After seeing Indeedee off, Emily yawned, glanced at the dress hanging on the mannequin, and turned back to her room to sleep.
Time passed, and it was the next day.
Today was the day of Abigail's first Pokémon Contest. Unlike Gym battles, every Contest was broadcast on television.
Therefore, the townspeople had split into two groups today—one group was helping at Penny's house, while the other was currently gathered at the Pokémon Center, waiting for the Contest broadcast.
The Community Center wasn't too far from Penny's house, so Robin had asked Joy to notify her immediately when Abigail was about to appear on stage. She would then drop everything, watch Abigail's performance first, and then return to work.
As for Penny and Pam, although they were somewhat interested, like Robin, they planned to go over when it was time for her to appear.
After all, delaying the cabin by one day meant that come winter, both construction and moving would become especially troublesome.
"Gus, if you really want to go, just go watch," Robin laughed. "When you're done, you can come back and——give us a live commentary."
Gus rubbed his hands together, then brought out a pot of pumpkin soup and handed it to Penny: "Then remember to heat it up yourselves! Drink some if it gets cold. I'm going over!"
Robin smiled and waved at Gus.
It was still early—the competition wouldn't start until ten in the morning.
Gus hurriedly prepared some suitable snacks from the kitchen, such as popcorn, fries, and other treats. He also carried a bucket of beer, found several cups, and shouted to Emily nearby: "Emily, come help!"
Thinking that the dress she made would soon appear on stage, Emily was extremely nervous at this moment. Only upon hearing Gus did she react and step forward to take the cups.
"Snorlax, you're in charge of moving a few stools!" Gus added.
Having made all preparations and cut up several fruit platters, Gus led them toward the Community Center.
Caroline and Pierre were already sitting inside, as was Sam, and Sebastian nearby who wasn't very willing and was yawning.
"I stayed up all night working on my part-time job!" Sebastian yawned again. "Seriously, will me standing in front of the TV make her win the championship directly?"
Sam put his arm around Sebastian's shoulder: "But don't you think this is interesting?"
Seeing Sebastian shake his head, Sam patted his shoulder, bought two cans of Kalos cola from Joy, and handed one to Sebastian.
The Pokémon Center had never been this lively. Joy added more wood to the fireplace upon seeing this.
The shelves previously used for storing goods had been put away early. As the first townsfolk to appear on television, everything here today was worth making way for Abigail.
Seeing Gus dragging chairs over, everyone hurried forward to arrange them one by one.
Even George arrived at the Community Center in his wheelchair, urged on by Evelyn.
The farm's Pokémon had come for Gengar. The only one familiar with Abigail was Geodude from the Mines, but Amber the Gengar had lived solidly at the farm for over a month.
Indeedee had even put on the hat she had just bought from the hat mouse for this occasion.
Ron entered and greeted everyone.
The room was bustling at this moment—there was loud conversation, Pokémon playing and frolicking, and Gus distributing snacks among them.
"Eat more, I still have plenty here—want some beer?" Gus asked around with his beer barrel.
It was as if they were celebrating some special holiday on this day. Joy rested her chin on her hand watching everyone, and when Ron walked over, she smiled and greeted him.
They had been busy lately, and Ron hadn't chatted with Joy in a long time.
"How have things been lately?" Ron asked.
"Pretty good." Joy smiled and said.
The townsfolk weren't very fond of Pokémon battles, so Joy would go out into the wild with Linus every few days to pick up Pokémon injured from fighting or who had accidentally bumped into something, and bring them back for treatment.
Plus occasionally running her shop and buying small things for everyone.
She felt she had completely integrated here. Thinking this, she turned to look at the noisy crowd and the television in the center.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, audience friends at the venue! This is the live broadcast of the Pokémon Contest Cyllage Conference in the Kalos region! This conference will be held in this beautiful coastal city—Cyllage City!"
"Ah, it's starting, it's starting!" The crowd stirred. Gus immediately placed the food beside him on the table and found an empty chair to sit down.
The room quickly quieted. Haley entered at this moment—Emily had saved her a seat, so she crept in and sat beside Emily.
Staring at the glittering stage, Haley was first stunned, then hugged the Sunkern in her arms tightly.
"Sun?" Sunkern looked at Haley with confused eyes. Haley quickly stroked its leaf: "It's nothing."
"Sun." Sunkern called out again, then turned its gaze to the television.
Ron hadn't squeezed into the crowd and was currently standing against the counter. He wasn't very interested in the pre-show announcements. Just as he yawned, wondering whether to buy some food, he suddenly heard from the television——
"Before the conference begins, here's a word from our sponsor~" The host winked playfully at the camera, then said: "This conference is sponsored by Lumiose City Food Industries Limited!"
Immediately after, a series of Lumiose specialties began playing on the television.
Ron watched the television in silence.
"Lumiose specialties?" Joy paused, looking at the television confused. "I don't remember—"
"Recently produced." Ron interrupted: "Not long ago, it just became popular recently."
"I see."
Just as he finished speaking, Gus pointed at one of the images in the distance: "Ah, this one, this is it! Ron brought this back from Kalos for me! The dish I had everyone try that day was made with this!"
As soon as he finished speaking, many who had tasted that dish looked toward Ron upon hearing this.
Ron smiled awkwardly.
"Maybe once production increases, it can be sold at the Pokémon Center," he said. "But if I go to Kalos next time, I can bring some more for Gus."
"It definitely has to be on the Feast of the Winter Star!" someone said dreamily. "I can't think of anything happier than eating that dish on that day!"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone burst into laughter.
The matter of the specialty products was thus set aside.
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