Costume Party of Epicness

I was in front of my computer in my house the other night organizing some picture I took recently. Inside one of the picture I was posing with another guy that oddly looks like me. In terms of clothing, face, etc… Who is he? How come he looks like me so much? And what was I doing showing up in that picture?

It was because I attended that boy's costume party in his trainer school. That boy's name was Alex. He looks oddly likes me in his face and he actually decided to dress up like me in this costume party. How did Alex manage to get me involved? That was a long story… I had to retrace this all the way back to 4 days ago…

* * * * *

Outside of Eurasia Plaza, Goldenrod City
Jun. 12, 2011 2:26 PM

I just walked out from Eurasia Plaza when a boy suddenly walked toward me and asked, "Mr. Cheng, can I take a picture of you?"

"Sure," I said as I posed and let the boy take the picture.

The boy took the picture and reviewed the picture in his digital camera. He started smiling and grumbled, "Great, now I finally have a reference for my costume…"

"What costume?" I asked.

"It was for a costume party that is about to held tonight," said the boy, "Students dress up like some of the most famous trainer all around the world and we will have a contest for that."

"That was interesting." I said with a wondering face.

"And people usually dress up like Gym Leaders, Champions, Elite Fours, even Villain Team Leaders and some other famous trainers like you," said the boy.

"And you decided to dress up like me." I said, "I really have to admit you are the perfect guy for dressing up like me… because you look like me a lot."

"That's the reason why some of my classmate wanted me to dress like you, Mr. Cheng."

At that time a feeling of interest suddenly popped in my mind. Since I didn't have anything to do that day, so I said, "How about I help you with your costume?"

"Really?" the boy widened his eye as he exclaimed.

"Really," I said, "I really want to get myself involved in this too. Since we already met each other, I think I should give you a hand to impress your partners. What is your name?"

"Alex. Thank you so much for your help, Mr. Cheng."

"No problem, Alex." I replied, "You know what? Just call me Max."

Alex's House, Goldenrod City
Jun. 12, 2011 2: 51 PM

-Alex's POV-

My house is actually a high-rise in Downtown Goldenrod near Eurasia Plaza. Max and I went to some stores and brought some supplies for my costume. As soon as we entered our condo, my mom came out from her room to see us.

"Mom, I'm home!" I shouted.

"Welcome home, honey!"

"Mom, I want you to meet Max." I said.

"Alex, is he a stranger or…" Mom hesitated and gasped in disbelieve.

"Are you really Max Cheng?"

"I am, madam," said Max, "I'm here to help Alex with his costume."

My mom was speechless seeing Max in our house. Of course, who would ever think to have a famous trainer like Max in your house so sudden?

We started working on the costume after some admiration from my mom. I really have to admit that working with Max made my job much faster and easier. Since Max is the one I'm dressing up to, having Max right next to me really helped me to understand his clothing. I'll bet tonight I can shock the entire school with my perfect costume.

-Max's POV-

We finished the work around 5:30 and I helped Alex put up the costume. It looked perfect compared to mine. I let Alex stand next to me in front of a mirror.

"Don't we look like twins?" Alex asked.

"Precisely." I replied.

Alex then turned to me. "Thanks for the help, Max." Alex said.

"No problem," I said with a smile while I took out a Poké Ball from my pocket, "Like Mythbusters said, 'If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing.' So I'm going to lend you one of my Pokémon to make you look even more like me." I handed that Poké Ball to Alex.

"Really, who is that inside?" Alex asked.

I chuckled as I whispered the name of the Pokémon I handed to Alex. Alex jumped by surprise and rushed out with that Poké Ball and the replica of my bag. I followed him and headed toward Alex's school.

Trainer Academy of Goldenrod, Goldenrod City
Jun. 12, 2011 6:30 PM

Trainer Academy of Goldenrod is a local trainer school Alex attends. As I entered the school, I saw a big banner that hangs on top of the door that reads "Academy Costume Party." Students with different costumes of different trainers gathered together here. Just because of that, people hardly recognize that the real Max Cheng was inside the campus since there were some students dress up like me. I walked to the ticketing booth for the costume contest. At first, the clerk thought I was a student who dressed up. But as soon as she asked for my Trainer Card and looked at it. She gave me a unbelievable look.

"You are the real Max Cheng?" the clerk asked.

"I am," I replied.

"I'm so sorry that I misrecognized you as other student," said the clerk.

"It's alright, it happens," I said laughing.

After a dinner provided by the school, I entered the auditorium along with other students who weren't dressing up that night. The auditorium was quite small for the academy and there're only about 200 students inside waiting for the show. I sat on the last row of the auditorium and waited for the show to start.

-Alex's POV-

This costume gave me a lot of attention as soon as I entered the school. People keep giving me an unbelievable look. Some of my friends envy my costume and they kept asking, "Where did you get this outfit?"

My answer was always the same, "I made it with some help."

Even during the dinner, other students who sat around me looked at my costume and started discussing among themselves. I overheard one of the group conversations and figured out that they were trying to compare my outfit to others who dressed up like Max like I did. I felt so proud myself at that time.

I reported to the back stage of the auditorium after dinner and got ready for the show. I can still remember the comment one of the staff gave me when he saw me: "You look like twins with the real Max!" I started laughing in my mind as soon as I heard that. Other students in the back stage also stared at me competitively since it's going to be a contest.

One of the kids who dressed up like Green Oak came to me and said, "You better look out, kid, your stupid face might look like the real Max, but you can't beat me in this contest!"

"We'll see." I said as I walked away from him.

That kid's name was Phil, a senior of the school. He was the most popular kid in the school and he was the strongest Trainer in this school. Other people around here feared his power. He won this contest 3 times in a row, and no one had yet dared to challenge him in this contest. Until now.

Auditorium of Trainer Academy
Jun. 12, 2011 7:00 PM

-Max's POV-

7 o'clock, I thought, the show should be starting anytime.

The light of the auditorium turned dim as the principal walked up the stage.

"Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen," said the principal, "It is our tradition to have this costume contest every year to give students a chance to become one of their favorite trainers. Tonight, the annual Academy Costume Party starts now!"

The audience applauded after the principal finished the speech and he walked down the stage.

During the show, there are a lot of students came out and tried to act like the real person. Example, a girl who dressed up like Janine tried mimic Janine's ninja skills, a boy dressed up like Lance rode on his own Dragonite flying around, shouting he is the Pokémon League Champion, I still remember that a fat kid who dressed up like Chuck tried to lift a dumbbell with single hand but tripped and fall on the stage that made everyone of us laugh.

"Next up, we have the winner of this contest last year, Phil, to give us a mimic show of Green, the Viridian City Gym Leader!"

Suddenly my mind flashed up a statement Alex made on our way here:

"There is a kid named Phil who had won this contest 3 times. He is the must popular kid in the school and he is the strongest trainer in the school. Because of that, he always tries to boss other student around and no one dares to challenge him… Not only students, some of the teachers are no match against him."

So that kid came up next, huh? I thought, Let's see what can that kid do to make me impress.

Phil walked up the stage with Green's outfit on him. He started the show with some of the Green's quote with a very similar accent with Green. He act liked him, he sound like him, he even showed his own Pidgeot and acted like it was Green's.

I sat on my seat and carefully look at Phil. I actually have a very impressive feeling toward him. He really acted like Green and sounded like Green. Unfortunately, he doesn't really look like Green, except his outfit. His show earned a lot of cheers from the audience after he finished. From the cheer I can see a lot of kid likes Phil's performance.

"Next up, we have a new contestant, Alex, who is going to mimic the CEO of Eurasia Airlines, Max Cheng!"

As soon as I heard that, I actually started sitting up and my heart raced. C'mon, Alex! I thought, Show us what you can do!

-Alex's POV-

I walked out to the stage as the audience was cheering. My heart was racing because I was very nervous. But I managed to clam myself and started the performance.

"Hallo, everyone! I'm Max, the CEO of Eurasia Airlines."

I started with the same accent Max has and it earned some cheers from the audience.

"I'm so thankful to be here, ya know. And tonight I'm going to give you a surprise!"

I said as I took out the Poké Ball Max gave me and tossed it out.

"William, cleared to engage!" I shouted as William showed up.

The audience suddenly gasped and start cheering when they saw William because they didn't expect I have a Mewtwo with me in this performance. I command William to use several moves Max's way and those moves really entertained the audience. When I finished my performance, the audience stood up and cheer, applaud like crazy instantly.

Oh yeah! I thought with a grin, This time no one can beat me!

<Later…>

"Now we are going to declare the winner of this contest based on the votes of the audience!" said the announcer. The principal and other administrations stood next to the announcer and the principal was holding a trophy.

Every contestant and I stood in a line facing to audience as the results were revealed. My heart rate increased and shivering, hoping to win the contest.

"The winner is… Alex, who dressed up as Max Cheng!"

I instantly started jumping as I ran to the announcer as the audience cheered for me. I walked to the principal and he handed me the trophy. The announcer wanted me to speak something with the trophy. I nodded and took the microphone from the announcer.

"First, I wanted to thank you for your support to help me get this reward. I am really happy to be here to join this contest." I said and the audience cheered. "I can't actually do all this alone. I actually have a help from someone special." I said, "It was the real Max Cheng! Max, are you somewhere in the audience? Can you come up and say something?"

Max ran toward the stage as the spot light shine on him and audience cheered.

Courtyard of the Trainer Academy, Goldenrod City
Jun. 12, 2011 8:14 PM

After I returned William's Poké Ball to Max, I walked toward home when several kids walked toward me. I looked closely and their leader was Phil.

"Hey, you! How dare you took away my trophy and won this contest? Who said you can do that?" shouted Phil and other students around us started gathering and looked at us.

"It was a fair contest and I won." I said.

"You called in Max to help and it was cheating!" Phil shouted, "Now let us teach you the consequences of messing with me…" Phil and several other kids send out their Pokémon and they surrounded me. By golly, they had Ursaring, Quagsire, Donphon, Weezing, and other strong Pokémon. Phil even sent out his Pidgeot.

All I can do was sent out my dear little Pikachu to engage them.

"Now we will teach you a lesson for take away my victory!" Phil made an evil laugh, "Pidgeot…"

Suddenly a ball of ice and electricity crashed on Pidgeot. Pidgeot fall on the ground and fainted.

"What the heck was that!?" Phil shouted as we all looked toward that Pokémon. It was a Kyruem, the Legendary Pokémon from Unova region.

"If you think you can corner fight him like that, you gotta fight ME!"

Phil and I turned toward the voice and it was Max.

-Max's POV-

I ran into the circle as the audience around us cheered.

"Max! You are here!" Alex shouted.

"Stay back, let me handle this." I said. Alex stood back while I face Phil alone.

"Who do you think you are?" Phil shouted.

"I'm Max Cheng of Eurasia Airlines! How dare you bully him like that!?" I shouted back.

"Humph, he took away my trophy and I want to teach him a lesson!" He shouted as he pointed at me. His partner's Pokémon started charge at me. "No matter how strong you are, we are strong in number!"

"I don't think so. Kyler, Outrage!"

Kyler roared and shot out countless of orbs toward Phil's partner's Pokémon, creating a huge explosion. When the smoke cleared, they all fainted.

Phil started shivering while his partners ran away.

"Now get lost and don't ever think about bully anyone here again!" I shouted.

Phil ran away and the audience cheered at us.

"Max, how did you know we were in danger of Phil?" Alex asked with his Pikachu on his shoulder.

"I heard Phil's shouting from not far away and I rushed here." I replied, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," said Alex, "You are so strong!"

"They don't call me Hoenn Champion for nothing, Alex."

"Can I train with you? Please?" Alex begged.

I laughed. "Of course! Come here sometime and we can get started."

Alex jumped in excitement. We waved at each other as we separated.

* * * * *

After that, Alex told me that Phil was no longer the most popular kid in school in the next day. Instead Alex's reputation took off after the contest and he became the most popular kid in school. Alex started to visit me once a while for some training. I helped Alex strengthen his Pokémon and he made a huge progress.

My assistant walked into my office while I continued organizing the pictures.

"Mr. Cheng, Alex is here."

"Okay, I'll be there." I said as I stood up and walked toward the door to meet Alex down stairs.