!" Wing ordered, Moondancer launched an ember attack similar to Firefly’s, but there were blue instead of orange and yellow. The crowd talked among them selves of the unusual colored attacks.

"Use your Ember!" Amber shouted. Firefly’s and Moondancer’s embers clashed, equally powered. Smoke filled the battlefield. When the smoke cleared, they found Moondancer injured, Firefly was standing proudly near him, and two hoof marks were on his side. Amber must have ordered a stomp when people were coughing.

"Are you all right Moondancer?" Wing asked, Moondancer nodded. "Okay! Use Tackle!" Moondancer galloped towards Firefly.

"Dodge it! Then use your Tackle!" Amber shouted, Firefly stepped to the side, then rammed into Moondancer, knocking him to his side.

"Pony!" Moondancer winced as he got up.

"Are you sure you want to go on further?" Wing asked. Moondancer had bruises all over him, but he nodded. "All right! Use Ember!" Amber stared, if they never gave up, she would have to keep going till he was unconscious. But if that’s what they wanted, so be it!

"Show no mercy! Dodge those flare balls and ram into him!" Amber shouted. Firefly dodged every ember, only one grazed her shoulder, but she reached Wing and rammed into his chest. He was on his side again, when he got up. Amber ordered an ember.

"Ponyta!" Firefly neighed as she flared Moondancer down with her attack; he fainted before he landed on the ground.

"The winner is Amber Starr and Firefly!" the referee shouted, raising the green flag. Wing returned Moondancer and clapped along with everyone else for Amber. But she felt bothered, she wondered if she was too hard on him on their first battle.

"Congratulations young trainer," the mayor said, placing a medal over Amber’s head, Nurse Joy places a wreath of flowers over Firefly’s neck and the other judge handed Amber a red rose with no thorns.

"Thank you," Amber thanked as the judges announced the winner one more time, then people started going home.

"You were great Amber!" Ron complemented as he patted Firefly’s side.

"Where’s Wing?" Amber asked, Terry pointed at the Pokemon Center. Amber ran towards it. When she was inside, she noticed that Nurse Joy returned to care for the pokemon coming in.

"Is Wing here Nurse Joy?" Amber asked.

"He just dropped Moondancer off," Nurse Joy said, "He left a little while ago, saying he’ll be back before nightfall to get him back. Although I must say you gave him a good fight…"

"Can you heal Firefly please?" Amber said quickly to change the subject.

"Certainly, let me guess you’ll be back before nightfall as well?" Nurse Joy asked with a hint of amusement.

"You read my mind," Amber said as she walked out the door and stared down at Volts poke’ball. "I wonder if we should do some training, she’s probably only at level five…" Amber walked towards the forest.

To be continued