After Ash got some sleep he was woken up by Pikachu shocking him, so he eventually left the room extra crispy.
Ash went to drink coffee, not a cup the entire pitcher, looking around at his friends; Brock was too busy continuing to prepare for the competition that would happen in a few hours, Misty was just being Misty, and Yellow seemed to have put two and two together and was glancing at Ash with a Blush on her face every now and then.
Brock eventually looked over and saw Ash drinking from the pitcher, "Hey Ash are you sure you should-'' but he stopped when Ash started glaring at him, "Nevermind."
Ash finally finished his coffee and was feeling fine after splashing more water on his face, it wasn't the first time he got no sleep, and also probably not the last.
So after everyone got what they needed they all headed out so Brock could study the stadium and the rest find a good seat.
When they finally arrived in front of the stadium they saw an overly eccentric sign with a colored light plastered on top of the door blocking whatever text was there before.
The sign itself said, [Pokemon Breeding competition sponsored by the Pokemon Fanclub & the Pokemon League]
"So this is it," Brock murmured as he was shaking a bit, the entire morning Brock had some confidence but all that was gone as he stood in front of the gates.
Misty slid behind Brock and gave him an encouraging slap, "Come on you've got this, you've been preparing for this and it's what you're good at."
Brock slightly stumbled and almost did a faceplant since he wasn't expecting it but still mumbled under his breath, "It's what I'm decent at."
"But you do such a good job when you help me, so I think you'll do a good job," Yellow said trying to calm Brock down, but it didn't really work.
"Brock stop doubting yourself," Ash walked up to Brock and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder, "You were literally slumped over last night from studying, I don't put in that kind of effort and I've seen my notebook."
Brock slightly chuckled, "I don't know if that is a compliment or a warning that I'm going to be a coffee-addicted teenager."
"Hey I'm not addicted I can stop whenever I want," Ash joked before he continued, "But the point is, your as ready as you can be, and if you lose, so what, this is your first time doing this with People who probably Competed before, worst case scenario you lose and we go to the next competition, so stop stressing it'll only make it worse"
Brock looked at Ash and then at Misty and Yellow who were both giving him smiles and a thumbs up, making Brock look into the Sky and cover his eyes seemingly holding back tears, "Ok Guys, I'll do it! I'll do my best and try to win."
Then almost as if on cue the intercom turned on announcing the first call for any competitors to enter and prepare themselves.
"Ok this is it," Brock murmured and walked inside, meanwhile the rest of them went to find a seat.
On the inside Brock was looking around at the renovations that had been done for the competition, he could see there were a good few interesting characters, some daycare attendants, a few ranchers, and even some people who looked like basic trainers.
He didn't recognize any of them but he did recognize 1 Person, a girl with long Teal collared hair, she had a dress that looked like it was based on the nurse uniform. He immediately recognized her as the famous Breeder Suzie.
Before he could process that and before he could approach her the announcer stepped up
"Welcome one and all!" A short man with a white beard and black sunglasses, wearing a black suit and a fedora greeted as he walked onto the stage. "To this year's first Saffron City Pokemon Breeding Competition, I am your host as well as the Chairman of the esteemed Pokemon fan club, but you can just call me Mr. Pokemon."
But in a split second, he turns the mike away and mumbles to himself, "I don't care if that name's been taken, I deserve it so I'm keeping it."
The crowd erupted into applause as Mr. Pokemon continued, "This year we have 3 judges helping out, firstly we have last year's champion, the award-winning Suzie!"
Then the familiar girl stepped up to a plate next to Mr. Pokemon as he continued his speech.
"Next we have the familiar daycare couple, let's introduce Mr. and Ms. Gold!" (A/N so let me explain something real quick, Canonically the daycare couple are Ethen's grandparents, and since no official last name is given, I'll just use Gold.)
The crowd erupted into more Cheers as an old couple slowly walked out and greeted everyone, moving towards the stands.
"Now that our Judges are set, let's get to the fun part, my co-host will take it from here." Mr Pokemon said as he gave the mike to Mr. Gold.
"I'm glad to be here, firstly let me say thank you for all the support, this truly would not be possible without kind viewers like you so thank you," he said doing a bow earning praise and respect from the crowd.
"Now let me announce the first round, it shall be Bathing and Grooming, the rules are simple, each competitor shall be given a random Pokemon to Clean then Groom." Mr Gold said before handing the mic to his wife.
"Since this shall be the first Grooming competition of the year, there shall be no specific theme, so instead you are to boost the Pokemon's natural charm in any way you deem fit, outside items are allowed as long as they don't harm the Pokemon."
Mr. Pokemon took the mic back and gathered the lights onto him, "Now that you know the rules let the round begin!" Then the lights spread out to each show one of the competitors, there were a total of 8, a small amount since the second part would be battling and most Breeders tend to focus on other aspects, the truly big ones could reach into the 50s.
The competitors rushed to each take a station, At each station a Pokeball containing a random Pokemon, looking around the room there were the basic things they would need in front of them, there was also a storage area that had more things that weren't needed but might help like Berries or snacks.
Brock immediately grabbed one around the center and pushed the button revealing a little Poliwag.
Looking around the room he saw People getting things from Pikachus to Pidgeys.
He definitely got the hardest choice since Poliwag had 2 possible forms, each with a different charm. But before he could think of that he needed to bathe the Tadpole, which was easy since it was a water type.
When he pulled the Tadpole out of the bath he thoroughly got it ready, looking around the room again he could see the judges circling around each station, but saying nothing.
He could also see that some people were giving their Pokemon Pink Pokeblocks, and a lot of people were trying to make their Pokemon Cute.
'It looks like everyone is going to try to win the judges with cuteness, then if I want to stand out I should do something different but what?'
He then remembered that Ash told him something, that Pokeblocks do more than just serve as supplements, he tried looking it up before he slept but he couldn't find much, only some articles that said Pokeblockes help bring out the Charm in Pokemon.
So Brock decided to feed the Poliwag high-quality Blue and Red Pokeblocks, made from the Berries Ash would give him. As soon as the little Poliwag tried them it ate them up like it never heard of food.
As it did that Brock decided to try and go for a more Tough theme, since he knew how Ash's Poliwrath acted he worked on that trying to bring out the strength in the Poliwag.
In no time the round ended and the judges walked around and looked at the Pokemon for first impressions, then took a note, then moved on.
Eventually, they came back together and revealed the scores on the big screen. Out of 8 contestants Brock placed 4th on the first check, then the Judges would go around again for a more detailed score.
The judges went past each contestant explaining what they did wrong, mainly saying that their cute theme was too basic and nothing caught their interest. And giving some pointers, until they got to Brock.
"So Brock was it, can you explain what you were going for," Mr. Pokemon said rather eccentrically.
Brock stiffened up and put on his stone-cold face he used when he was a gym leader, "Well I know that Poliwag have multiple evolution lines, so I tried my best to bring out a common theme between them."
"Yes, I can see that…unfortunately it seems like there's too much going on." Mr. Gold said examining the Poliwag, "I have a request, you fed this Poliwag some Pokeblocks, may we see the ones you gave it."
"Y-yes of course," Brock said quickly, giving some high-quality Blue and Red Pokeblocks and letting the four judges inspect them.
This time Suzie spoke, "Well these certainly are very good Pokeblockes, made of high quality berries, but why did you give them to Poliwag?"
Brock was taken abc by the question, "What do you mean?"
"Well, firstly the most obvious thing is that you gave it two different Pokeblocks, which in itself is a double-edged sword, but more importantly, these are too high quality, Poliwag is not at a level where something like these would be beneficial, sure it will receive benefits but not as much as if you gave it regular quality."
But Ms. Gold stepped in, "However don't misunderstand, nothing of what you did was wrong, and Poliwag is looking very nice, and your bathing skills were top-notch, we especially liked that you stood out instead of going for cute, but there's just too much going on."
Brock nodded not letting his complexion change but feeling kinda down, but still thought about what they said.
As Brock was thinking that he missed the explanation for 3rd and 2nd place, which was a boy and a girl respectively, the judges moved on to the 1st place which was a girl that was given a Goldeen.
"Can you explain to us what you did?" Suzie asked as Mr. Pokemon was inspecting the Goldeen.
The Girl looked to be 15-16, she had bright red hair with violet eyes and had overalls, "I decided to focus on Goldeen's beauty, I brushed and Polished her scales and fed her blue Pokeblocks, I have some prepared if you would like." the Girl said as she handed a tray with small blue cubes, each looked smooth but also had some bumps.
Mr and Ms Gold grabbed one and inspected them, "Yes these are quite good, a perfect ratio for the level of this Goldeen, Chesto?"
"With Wiki mixed in, for better taste," she said with her hand behind her back.
Mr. Pokemon looked like he was stopping himself from exploding, but Suzie continued, "Well I should say-"
"ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, SUCH A BEAUTIFUL SPECIMEN, TRULY SUCH AMAZING SKILL! Such…. ELEGANCE!" Mr. Pokemon said almost dancing.
The three sighed in unison as Suzie spoke up, "I don't think there's anything more to say, if Mr. Pokemon is acting like that then that settles it, the scores will be updated."
Then on the screen, some people moved around, Brock was moved up to 3rd place, and at first place with the picture of the girl it said, [Yui Shiori]
"And that concludes the first round, an assistant will come by to collect the Pokemon you have been given, but know it is time for my least favorite part, the battles," Mr. Pokemon said
Then he turned his head from the mike again, "Seriously I have tried 5 separate times to get this event banned, but noooo, people want to see it."