Part 1
"I've caught one-hundred and twenty-six so far, how about you?" Naomi said to Becky as they approached the gates.
Beyond them, you could see hundreds of people gathering, anxiously waiting outside the convention doors to be let in for the festivities.
"One-hundred and twenty-eight," Becky said with a shit eating grin, "I caught Charizard this morning."
Naomi rolled her eyes and closed the Pokémon Go app as the attendant scanned their tickets to be let in.
Naomi had been obsessed with Pokémon since she was a little girl, so it was no surprise as the approached the gates of the convention she was dressed up as her favorite Pokémon character. Her red wig was fixed closely to cover her normal blonde hair. She wore a yellow tank top that barely reached past the bottoms of her breast, exposing all of her smooth, pale stomach. Red straps from her overall suspenders lined either side of her belly button from their attached point on her jean short shorts. She had long, smooth legs that touched down on the asphalt of the parking lot covered by her red trainers.
Becky was dressed in traditional Dothraki garb akin to Daenerys Targaryen in A Game of Thrones.
They milled about together outside the gates to the comic convention, casually exchanging between playing the game on their phone and socializing with a few other cosplayers. There were tons of women dressed as Harley Quinn, Superwoman, Dany, and various other comic book or television characters, but Naomi didn't see another Misty.
Naomi was small, only five-foot one and had a petite frame with A-cup breasts. Her gorgeous blue eyes stunned even the most calloused human being, and her body was perfectly curved in the right places, with a flat stomach, but no exposed six-pack like some of the other girls around her.
For modern society standards, Naomi was the type of girl that would be called conventionally attractive. People would often mistake her for a girly girl, someone would have been a cheerleader in high school, or a pageant queen. She had been asked if she were a model, but mostly by men trying to hit on her in a bar.
It was her little secret that she loved cosplaying. She had been doing it since she was a little girl, but only started coming to the conventions when she was eighteen. She had been numerous characters over the years, but in the wake of the success of the Pokémon game app, this year was the year she finally wanted to portray a character beloved from her childhood.
"Hey, Jamie," Becky said into her phone.
Jamie was her longtime boyfriend. They had been together for longer than Naomi could remember, but definitely at least ten years, which was a lot for someone who was only twenty-five. Meanwhile, Naomi had no interested in a committed relationship and never had. She had flings with a few guys throughout the years, but never sticking to one man for longer than a couple months.
She had even bagged a few guys from the conventions, including Batman, Superman, The Joker (it was weird night) and even Super Mario. Becky always kidded with her that she treated these events like nerd Tinder.
"Okay, love you too!" Becky hung up on the phone just as the crowd began to break into applause.
The gates were finally open and it was time to show off their cosplay outfits. Last year, Naomi had placed third in the women's contest as Queen Elsa. Although she didn't think Disney would have appreciated her slightly sluttier interpretation.
The cosplay judging would take place in the afternoon which freed the morning up to explore the various booths at the convention. They wanted to see the Game of Thrones cast (obviously), as well as several other television shows that both Naomi and Becky adored. It would be a fun morning of embracing what they loved.
It wasn't long before several Khal Drogo's appeared from the crowds to take pictures with Becky. Handsome, fit men clamored to take pictures were her more well-endowed friend, but by the time it was lunch, only one Ash Ketchum from the Pokémon franchise had volunteered to take a picture with Naomi.
However, that hadn't stopped dozens of other guys coming up to her and asking her who she was and then casually making a pass at her or a 'hot body' comment. Naomi had gotten used to the fact that the guys who were going to be assholes to her when she cosplayed were going to be the ones that came up to her. She kept reminding herself of the dozens and dozens and dozens of other guys who were just enjoying the event and not creepily hitting on her.
But being a woman at a cosplay event with her stomach exposed was going to have a downside. Becky and her just rolled their eyes at one another whenever someone would make a desperate suggestion of having a threesome with the two girls.
When the panel for the Walking Dead broke at two o'clock in the afternoon it was finally time for the event that Naomi was most excited for: Cosplay Judging.
A hundred plus people gathered in Room C where the event was being held to participate or watch the contestants adorn their finest costumes. Every year, Naomi was more and more impressed with how creative and detailed people got. Some of the costumes the guys and gals were wearing where incredibly stunning and looked like they walked straight out of the comics they were representing.
They always did the men's' competition first (the women were the real show) and to no one surprise almost a quarter of the entries were Jokers. Unceremoniously, none of them were selected to move to the final round of judging.
There was faint applause as gender-swapped Harley Quinn won first place for the men's' category, but it was quickly drowned out by the announcer, "And now for the ladies."
Each participant, of which there were roughly thirty, was given a chance to strut their stuff in front of the crowd, with judgement usually being 'by applause'. Naomi watched some really good costumes get really loud applause, and began to feel that tickle of familiar nerves when it was getting closer and closer to her turn.
When the announcer finally gestured to her, Naomi did everything she could to engage the crowd in her Misty outfit. She listened to the crowd erupt into applause and whistling, but knew right of the bat it wasn't going to be enough.
"Oh well," she shrugged as she made her way back to Becky.
"Slutty Elsa was really your finest hour," Becky retorted with a giggle, "But look, I found you a friend!"
Naomi hadn't even noticed the guy standing beside her. He was tall, dark and handsome, and dressed like another member of the Pokémon universe, the gym trainer, Brock.
"I haven't seen too many Misty's around here," he said with a casual smile, "My name is Matt, would you mind if we took a picture together?"
"Um, sure," Naomi said with a quiet giggle.
Matt was devilishly handsome. He had an infatuating smile, was taller and built, but not gigantic or burly with muscles. Naomi felt her cheeks flush as she tried to hide her obvious attraction.
Becky fumbled with the camera while Matt and Naomi stood side by side, smiling for an uncomfortable amount of time. Usually, guys would happily wrap their arms around Naomi's side to touch her bared stomach, but Matts' arm rested around her shoulder.
"Thank you for being so respectful," Naomi said.
Matt looked genuinely confused, "What do you mean?"
"It's just that usually, you know, guys touch me a little further south than you are currently," Naomi said, now sounding awkward.
"Some guys are perverts," Matt said, "I can't imagine what it must be like as a woman at these things."
