Sungjong's Jubilife Ribbon

“HOLY GIRATINA.”

The way Sungjong shrieks sounds as if he’s in danger and Myungsoo and Sungyeol drop everything they are doing to rush over. It’s kind of hard to find him in the contest hall of Jubilife City, but the Chimecho dangling in the air is pretty much a dead giveaway of his location.

“What is it?!” Myungsoo asks frantically, looking around aimlessly. “Is it a fire? A flood? Team Rocket?!”

Sungjong covers his mouth, his eyes shining with admiration. “No, look over there!” He points with his finger and the other two follow the direction and spot some guy with platinum blond hair and sunglasses.

“…Who’s that?” Sungyeol questions.

“Who’s that?!” Sungjong repeats, scandalized. He hugs his Abra close and hisses, “That’s only the greatest Pokémon coordinator in the history of ever. It was always my dream to follow in his footsteps since he originated from Sinnoh like I did but… to actually see him?!”

The blond guy walks towards them confidently and Sungyeol actually thinks that Sungjong might have stopped breathing. Myungsoo is just as confused as he is because honestly, neither of them have really cared about Pokémon coordinators before. All the fashion and beauty isn’t really their thing. While Sungyeol has been focused on Pokémon training and Myungsoo is focused on breeding, Sungjong’s eyes have been set on being a great coordinator since the beginning. He still trains just as hard and just as efficiently, but for him there has always been a desire to become one of the top coordinators. So being faced with one of the top coordinators in Sinnoh was cutting his breath a little short.

The blond male stops in front of them and Sungyeol hears Sungjong choke. He rolls his eyes because could Sungjong get any more embarrassing?

“Hey,” the guy says. “Cute Abra – ever thought of entering it into some contests?” His voice is deep and velvety smooth and Sungyeol can see why Sungjong admires him.

Sungjong swallows and stammers, “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about entering him into a contest…”

The guy takes off his sunglasses to reveal his glimmering eyes. “I think you should! Abra would surely make an impression on the judges. Where are you from?”

“I’m from here – Sinnoh!” Sungjong responds eagerly. “And my friends are from Kanto and Johto.”

Sungyeol and Myungsoo smile respectively and that’s when Myungsoo notices the Vulpix that is seated comfortably on the man’s shoulder and the Ninetails that is following behind him. He must train fire types. Vulpix seems very cute and cheerful while Ninetails’ gleaming coat of fur matches the hair of the man they’re speaking to.

The blond man smiles widely and gives him a small high five. “Oh, nice! I’m from Sinnoh also! Have you registered yet?”

“Not yet,” Sungjong replies, his eyes twinkling in admiration. “But I am today! I’m really excited – I’ll get a ribbon case and a ball capsule!”

“Yup – starting from the basics like me! Like everyone!” the blond man grins at him, smile lines appearing. “And believe me – if you enter your Abra, I’m sure he’ll make a great impression on the judges.”

Sungjong lights up. “Really? Thanks for the advice! I’m so grateful!”

“It’s no problem – I love helping out aspiring coordinators. And also–” The guy reaches into his bag and pulls out what seems to be a sticker of sorts “–take this! It’s a line seal and I think it’ll really compliment your Abra’s grand entrance. After all – the dramatic entrance is all about the flare!” The man winks before starting to walk off. “Hope to see you in the contest, rookie!”

To Sungyeol and Myungsoo, it’s really nothing much. But Sungjong positively sparkles as he watches the man go. Even his Abra and Chimecho look a little star-struck. They personally don’t understand the appeal of all these Pokémon contests, but they can never say no when Sungjong looks so ecstatic about joining.

Sungjong ends up registering for a Pokémon contest later that day. It seems like a good idea at first until he realizes that he doesn’t have a good coordinator outfit.

“Is this enough? Do I look okay? Is my hair all right?”

“Sungjong, your hair is covered by a cap, it literally doesn’t matter,” Sungyeol points out.

Sungjong looks into the mirror backstage, giving himself one more look over. To match the color scheme of his Abra, he had rushed around Jubilife City shopping for clothes. He finally settled on a stylish black tee covered in yellow slashes. His shorts were dark denim, falling right above his knees and he added a black snapback with a yellow brim onto his head for good measure.

“But do I look okay,” Sungjong asks again. He looks to Myungsoo, who is in the corner, feeding his Eevee.

“You look fine,” he reassures. “I got a look at some of the other contestants and believe me – you still blow them out of the water. And your Abra has been practicing his moves for his entrance and I think you guys look great! All you have to do is go out there and show it off.”

Sungyeol nods as he chimes in. “I agree – you and Abra look fantastic. The judges won’t know what hit the stage!”

“Thanks, you guys,” Sungjong says gratefully, his smile warm and happy. “I’m going to head to the stage wings. I’ll look for you guys in the audience! Wish me luck!”

“Jong, wait!”

Sungjong whips around and is faced with Sungyeol and Myungsoo’s smiles. Sungyeol takes off his yellow jacket and ties it around his waist while Myungsoo turns his snapback around so that the bill is at the back of his head.

“There – now you’re adorable,” Myungsoo states proudly. “Now go out there and kill them.”

“Welcome to the Jubilife City Pokémon contest!” the MC announces with gusto. “All the contestants today are battling for the Jubilife City ribbon! But before we get to our contestants, let’s meet our judges!”

Sungyeol smacks Myungsoo’s side (to which he flinches at because what was the smacking for?) and shouts, “Look! Look, there’s that blond guy who stopped to talk to Sungjong earlier!”

As he says so, Myungsoo looks over at the platinum blond man that sits at the judges table who stands up and waves to the audience. His Vulpix sits in his lap and he’s dressed primly. Now he looks like some celebrity and Myungsoo almost feels embarrassed that he doesn’t recognize him.

“Please welcome our guest judge, champion of multiple Grand Festivals and Pokémon fashion and contest icon – Nam Woohyun!”

“Wow. He’s actually famous,” Myungsoo hears Sungyeol murmur. But their attention is soon diverted as they announce the first contestant who happens to be Sungjong. They’re both in the stadium seats, sitting close together with their eyes glued onto the stage. They’re so excited because Sungjong walks out with a spring in his step looking absolutely radiant. His eyes sparkle as he stands on that stage and bows.

“Look at him, he’s adorable!” Sungyeol exclaims, holding Myungsoo’s hand excitedly.

“He travels throughout all the regions but he hails from Sinnoh – please welcome Lee Sungjong and his Abra!”

Sungyeol and Myungsoo scream their hearts out as Sungjong throws his ball capsule into the air and it opens with a big puff. Black lines come streaming out of the Pokéball as Abra pops out.

“Abra!” Sungjong calls out. “Use shadow ball up in the air!” As the Abra sends the dark ball into the air, Sungjong also commands, “Now teleport up to the ball and use psychic!”

The Abra disappears and reappears above the spinning shadow ball and uses psychic. The radiant pink waves glow around the shadow ball and once they collide, there’s a flurry of dark purple and bright pink sparks that rain down over Abra and Sungjong.

“Look at him he looks so gorgeous!” Sungyeol shrieks, clinging onto Myungsoo’s arm tightly. Myungsoo can’t help but feel like a pair of parents watching their child. But he’s also content to notice that Woohyun looks fairly impressed as well.

The three of them exit from the contest hall, bouncing on their heels and singing their congratulations as Sungjong holds up the winning Jubilife City ribbon in his hand triumphantly. As they jump up and down cheering, Nam Woohyun approaches them and tells Sungjong that he has the makings to become a coordinator champion. And Sungjong thanks him because he knows that this ribbon is the start of many and he knows that he will be winning a spot in the Grand Festival.

a.n. --

idk about you guys, but pokemon contests are one of my favorite things to do lol! and if you've ever seen the series, the dramatic entrances they make with their ball capsules and seals are so cool! like wow i wish i could do that haha if you don't know how a contest works, i suggest watching one of the episodes :) they're lots of fun!

+ i love the idea of sungjong as an aspiring coordinator that is also a trainer. and welcome to woohyun who is a famous champion coordinator! + he has a vulpix and ninetails, isn't that adorable?

:D now that all the infinite members have been introduced, you'll be having some yadong and woogyu drabbles coming your way as well as more myungyeol and the training trio! omg this is just so fun i love it haha

pokemon referenced

chimecho -- abra -- vulpix -- ninetails -- eevee