In the present time, Pokémon and humans coexist to help each other whether it's training to become the very best, to raise the many species of Pokémon, and even show off their talents and skills. In this point in time, there's a story to tell about five travelers who make their way around the Unova region.

Today is a very nerve racking day for one of the travelers. His name is Key. He's traveling to become the very first top Coordinator in the Unova region. Ever since he was young, he's always seen Pokémon Contests on tv that were from other regions. When he started his Pokémon journey, he faced the gym leaders and made it to the Unova League, however, he didn't make it far in the League but he actually didn't feel any sadness about it. After, he decided to go back to Nimbasa City to live comfortably along with his Pokémon.

However, a few months ago, it was officially announced that Unova would have their very first Pokémon Contests and Grand Festival. When the blonde heard about this, he couldn't have been more excited for it. Soon after, it was announced that the very first Pokémon Contest will be held in Striaton City in a month. Key decided to head to the city immediately in order to get there about a week early to train his Pokémon to learn tricks and skills that would best fit for the contest.

Once he met five strange men on his way there, who knew he would even be there earlier than expected?

His friends were probably the strangest people he had ever met. "And dressed unfashionably too!" The blonde would always comment. They all had their own individual and quite weird personalities but even Key admitted that he wasn't so normal himself. I mean, not too many males compete in Pokémon Contests. They mostly prefer to be trainers.

The first one he met was Taemin, the youngest of the group. He comes from Castelia City, or as the oldest of the bunch, Onew, calls it, "The city with all the reeeeeeealllly tall buildings!" No kidding, the city might as well be called a metropolis for crying out loud!! Anyway, Taemin had always lived near the Castelia gym, thus always having encounters with Burgh, who always invited him to travel around Pinwheel Forest.The youngest would always agreed and managed to learn how the Pokémon lived their lives day by day. From that, Taemin was inspired to become a Pokémon Breeder so he can learn more about the daily life of other Pokémon and hopefully to raise many. Key always referred to him as the "City Rancher" but he always treated Taemin as if he was his little kid.

The next two were Jonghyun and Minho who were actually traveling all the way from Mistralton City and Virbank City. They wanted to start their badge collecting by going to Striaton and the two met on their way in the Nimbasa Subway and tag teamed battled against the Subway Masters. Even though they lost in no time, they learned to help out each other. Also with that, they started a rivalry against each other to win the Unova League. Key and Taemin met the two on the way exiting from Castelia City.

Finally their last and strange encounter was with the oldest of the travelers, Onew. It started when the four got separated by getting lost in Pinwheel Forest. Key was having a hard time as he was getting chased by a group of Palpitoads. Once he lost them, he immediately crashed in to Onew. Literally. When Key asked why Onew was in the forest, the elder replied that he trying to find his way out and was heading to Striaton after finishing an errand in Icirrus City. Key was dumbfounded when Onew said he had a map of Pinwheel Forest but couldn't read at that point because he lost his sense of direction after giving chase from a mudslide. However, the two were able to make their way through and found the others near the end of the forest. From there, they all decided to take a break in Nacrene City and found out that Onew was actually a Connoisseur. He observed the bond and partnership between trainer and Pokémon and how that could affect their battling. The elder was working hard at that point since he was able to move up into a B ranked, which led to  his first errand as a B ranked in Icirrus City.

Even with all the strange encounter between the four other travelers, Key easily accepted to stay with them as a group. Minho and Jonghyun wanted to go claims their first badges, Taemin wanted to observe Pokémon from around the city and along the borders, and finally Onew had to go talk to one of the Striaton gym leaders, who was also a Connoisseur. Minho and Jonghyun demanded answers to get an advantage in battle, but Onew refused, which made the two all fussy.

Leading all back to right now, Taemin was near the outskirts of the city, while the other three were at the gym. Key was a bit upset that even though he had more than a week's worth of training with his Pokémon, his friends wouldn't be able to come and watch him compete in his very first Contest. It was already 10am as Key headed over to the stadium where the Contest was being held. He was dressed up in a long sleeved white button up, black slacks along with dress shows, a pink tie with a stripped pattern, and finally the night before, he decided to use a temporary dye on his hair that made the ends of his fringe a light pink color. If there was anything about Key, always made sure to look sharp and fashionable at all times. Once he entered the stadium, he was surprised that nearly every seat was filled, especially that the field looked exactly like all the Contests that he saw on tv as a child.

He made it towards the backstage where he encountered roughly 30 contestants in the room. They all looked either confident, calm, or just flat out nervous. Key was definitely unde the nervous category but he wasn't about to let his first impression towards the othe competitors be ruined in just the five minutes he entered the room!

"Well well well, look what we have here. The city boy who lost in the Unova League all those years ago in the first round? Please, what makes you think you're gunna actually win a contest?" comment a snarky voice that had always angered Key since the first time he heard it. The blond turned and met face to face a petite female with mid length brunette hair, porcelain skin, wearing a simple white dress with a few frills and a side ribbon on her waist to top the look. To Key, the woman was anything BUT an angel.

"Yoona... What happened? Couldn't handle the heat of battling and admitted defeat? Didn't you say you were the top of your class in the Pokémon school?" questioned Key with a sassy sounding voice.

"I still am. I'm diverting myself by doing Contests to prove how far the studying in Pokémon school are far superior than the so called "Going on a journey unprepared" method," replied Yoona with a smug look.

"Well, I wish you good luck in the contest," responded the blonde with a voice of fake enthusiasm.

"Whatever. I don't need luck. My beauty and intellegence will easily get my this ribbon. Unlike a certain someone who will lose the first round like he did all those years ago in the League. Ta ta~!!" said Yoona at least before walking to her place of the waiting room.

Key just wave but on the inside, he wasn't nervous anymore as he was just burning in anger and muttered in his breath, "Stupid . Who does she think she is? She only made it in the top 16 in the League."

"Ladies and Gentlemen!! It's time to begin Unova's very first Pokémon Contest. We're here live in Striaton City! To kick things off here, I would like to introduce the judges here today along with a special guest judge here to help in the contest, one of Striaton's very own gym leaders, Cress!!" announces the host of the Pokémon Contest, Lildian as they crowd was shouting and cheering in complete excitement. Key looked at the television screen with a smile on his a realization, 'I can't believe instead of watching a contest, I'm going to compete in one myself!'

Soon enough the contest began as one by one, Coordinators along with their Pokémon were showing off their moves in the Appeal Round. Many had good showings, some had their plain, short, simple and sweet, while others had trouble whether is was a problem in timing an attack correctly or just their Pokémon getting nervous about showing their moves to the large audience.

"Next up on our stage it contestant numbe 19: Yoona from our very own Striaton City!!" announced Lildian as the brunette skipped into the stage with a childish smile that made the crowd "aww" over her cuteness. 

Key scoffed at the girl's "charm", "That girl knows how to be a faker."

"Now my lovely Maractus! Appear now and show everyone your beauty!" shouts Yoona as she threw her pokéball elegantly as the Maractus came out in a pose, making the audience cheer.

"Maractus, start this performance off with Cotton Spore!"

The cactus Pokémon released a series of cotton balls up and out in the open field, making everyone curious at what the trainer was planning for her appeal.

"Now use Pin Missle on them!" The Pokémon obeyed as it shot its attack on the cotton, instead of making them explode, made them into even smaller cotton, which surprised the audience.

"Use Petal Dance around the cotton!" With no thought in mind, the field was immediately covered in flower petals and cotton.

"Finally, finish it off with Sweet Scent!" Maractus shot out a pink dust across the field and ended up making all the petals and cotton sparkle.

"Incredible!! Such grace and beauty! Along with such a beautiful scent in the air! A magnificent performance indeed as Maractus must be well trained with such a fine beautiful trainer!" shouts Lildian with the crowd in a cheer. The judges ad well complemented on how well Yoona's and Maractus' performance was. Once it was finished, Yoona made her way skipping back to the back room. When she entered, she saw some of the competitors impressed by her performance. She smiled before making her way towards Key with a proud smirk on her face.

"I doubt you can compete with that! My intellegence, well trained Pokémon, and superiority is at a higher level than your pathetic Pokémon that can't even battle. I can't wait to see you crash and burn on your performance. I gotta go get ready for the next round. Obviously they'll pick me to move on. Catch you later loser~" said the brunette before walking off down in the hallway towards the dressing rooms.

Key was nearly fuming, trying hard to keep calm in order not to lose his focus, 'Stay calm Key. She's only trying to throw you off. Jus wait until you get called. You can do this. Fighting!!'

After Yoona's performance, followed some more competitors that didn't really met up to par on Yoona's performance until it was time.

"Next up on our stage is number 28: Key from the beautiful Nimbasa City!!" shouted Lildian, making the crowd cheer in excitement.

Key sighed to calm his nerves, 'Showtime!' He walked down the narrow entry way before entering the bright lights and loud roaring cheers of the stadium.

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I'm so sorry that I'm stopping it here! It just feels like the chapter will be way too long if I continue on with Key's performance and into the Contest Battles. Yes, SNSD's Yoona is Key's rival, don't judge! She was just the first person to think of as Key's rival. I promise our female protagonists will appear soon! Just wait until after Key's contest. Also, this was my first time writing the appeal stuff for contests and next time will be the first for me to write an actual battle sequence. So stay tuned for the conclusion of the Striaton Contest in the next chapter! Subscribe, thumbs up, and comment to see what you think about it so far.

Next time: Contest Time! Part II

Good night!!