Harley took out his Poké Balls and handed his Cacturne and Banette over to Jessie.
At the same time, Jessie and James handed Meowth over to Harley.
However, saying they "handed" him over was not quite right, because Meowth had a grin on his face and walked over to Harley's side on his own.
The deal was going smoothly, but Harley still stayed cautious. He knew these people had tricked him before, and he did not want Meowth slipping away. So he found a rope, tied Meowth up tightly, and kept one end of the rope in his own hand.
After that, both sides nodded in satisfaction.
"Well then, I look forward to your performance tomorrow morning."
"Don't worry, leave it to us! I promise I'll defeat May!"
Jessie made that confident promise, and Harley trusted his Pokémon enough to feel satisfied. He waved at Jessie, did not linger any longer, and led Meowth away.
Jessie and James watched him leave. Jessie held the two Poké Balls in her hands, and the two of them looked at each other before bursting into laughter.
Jessie chuckled. "We didn't even do anything, and we got two Pokémon out of it. Today really is our lucky day!"
"That's right," James said with a laugh. "And these are that idiot's main Pokémon. I didn't think it would be this easy to get them. What a bargain! Oh, right, what about Meowth?"
"Don't worry. I already talked to him. He'll find a chance to escape on his own!"
"Are we still entering the Contest?"
"Of course we are." Jessie flashed her usual ambitious grin. "With a chance like this, I have to use these two Pokémon to win the Contest first! Then I'll run off with them and present them to the Boss!"
After Harley's deal with Team Rocket was done, Natsui and May left the main entrance of the Mulberry Contest Hall and headed toward a large open area nearby.
They had already registered for the Contest and checked out the stage. Now all that remained was practice.
The open area was packed. Many Trainers were already there practicing with their Pokémon, and there was barely any room left. Natsui and May walked around for quite a while before finally finding a quieter spot with no one nearby.
Because there were so many contestants this time, May felt a lot of pressure. Instead of using a newer Pokémon like Eevee or Squirtle, she carefully sent out Combusken.
Deep down, she still trusted her first Pokémon the most.
Natsui pulled over a chair, sat down, and watched May practice. After a while, he shook his head. He could tell that something was off.
Her state of mind was not stable.
After seeing Harley earlier and realizing how many contestants had gathered here, May had started making mistakes she normally would never make with Combusken.
This was only practice. But if she performed like that in the actual Contest tomorrow, things could go very badly.
"Stop for a moment..."
Natsui raised a hand, stopped May's practice, and called her over.
May already knew something was wrong with her focus, so she gave him an embarrassed smile.
"Relax. Don't let those people get to you." Natsui tried to calm her down with a few simple words. "Think about it carefully. If those people were really that strong, they would already have five Ribbons like Harley. The reason they're all here is because they weren't good enough to get them earlier. As long as you get through the first round, I believe you can beat any of them."
Natsui really was good at calming people down.
If Ash had been there, he probably would have just encouraged her loudly. But Natsui approached the problem from another angle, and that helped May settle down much faster.
It was true. Most of the contestants here were people who had already failed elsewhere. Only a few, like May, were here because of unusual circumstances.
They had already lost before, so there was no reason for her to be afraid of them.
After thinking it through, May gradually relaxed. The tension in her hands and legs disappeared.
"Thank you, Natsui. I feel much better now."
May took a deep breath, returned to the grass with Combusken, and resumed practicing. This time, she made no mistakes at all. Everything flowed smoothly, and she finally returned to the best state she usually had in Contests.
Because both of them were focused, the practice time passed very quickly. By the time May finished, the sky was already completely dark.
They returned to the Pokémon Center, rested for the night, and the Mulberry Contest began the next morning as scheduled.
People poured into the Contest Hall from all directions.
Natsui followed the crowd and took his seat in the audience.
Lilian was the host again, and the judges were the same familiar three as always.
That same group would probably appear at the Grand Festival too.
No one had any complaints about that. The host and judges were all experienced and professional. If they suddenly changed them, it would probably feel strange.
Lilian gave her lively opening speech, and then the Contest officially began.
At that moment, people could really see just how many contestants there were. Natsui had been right. Even though the venue itself was not very large, the number of participants rivaled that of a major city.
And the skill level among them varied wildly.
Not everyone there was strong enough to win. Many of the contestants had entered Contest after Contest without ever earning a Ribbon, yet they kept coming because they still had a dream.
Because this was the final Contest before the Grand Festival, the level of the field felt especially uneven. The strong contestants performed brilliantly and received high scores. The weaker ones made obvious mistakes. The audience laughed sometimes and sighed at others.
Contestants kept coming onto the stage and leaving it, one after another, and the entire atmosphere became more and more heated.
Then it was finally May's turn.
Just like in practice, May used Combusken for her Appeal.
Now that her mindset had been corrected, May performed beautifully. She stood on stage with complete confidence.
She caught every Frisbee perfectly, showing off Combusken's precision and skill. Then Combusken used Fire Spin to create a large fiery vortex on the stage, turning the performance into something bright and dramatic. At the end, it leaped out of the flames and into the air, creating a strong finish.
The audience responded with loud applause.
The crowd clearly liked Combusken's Appeal. Cheers and applause filled the hall.
The audience was thrilled, but Harley was not. Sitting in the stands, he looked darker and darker by the second.
He had not expected May to perform so well today.
That kind of performance would have scored highly even in the Grand Festival. Compared to the other contestants, she was in a completely different class.
Harley was furious. He clenched his fists tightly.
He could not understand why this was happening.
He had expected May to be nervous in this situation.
Instead, she had performed even better than usual.
Now Harley could only place his hopes on Jessie. He wanted her to use his Pokémon to eliminate May.
At the same time, Harley was confused about Team Rocket. He had already made a deal with them. James had promised to sabotage May during the Contest. But so far, nothing had happened.
He wondered if they had forgotten that he still had a hostage.
That uncertainty kept gnawing at him.
At that same time, something else was happening in a warehouse not far from the Contest Hall.
Meowth was tied tightly to a pillar, while Harley's Ariados sat on a web in front of him, watching him carefully.
Harley had tied Meowth up and brought him there the day before. Ever since then, Meowth had been waiting for the right moment to escape.
The timing of the escape was everything.
If he escaped too early, Harley would notice and go after Jessie and James, ruining their plan to keep Cacturne and Banette.
If he escaped too late, Harley would realize Jessie was not following the plan and would head over to interfere anyway.
So the timing had to be perfect.
Meowth already knew he could escape.
He was the smartest member of Team Rocket, and he felt Harley had seriously underestimated him.
Even though Meowth looked relaxed, his sharp claws were already out behind his back.
Then he heard the distant cheers from the Contest Hall.
Meowth knew immediately that the time had come.
He gave a whistle toward the warehouse entrance. A moment later, a sound came from the door.
Ariados lowered itself from its web and turned to look.
The warehouse door slowly opened, and a blue Wobbuffet peeked inside.
"Wobbuffet!"
Wobbuffet gave Ariados its usual silly smile and rubbed the back of its head, doing absolutely nothing else.
Ariados stared at it in confusion.
Something felt wrong.
It wanted to drive the intruder away, but then it heard a sound behind it.
Ariados spun around immediately. Meowth had already freed himself from the rope. With claws out, he was right in front of Ariados.
Meowth had been careful and silent the entire time.
Now that Ariados saw him, it was already too late.
Meowth slashed Ariados with his claws, knocking it down. He did not stay to attack again. He and Wobbuffet turned and ran immediately.
Ariados got back up and rushed outside, but they were already gone.
Harley, of course, knew nothing about what had happened in the warehouse. He was still sitting in the Contest Hall, waiting for Jessie to appear with his Pokémon.
May left the stage. Ten more contestants performed after her, and then it was finally Jessie's turn.
Harley immediately sat up straight and fixed his eyes on the stage.
He was holding his breath.
"Sorry to keep you waiting! Welcome to the grand stage of the world's super idol, the fairy Jessebella!"
Jessie stepped onto the stage and waved at the audience. She wore a butterfly mask, a long red dress, and white gloves. She looked every bit like a queen.
Compared to the other Coordinators, who mostly wore ordinary performance outfits, Jessie stood out immediately. The audience was instantly intrigued.
They had no idea who Jessebella was, but her confidence and appearance made it easy to believe she was some famous idol.
When Harley first met Jessie, he had believed it too.
Natsui was the only one in the audience who did not react much. He clapped lightly, but his face stayed almost blank.
He already knew Jessie's real identity, so all he felt was helplessness.
He honestly did not understand why she was even here when Ash was nowhere around.
It seemed that right now, the stage mattered more to her than Pikachu.
Even so, Natsui knew Jessie would probably cause trouble sooner or later. That made the Contest much harder to predict.
Still, he applauded anyway. Whatever else she was, Jessie really did have talent when it came to performing on stage.
Then Jessie released her Pokémon.
It was not one of her own.
It was Harley's Cacturne.
Natsui recognized Cacturne immediately.
Since both Jessie and Harley were here, it did not take much thought for him to figure out that the two of them had reached some kind of deal.
He could guess Jessie's goal easily enough. She wanted to win the Contest and take the Ribbon.
And Harley?
Harley only wanted one thing.
May.