The Contest for Everyone's Souls - 1

Never had the Lilycove City Contest Hall been so crowded recently. For the past few years, it had been a bit more barren than usual, especially after Super Contests became popular over in Sinnoh. There was something about that contest hall over there in Hearthome City--somehow the Super Contests there had more pizazz than the ordinary ones. Or, more likely, they just sounded cooler because they had the word "super" before them. The stupid ordinary people in this world will believe that anything is more awesome if it has a cool extra word before it, after all. But as a result of all this, hardly anybody had any reason to get excited about attending a performance at the Lilycove City Contest Hall in the lonely region of Hoenn.

But not anymore. Though Hoenn wasn't usually the best at featuring dolled-up Pokemon perform their attacks for good looks rather than powerful damage, it, like any other place, had always been a candidate for brilliant ideas. Fortunately for this forsaken continent, someone still faithful to Hoenn, someone by the name of Avatar Nixon, had such a brilliant idea. Mr. Nixon, or "Avatar Nix" as people decided to call him for widespread dislike of his last name, had previously only been mildly known as part of the International Gym Leaders' association. Hence, the crowds of people meandering into the recently refurbished hall wondered just what sort of thing Avatar Nix had up his sleeve.

Inside, the overfilled theater went wild as the spotlight followed a tall and skinny man in a tuxedo and top hat onto the stage. A mischievous smirk played across his face as he made his way over to the podium, but he broke into sheepish appreciation after a significant amount of love from the audience. By the time he got to the podium, he was almost laughing. And once he spoke, the cheers faded into silence.

"Prissies and sissies!" he proudly announced, his voice gleeful despite its depth. "I mean, ladies and gentlemen! You may be wondering, why the title of this grand event? A Union of Types? Well, some of you may know me as an influence in the International Gym Leaders' Association. As it were, I have sent an invitation to every Pokemon gym leader across the regions of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova. In fact, I bet many of you are here to see your favourite gym leaders here tonight, right?"

Much cheering from the crowd, including a group of teenage boys holding up a banner reading "YOU GO ELESA!"

"So!" Avatar Nix continued in his deep yet smoothly-toned voice, "Allow me to introduce our contestants!"

The second he said the word "contestants", the gym leaders filed onto the stage in single file, organised by the region they came from, with the Kanto gym leaders on the audience's left, and the Unova-based ones on their right. Anyone in the audience who was good at counting heads would have noticed there were nineteen in total. Which meant about half of all the gym leaders in every region were participating.

"Starting from my right, or your left!" Avatar Nix announced. "From Kanto, we have Lieutenant Surge, Electric specialist of Vermilion City; Erika, Grass specialist of Celadon City; Janine, Poison specialist of Fuchsia City; and Blaine, Fire specialist of Cinnabar Island!"
Nobody had sent out their Pokemon yet, but the gym leaders seemed confident in whatever Pokemon they were going to use in this contest. According to the program, they were supposed to be using a Pokemon that has never participated in their gym battles, leaving anyone wishing to see Jasmine's famous Steelix disappointed. Jasmine wasn't even participating anyway.

"From Johto," Avatar Nix continued, "we have Falkner, Flying specialist of Violet City; Bugsy, Bug specialist of Azalea Town; Morty, Ghost specialist of Ecruteak City; and Chuck, Fighting specialist of Cianwood City!"
Though they used very different types of Pokemon, each of the Johto gym leaders was smiling all the same--a characteristically more subtle smile in Morty's case. Chuck almost looked like he was scheming...

"From Hoenn, we have Roxanne, Rock specialist of Rustboro City; Brawly, Fighting specialist of Dewford Town; Wattson, Electric specialist of Mauville City; and Liza, Psychic specialist of Mossdeep City... Hey, where's Tate?"

"Fallen ill," the psychic dressed similarly to a tai-chi practitioner replied. "I'm a little nervous performing without my twin brother, but I can still receive his telepathic encouragement. I think the Pokemon I'll be using likes me better anyway." She finished with a little giggle, oddly uncharacteristic of her. Meanwhile, many of the young men in the audience seemed outraged that Flannery wasn't participating.

"Alright, and I'll trust you not to take advantage of said telepathic link." There was a glint in his eyes as he said this. "Moving on. From Sinnoh, we have only three participants: Gardenia, Grass specialist of Eterna City; Crasher Wake, Water specialist of Pastoria City; and Byron, Steel specialist of Canalave City!"
The three Sinnoh gym leaders meekly waved as they were introduced, as if embarrassed about the absence of a fourth participant. Crasher Wake had insisted on wearing his wrestling mask tonight; Byron insisted on carrying his shovel over his shoulder.

"And finally, from Unova, we have Lenora, Normal specialist of Nacrene City; Burgh, Bug specialist of Castelia City..."
Lots of shrill cheers from excited girls in the audience interrupted him at that point, dotted with various words of praise for this eccentric yet handsome artist. After a while, Avatar Nix succeeded at encouraging them into silence, and then continued. Bugsy was looking at his fellow bug specialist in envy and disdain all the while.

"Quiet, please, as I announce the next one. Elesa, Electric specialist of Nimbasa City..."
A few brief "YEAH" cries from the men in the audience, and even a few teenage girls aspiring to be famous models just like her, but they were silenced more quickly than before.

Avatar Nix was becoming visibly annoyed. "And Iris, Dragon specialist of Opelucid City."
The young dark-skinned girl waved enthusiastically at the audience, but they weren't cheering as loudly. Perhaps they would have preferred Clair in her place... She cast a sideways glance at Lenora, and both nodded, agreeing that the audience was racist. At least Avatar Nix was glad that his ears were safe this time.

"Thank you, you are all dismissed for now," Avatar Nix mentioned, as the gym leaders filed out of the stage area in both directions. "Except Iris."
Hearing her name, the little black girl weaved between oncoming gym leaders and emerged back onto the stage.
"Iris, you have been randomly selected as being the first to perform." Adjusting his somewhat-crooked top hat, he turned to the audience. "Now, our first event is a standard simple appeal. Iris' chosen Pokemon will perform a series of three attacks, combining them in a way that is hopefully spectacular. Iris may assist the Pokemon as needed. Now, her performance will be monitored by three judges. One of them is myself; the other two have been selected as my assistants." He sounded rather disdainful as he mentioned the two assistant judges. "Introducing Theo and Margaret."

The right side of the curtain parted, revealing a long desk with two people seated next to each other behind it. A man and a woman, decidedly more ordinary-looking than Avatar Nix, though they did wear a fancy coat or dress, respectively, made out of blue velvet.
"To be fair to each of our participants," Avatar Nix explained, "we will not display any scores until the very end of this event. We will take notes during each performance, but will not make any decisions until the end. With all that boring stuff now underway, let's welcome Iris and her Pokemon!"

He made a sweeping arm gesture over to the girl with the dragon tattoo as he stepped aside to join Theo and Margaret, sitting as far away from them as possible. The rest of the curtain opened, revealing a much bigger stage than what could be seen before. Iris walked towards the back of this stage, while retying one of the ribbons in her elaborately-styled hair. Then she took out a Pokeball and tossed it forward.

"Go, Miyuki!"

From the white swirls of energy that emanated from the opening Pokeball, a Dragonair emerged, spiraling down until she landed on the stage. There was no question as to how beautiful she was, but it was a modest sort of beauty, suggesting she didn't consider herself to be the prettiest Dragonair out there. The light crystal-blue scales covering her long and slender body gave an almost transparent look to her--indeed, she looked like the first thing she wanted to do was hide, slithering along behind her trainer the second she heard the crowd cheering. Her light and feathery ears drooped as she peeked from behind Iris' head.

'Whoa, that's a bigger crowd than I expected...' Miyuki thought as she scanned the faces in the crowd, and also those of the judges on the stage.'Why'd I have to be dragged into this anyway? I guess it's better than me showing off in a battle, anyway...'

Fortunately, Iris started off by drawing the attention for her.
"So, everyone, this is Miyuki, a Dragonair I've had for quite a while now. Forgive her shyness; she's not really used to showing herself in public. Hehheh. Well, enough with that. Miyuki, please stop hiding behind me and use the combo you worked on earlier. Try closing your eyes. Close your eyes, take a deep breath... and start off by using Dragon Dance."

Miyuki really didn't want to be here at this moment. She almost entirely tuned out to what Iris said, shutting her pretty blue eyes tight and slouching further behind her. But she did pick up on the bit about closing her eyes all the way through. Still, would that even work? She knew that the audience would still be able to see her, and making a spectacle in front of large groups of people was one of the last things she ever wanted to do. She breathed a downtrodden sigh.

The second she breathed out the final part of the sigh, she felt lots of light and papery things fall upon her: a brief peek told her that Iris was tossing snowflake-shaped confetti upon her. As soon as she saw this, she remembered that that was her cue. She had practiced this routine several times back in Opelucid City, and it started with this. There was no time to waste, or else the combo would be ruined. So by instinct, she leapt into the air and spiraled around, her scales shimmering in the spotlight. As she danced, she sent the snowflake confetti flying around her, making it appear to the audience that these were actual snowflakes falling down.

"Now use Twister!"

Technically, this isn't the best combo, because Dragon Dance powers up physical attacks and Twister does special damage. But at least it looks cool in contests. As Miyuki spun around even faster, the confetti started to fly out into the audience, where a few enthusiastic children scrambled to catch the little paper snowflakes.

"And... Dragon Rush!"

In a spectacular finish, Miyuki emerged through a hole in the centre of the tornado she had just made, flying out over the audience and then coming back around in a circle. Wait, the audience? Oh yeah, the audience was there! Yikes! Had it been there all this time? As Miyuki made her way back to Iris, she felt deeply embarrassed, refusing to turn back towards the audience. In fact, once she got back, she tapped her Pokeball with her nose, and went inside.

None of this stopped the audience from applauding, or the judges from scribbling down notes. Theo and Margaret were whispering things to each other, thing which Avatar Nix struggled to overhear, but gave up as he realised it was time to announce more stuff.

"All right, well done Iris and Miyuki," Avatar Nix announced as he walked back to the front of the stage with a microphone. "Next on my random list of events is another single appeal, this one featuring Blaine and his chosen Pokemon! Blaine, will you please make your way onto the stage."

After a minute or so of waiting, Avatar Nix resumed his position on the board of judges, making way to the quirky-looking old-ish man, having come dressed in a fancy red suit. He made his loud proclamation to the audience, adjusting his thick round spectacles as he did so.

"All right ladies and gentlemen! Are you all ready to burn this place down? Well, not literally. That's no contest. Oh wait, this is a contest. Okay, enough fooling around. That's the job of this lovely little Pokemon who will do a show for ya all! Are. You. READY?"
Much cheering from the crowd. Wow, the judges noted. Blaine sure knew how to make an entrance.

"Introducing..."
Pokeball in hand, Blaine swung his arm in a wide, dramatic arc, then tossed it skyward. The Pokeball came within inches of hitting a maintenance worker near the ceiling.
"Sorry about that!" Blaine called. "Lace!"

"BEEEEE!" On its way back down, the Pokeball opened to reveal a Magby wearing a party hat and with pink stripes painted on her tail. She landed right in Blaine's arms... but the flame on her tail caught the top of Blaine's pants on fire.

"YEEOUCH!" Blaine cried, pushing Lace away and patting his crotch to put the fire out. Lace, meanwhile, did a belly flop right into the audience, where a few people caught her and moved her back onto the stage. Once she got there, she looked behind to see where Blaine went. She could see Blaine was in quite a bit of, pain, and that he was covering his crotch with his hands while walking backstage. And what did she do?

'YIPPEE! It's my time to shine! Improvisation protocol... GO!'

She started by puckering her ducklike beak and blowing fire... right at the floor. She didn't seem to mind her own feet being scorched by the flames, not that they were seared that much anyway due to her being Fire-type. Anyway, she kept blowing fire, harder and harder, until she lifted herself into the air this way. But only for a short while--she lost her balance and fell back down again. Before she could reach the floor again, though, she blew another Flamethrower at the ground, lifting herself up once more. She kept doing this several times, bouncing all over the stage, hardly leaving any scorch marks on the floor.

"It's a good thing we invested in the fire-proof floor, no?" whispered Theo to Margaret, who nodded in agreement.

Lace's ears perked up when she heard whispering among the judges, if Magbys even had ears. Suddenly she had an idea; the edges of her beak curled into a sort of smile. Running towards the judges' table with arms wide open, she leapt up, landing right on top of the table, surprising all three judges. She grabbed the first three sheets of paper she could find on the desk, then hopped off again, scrunching them all into balls. Then she spat flames at the three paper balls, and then juggled them. The paper balls burned out pretty quickly, but in the meantime the audience oohed and ahhed at the fire juggling. Lace, in her peppy little self, was bouncing on her feet the whole time.

"Ack!" cried Margaret while the juggling was taking place. "Those were my notes about Miyuki's performance... Give them back, you!"

And with that, Margaret scampered over to where Lace had just finished her juggling. Ignoring the frantic judge, Lace pulled off her final trick, jumping up and down a couple of times and calling "Watch this!" in Magby language. Then she let loose a fireball from her beak-like mouth, which spread open into a ring, and then into the shape of a heart. This flaming heart flew right over the audience's heads before disappearing all at once in a flash of smoke... Well mostly. A few flames hit the door at the back of the audience, narrowly missing a security guard standing by.

The audience applauded, and Lace took several bows to as many sides of the audience as possible. In the middle of her bows, a red laser beam shot at her, turning her into a mass of red energy that entered a Pokeball Blaine was holding from the side of the stage. By now he had a towel wrapped around his hips as well. Looking down at the Pokeball with a mixture of embarrassment and sardonic amusement, he left to go backstage without another word... except he did peek out at the audience at one point and announced "TA-DA!" with a cheeky little wave.

Avatar Nix was already addressing the audience with microphone in hand.
"Well, Blaine, aside from the vandalism your Magby caused, that was a very... interesting... performance. Anyway, we have no time to lose. Now, we can just sit here all night while all nineteen of our participants perform single appeals. Or, we can have a different random event: a contest battle!"

The audience cheered excitedly. Meanwhile, Avatar Nix took off his wrinkled top hat, rummaging around in it.
"I will draw two random names out of this hat, and those I pick will participate in the contest battle..." Finally he withdrew two slips of paper, reading them aloud. "Lenora and Byron, would you please make your way to the stage!"

In the backstage area, a Kricketune was expectantly watching the screen, seeming impatient when the two gym leaders were announced. Bugsy sat in a chair next to him, smiling and shaking his head at the violin-shaped cricket, and taking a sideways glance over at Janine, who was polishing her Venomoth's face. Within a few seconds, the Kricketune noticed the Venomoth, his eyes glazing over with a mild sadness, his moustache drooping slightly.

"Wow Joshua," Bugsy commented, "that Venomoth sure strikes your fancy, doesn't it? Janine is certainly spending a lot of time getting her to look pretty."
The Venomoth in question turned her head towards the two upon hearing this, but immediately turned back to face Janine.

'He has no idea, does he?' the Kricketune named Joshua thought as he continued to gaze at the Venomoth. 'I had no idea a Venomoth could be so beautiful. Heck, she's prettier than the average Beautifly! Beautiflys aren't exactly my type anyway. The way her eyes sparkle... The dainty way in which she flaps her wings... What am I thinking? Am I even deserving of someone as high-class as she seems to be?'

High-class was right indeed. The Venomoth kept mouthing complaints, while a frustrated Janine applied one more coat of wax, another spray of perfume... Eventually she gave up and gave her a time-out in her Pokeball. Sighing, she sat down on the elegant pink pouf near the vanity mirror.
"For Tengu's sake," she muttered, burying her forehead in the palm of her hand, "I'm a ninja, not a cosmetologist... I certainly hope Ciara doesn't end up being rude to the judges."

'So her name is Ciara...' Joshua thought, having overheard Janine. 'What a beautiful name that is. It's almost unfitting for a Venomoth.'

-

Back on the stage, Lenora and Byron emerged on opposite sides, facing each other in preparation for battle. Byron had a satisfied grin spread widely across his face, fidgeting anxiously with the Pokeball in his hand. Lenora had a similar expression on her face, though a bit more thoughtful than Byron's. As far as Byron was concerned, this battle was going to be a piece of cake. Avatar Nix stood at the back of the stage, while two half-full appeal meters appeared on a screen above him.

"Now, the way this is going to work," Avatar Nix explained, "is that the Pokemon receive no points for simply overwhelming the other with power. Each attack must be a performance of its own. Points will be added and subtracted from the Appeal Meters shown on the screen here depending on how well each attack is performed. Are the instructions perfectly clear?"
Both gym leaders nodded simultaneously.
"All right then. Begin!"

And Byron was the first to act. Leaning against the top of his shovel with one hand, he tossed his Pokeball forward with the other.

"Show 'em what you got, Halberd!"
Out came a Bisharp. Large and powerful-looking, firmly poised upon his two boot-like feet which made metallic clunking sounds as he walked forward. A forbidding steel mask covered his face as he gazed across the battlefield. The stage lights cast sharp and bright reflections off his many newly sharpened blades. Otherwise, he looked relatively calm compared to the obviously excited Byron.

A slight look of worry came across Lenora's face, but after an affirmative nod to herself, she released her own Pokemon.
"You can do it, Russell!"

"Min... ccino?"
The cute yet tiny little Minccino belonging to Lenora seemed confident at first, straightening out the thinly-framed glasses he wore in preparation. But then when he spotted the Bisharp on the other side of the battlefield, his entire body quivered in surprise. Looking away from Halberd, Russell stepped backward, then cried out as he realised he had stepped on his own tail.

'Why does it have to be a battle?!' Russell thought as his glasses slipped off his face. 'I would've been perfectly fine with a single appeal like the previous two were, but this? I was only in battle once, and that was against a Buneary... But a Bisharp? There's just no way I can handle that...'

"What's wrong, Russell?" asked Lenora, looking down at her Minccino. "You shouldn't let that Bisharp's size or sharpness scare you. You have your secret combo, remember? You can probably knock him out in one hit! You just have to believe in yourself, that's all!"

All Russell did in response was bury his decidedly wimpy little body in the folds of Lenora's skirt.


"Eh, don't worry," Lenora added to Byron with a dismissing wave of the hand. "His glasses are purely aesthetic. He doesn't really need them."

"So are you too scared to fight or what?" Byron almost taunted, his voice deep and bold. Halberd shot a disapproving look back at him, then gazed off towards the judges' table, pondering.

After a while, Halberd looked directly at timid little Russell. If he didn't have that mask hiding the lower part of his face, one would have seen the brief smile underneath.
<"It's all right, Russell,"> Halberd reassurred in Bisharp language. <"I'll try my best not to hurt you too badly. Remember, this is a contest battle, meaning the appearance of your attacks is more important than their effectiveness. I'd actually think you have the advantage here.">
The way Russell peeked his fluffy-eared head from behind Lenora at that point was almost too cute for Halberd to bear.

Lenora, who could not understand Pokemon speak, scowled at the Bisharp's remark.
"Don't you dare go taunting my Minccino! He's frightened enough already, can't you see?"

Then she knelt down beside Russell, giving him nowhere to hide. She whispered something into the Minccino's ear, pointing at Halberd at one point. Byron's smile disappeared.
"They must be planning some sort of strategy!" Byron said to Halberd. "Quick, show 'em your Swords Dance before they can pull it off!"

Strategy? Maybe Lenora did have some sort of strategy planned out, but Russell still looked like the last thing he wanted to do was go on with this battle, or even be anywhere near Halberd. Halberd took one look over at him; Russell averted his gaze immediately, as he expected. Bowing his head, he thought about what to do now. Lenora was right, after all. He really shouldn't be bullying a frightened Minccino. True, he probably could defeat Russell with one mighty Night Slash after using Swords Dance, but what was the point if Russell didn't even put up a fight?

"Come on!" Byron complained, clearly growing impatient. "Just because you have low Speed doesn't meant you have to wait five friggin' minutes to act! This is not the time for you to go soft like this! You'll get no points from the judges if you just stand there! Gosh, this is embarrassing..."
To pass the time, Byron let out a wide-mouthed yawn.

"The battle will commence," Avatar Nix cut in, a bit perturbed by all this stalling, "or else both of you will be disqualified."

Halberd took a glance at the smartly-dressed main host of the event, then back at his trainer, and then closed his eyes for a moment. This was it, he had to do something... So, without warning, he lashed out with his bladed arms, making streaks in the air with each swing. He did this several times, so that it almost looked dance-like--though he was really just going through a bunch of fighting stances. As he did so, his blades started to look sharper. On the other side of the stage, Russell shuddered--now that Bisharp probably could slice him right in half. Meanwhile, the audience cheered, and Halberd's appeal meter augmented by a little.

<"Now it's your turn,"> Halberd told Russell, making an encouraging hand gesture. <"Come on, don't be nervous.">

'I'm not nervous...' Russell thought, gazing out at the audience. 'I've performed at the Pokemon Musical Theatre multiple times, so I don't really get stage fright... I dunno, maybe if I'm careful I can avoid being damaged, as long as I stay as far away from Halberd as possible...'

Looking everywhere except at Halberd, Russell took a few steps forward, took a deep breath...

"Chino chino min minccino ccino..."
A song echoed throughout the stage as Russell swayed about, his voice soft and calming, though a little shaky if one listened closely. After starting to sing, Russell found the courage to look at Halberd directly--the relaxing melody of his own song had calmed him down somewhat. Come to think of it, he actually felt a lot better now.

"Ack! He's using Sing!" Byron exclaimed--though not too loudly, otherwise that would be rude to the performer. "Quick Halberd, use Night Slash before you..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Halberd bowed his head, dropped to his knees, and then rolled forward on to his side, sound asleep. Byron plummeted his face into his palm. Oddly enough, nobody in the audience fell asleep--though Avatar Nix was looking a little droopy-eyed. Russell gained a few points on his appeal meter, while Halberd lost some.

"Perfect!" Lenora encouraged. "That's the way to do it! Now finish him with Wake-Up Slap!"

"Oh no!" Byron cried. "Wake-Up Slap is a Fighting attack, and Halberd's Dark/Steel-type... Come on Halberd, wake up!"

All Lenora did in response was smile. And so did Russell, though weakly, as he trotted his way over to the sleeping Bisharp. He stopped right in front of his axe-topped head, feeling less than at ease.
'This isn't right... he thought, frowning. I... Halberd was so nice to me and all, I can't just... defeat him after that.'

"What's the matter?" Lenora called out to him. "Of course your attack will work--it'll be ultra-effective, just as Byron pointed out!"

Russell bowed his head and shut his eyes tight. He had to do it. This was it, his chance to prove that he wasn't a spineless coward...

Yes. With a determined look in his eyes, Russell raised his head high, waving around his arms to loosen them up. Halberd was still snoozing before him. So with an unexpected amount of energy, Russell leapt clear over Halberd, ran toward the end of the stage, jumped up high, and slapped Byron several times across the face. Three times with his front paws, and then he turned around and whacked him with his tail. Then he bounced on the floor and did a backflip followed by a front flip, just for good measure. Several members of the audience laughed; others stood up and cheered. Russell's appeal meter skyrocketed.

"Wow!" Avatar Nix shouted above the cheering. "The timid and shy Minccino turns our expectations on their heads and shows some spunk! That was brilliant!"

All the noise finally woke Halberd up. After a look around, he nodded in approval, grabbing hold of Russell before he could react. Byron, who by now had several red marks on his face, muttered a disdainful grunt. Meanwhile, Halberd carried Russell to the front of the stage. Russell struggled to get free, but Halberd's grip on him was too firm.
<"It's okay, just trust me on this,"> Halberd reassured him. <"Do you know Swift?"> Russell gave a quick nod.
And with that, Halberd squatted down, and then flung Russell high into the air. Russell spun around and sent several stars flying; Halberd spun around as well, his blades trailing shadowy purple wisps as they slashed their way around. He did these cool-looking slashes a couple more times, and...

"SHARP!"
With a cry, he threw his arms backward, as several metallic shards materialised around him. Then he leapt into the air, the metal shards pushing him upward as he went. Having finished using Swift, Russell landed right in his arms. When Halberd landed, Russell leapt out and stood in front of him. The audience broke into applause, and both appeal meters rose in level until they were equal.

"Even more brilliant!" Avatar Nix cried, visibly ecstatic now. "What starts out as a battle between two unlikely foes, turns into a combined appeal! Wonderful teamwork!"
Halberd and Russell stood proud, all the way until they were returned to their Pokeballs. Byron and Lenora cast brief smiles at each other before walking backstage.
"That was so brilliant that it would be sacrilege to feature another random battle yet! Instead, let's get right back to the single appeals for a moment. Our next contestant is Falkner, master of birds!"

Falkner wasted no time with introductions. This blue-haired man in a kimono-like garment reminiscent of the sky got right to sending out his Pokemon.
"Let's show them your routine, Levin!"

A Tranquill who for some reason wore a little nurse's hat atop his head emerged and landed on Falkner's outstretched arm. Unlike Russell, Levin seemed to be brimming with confidence. He ruffled his feathers impatiently, wanting to get on with the routine he and Falkner had rehearsed too many times to count.

"First," Falkner announced, "show them your Quick Attack!"

After lifting his leg and rocking his arm backward like a baseball pitcher, Falkner flung a silver dollar right across the stage--right at Margaret's face, in fact. Levin jumped off Falkner's arm and made an aerial dash in the same direction, leaving a blur behind him. Margaret gave a shout of surprise, but before the oversized coin could hit her squarely in the nose, Levin rushed out in front of it and snatched it in his feet. Whipping up a whirlwind to slow his advance, he came within a foot of flying into the judges' table. Theo was already scrambling to pick up the papers that had been blown off the table.

Meanwhile, backstage...

"There," Janine sighed, gazing at her reflection in the brilliantly lit vanity mirror. "All done. You look beautiful, Ciara."

'Eh, maybe,' Ciara thought as she eyed the decidedly worthless ninja wannabe next to her. 'I still don't like the look of these stupid... What are these supposed to be, fangs? Ugh, it's no wonder many girls think bugs are disgusting. Well, at least now I look prettier than a Butterfree. But I can't wait to dazzle away my competition in this contest! Mwahahahaha.'

The Kricketune known as Joshua had his beady black eyes glued to the unexpectedly lovely Venomoth.
'Hmm, a little snooty, perhaps, but otherwise not much less than perfect. Hopefully the next time she admires herself in that mirror, she'll see my lovely reflection right next to hers. Ha! I bet I'd look like a violin-face if I stand next to her like that. Violin face! That's what she'd call me! Hahahahaha!'

"What's so funny?" Bugsy asked, having noticed Joshua snickering to himself. Joshua quickly shook his head in reply. "Oh hey, look," and here Bugsy pointed at the TV screen, "Falkner just finished his appeal."

And the crowd was... not as excited as it was before. A flustered Levin cast a disapproving stare over the audience, and a look that almost bordered on a death glare at Falkner, before going back in his Pokeball.

"Meh, kinda too similar to those bird shows you see in fairs and the like, especially with the Pokedollar-bill-retrieving act," said Avatar Nix as he walked back out with microphone in hand. "Let's get right onto another single appeal, this time starring Chuck Nor... I mean, just Chuck."

The shirtless, slightly chubby fighting master walked out onto the stage more excitedly than any of the previous gym leaders put together. Stomping his feet, flexing his muscles, and even winking at the audience... What a showoff, so many of the other gym leaders watching from backstage thought.

"ARE YOU READY FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT AND EXCITING?" Chuck boomed over the audience. "Get ready for a uniquely spectacular performance! Goooooo JP!"

Chuck actually punched his Pokeball over to the centre of the stage. When it landed, out came a Machamp. Slightly slimmer than the average Machamp, but not lacking any of his famously large muscles. JP flashed a smile at the audience and swung his four fists in excitement.

"First, you can start off by using Focus Energy!"

JP was getting pumped. Bouncing from side to side on his feet, throwing light punches into the audience as if preparing to box, and taking a couple of brief jumps of anticipation... While JP was making his first move, Chuck took a step backward and made a gesture to the beaver-toothed, pencil-necked young lad operating the sound system. As if afraid that Chuck would snap him right in two if he refused, he pressed a sequence of buttons. A shrill cry of speaker feedback made many people cover their ears. But then the entire theater started to shake as the beats burst out of the speakers.

"Are you all ready for some DISCO?" Chuck bellowed, striking a disco pose himself. "All right JP, it's time to BULK UP!"

The spotlight flashed on and off of JP, as he struck cool poses and flexed his muscles precisely to the beat. Hoo. Hah. Oh. YEAH! Much of the audience was already bouncing in their seats, and it was clear how good of a time JP was having with this. It would be hard telling who was more pompously confident: JP or Chuck. JP was catching up fast, real fast.

But Chuck was rocking out as best he could. "Yeah yeah, feel that body! Yeah yeah, groove that body! Now. Use. ATTRACT!"

Another, quicker series of muscle-tastic poses on JP's part. But the second the command was issued, and right at a crescendo in the music, he punched one of his fists proudly toward the audience, then gave a thumbs-up with one of his other hands and flashed a toothy, sparkly smile. A bunch of the girls in the audience melted in their seats; even Margaret felt quite giddy, her cheeks turning a bright pink. Meanwhile JP kept dancing and discoing, striking pose after pose of awesomeness as the song entered into its chorus.

"Macho macho man
I wanna be a macho man
A mucho macho man...
I wanna be a..."

"MACHAAAAMP!" JP finished the chorus off, singing his species name and striking four final poses. "Cha cha cha cha..." And he spun around, the lights went out momentarily...

"YEAH!" Chuck shouted. The music stopped. The spotlight lit up JP like a god. And the crowd went wild! Even the judges gave a standing ovation.

-

But while even many of the gym leaders backstage were cheering for Chuck and JP, two in particular were oblivious to it all. Instead, Lenora and Byron were in the middle of quite a sympathetic conversation.

"I humbly apologise for taunting your Minccino, for coming across as brash," Byron said to Lenora, bowing his head close to where he rested his hands on his upright shovel. "That was quite an impressive Wake-Up Slap, I must say!"

"Ehheh, I'm sorry about Russell hitting you in the face," Lenora apologised rather sheepishly. "I didn't tell him to do it--just for some reason he didn't feel like attacking your Bisharp..."

And they would never know what the real reason was. If Halberd and Russell could see each other from inside their Pokeballs, they would be thanking each other with the most heartfelt humility. Both knew that their trainers were proud.

Meanwhile, the crowd had finally died down, and Avatar Nix was ready to make another announcement.
"Wow, what a spectacular performance that was! A Machamp who knows Attract and isn't afraid to disco dance. I daresay that is the manliest Machamp I ever met. But with that aside, I just got a request from Wattson, Burgh, and Erika, saying they wanted to do a jam session! In other words, a triple appeal! Are you all excited to see just what these three have in mind?"

Much cheering from the crowd, especially with all the young ladies rooting for Burgh like before. A few of them were disappointed that he wasn't doing a single appeal... But jam sessions were always fun, right? Everyone can bring bread and spreading knives and... gah, I'm catching Blaine's bad joke disease. So within moments, the three aforementioned gym leaders filed onto the stage, standing in a line against the back row with Wattson in the middle. The first to send out their Pokemon was Burgh.

"Introducing Izzy on the guitar!" announced the almost-flamboyantly dressed bug lover, tossing forward the Pokeball with such a passion in his heart that it made the already wooing girls admire him even more. Out came a Joltik holding an electric guitar, which he immediately picked a sharp riff on using his front claw.

"Introducing Snow on the piano!" Erika was next, twirling around in her characteristically graceful manner as she released a Roserade who took a bow before walking over to the piano. He tossed a few sparkling petals upward for his little introduction.

"Aaaand," announced Wattson, "now for this band's lead singer, Randy!"
From Wattson's comparatively simply-tossed Pokeball emerged a Pikachu wearing triangular shades and holding a microphone. He looked a little on the rugged side, especially with his rather messy hair at the top, but he was no doubt the audience favourite so far, and he hadn't even done anything.

And then started the rock music. Izzy's riffs were electrifying, to say the least. One thing he did throughout the performance was spin an Electroweb above him and jump right onto it, still playing all the while. Snow didn't play the piano with his hands, as his hands were impractical for such purposes due to them being flower bouquets. Instead he managed to play it by tossing rose petals at the keys, thus becoming a unique source of awe. And Randy sang and rhymed away, though the only lyrics he could use were "Pika Pika" and the like. Occasionally he accompanied this by emitting little sparks from his cheeks, or by using Flash to create strobe light-like effects throughout the song.

At one point, Burgh walked out in front of the raised platform Randy was standing on, dropping down on one knee and holding a large bowl in his arms.
"How about some free candy!"
With that he tossed the contents of the bowl--a flurry of wrapped hard candies--into the audience. After this entire show was over and the people were heading home, they would wonder why he decided to do this, but would never get the reason. For now, several excited girls were scrambling to grab the candies, as if swearing that Burgh had kissed every one of them beforehand.

Gosh, everyone's ears would be hurting at the end of the night, with all the loud cheering following each of these great performances (except Levin's boring bird tricks). The three gym leaders and their Pokemon left the stage almost as stylishly as they had acted during the performance.

"Okay!" Avatar Nix announced, causing the crowd to fall silent. "That was a wonderful triple appeal! And now for a slightly-more-modest double appeal! Except this one was not pre-arranged. This one's random. Though, given what happened with Byron and Lenora earlier, it'll probably turn into a fight, right? Haha... Anyway, introducing..." and here he rummaged around for slips of paper in his hat again, "...Lt. Surge and Morty!"

It was an awkward pair indeed, and everyone knew it. From stage left, a big macho guy noticeably more intimidating than that Machamp from earlier, dressed in rugged army clothes. From stage right, a calm-looking young man with an overall casual appearance, but a notably distant demeanour. As the two walked toward each other, Morty extended a hand to shake. Cracking his characteristic cocky smirk, Lt. Surge gave Morty's little (compared to his) hand a good slap, then grasped it so tightly that Morty winced, and shook it so roughly that Morty's entire body shook. As Morty was too busy caressing his now-red hand, Lt. Surge was the first to make his announcement.

"All right everyone!" he beamed, a wide smile across his face now. "My pal Morty and I have something special for you all." He gave Morty a hefty pat on the back, so hard that Morty cried out in pain. There went one of his kidneys, he figured in that moment. "A tag-team appeal! Starring my pretty little spark of sunshine, Sofiya!"

He merely had to drop his Pokeball for it to open... and out popped a Shinx. Her big golden eyes were so sparkly that several members of the audience squinted. She could not keep still: she immediately crouched down and wiggled her butt as if ready to pounce on the Buneary sitting in the lap of a little girl in the front row of the audience. And probably bake it too.

When Morty saw the bright and energetic Shinx, he breathed a shameful sigh. But the show must go on, and so he sent out his own Pokemon.
"I choose you, Mana."

All at once the room grew notably darker, annoying the cute little Shinx a slight bit. Emerging from an ominous red energy swirl, backed by the eerie purple glow of the Dusk Ball he had been kept in, was a Lampent. Immediately he hovered forward, surrounding himself with purple will-o-wisps, shrouding himself in shadow. The crowd fell silent and stared in awe. Exactly as he liked it.

"Listen Mana," Morty told him, not sounding enthusiastic at all, "unfortunately this is not a single appeal, or even a contest battle. You're in a double appeal with Lt. Surge's Shinx."

Slightly annoyed himself, Mana decided to glance over at his competition--rather, his forced-to-be partner. Immediately he fell in hate with the bundle of bright happiness that was Sofiya. She was definitely not his type, and definitely not someone he'd want to be performing with. She'd ruin him with her stupid flashy lights and electricity and smiles and happiness and all that other icky stuff. Mana was revolted, to say the least. In response to Mana's negative attitude, Sofiya stuck her tongue out at him, and then uttered an oddly playful hiss, as if thinking Mana would make a delicious supper. Behind them, Morty facepalmed and Lt. Surge scratched his head in confusion.

While this silent argument dragged on on the stage, a somewhat louder argument was occurring just backstage. Avatar Nix was clearly frustrated with being dragged back here--the look he gave told his contender that his patience was growing short. Facing him was a purple-haired lady in a long, sparkly, purple dress, with a Haunter floating by her side.

"But what does you mean by I can non participate?" she pleaded, speaking with a thick French accent.

"I'm sorry, Fantina," Avatar Nix affirmed. "I've told you twice already. Because you already have a healthy reputation as a coordinator, it would be unfair to let you into the competition."

"But Terri has non participated in ze contests before!" Fantina argued. "She is newbie to zis, and so might you give her une chance!"

"That may be true," Avatar Nix stated, sounding as monotone as just before, "but your skill as a coordinator still gives you an unfair advantage. Now, if you would please leave. You are preventing me from judging this act."

With one final stare of disapproval, Fantina turned around and stormed away, smacking Avatar Nix's face with her hair as she did so. Along the way, she tripped over a wire, causing one of the lights above the stage to go out.
"Zese stupid high heels so easy to trip on..." she muttered as she got back up and returned Terri the Disappointed Haunter to her Pokeball.

When Avatar Nix resumed his position at the judges' table, he found out that he didn't miss a thing. Neither Mana nor Sofiya had moved from their positions, being involved in some sort of staring contest instead. Eventually, though, Mana had enough of this, turning away and making another circle of will-o-wisps around himself. As the spirit-infused flames danced around him, they started off glowing a faint shade of bluish-purple, but gradually grew brighter over time as the flames spun faster and faster. Finally, in one angry flash, they burst into a bright red Inferno. This great pillar of swirling fire extended almost to the ceiling and began to spread outwards. Sofiya went over and ducked under the judges' table to avoid the attack.

"C'mon, don't let that Lampent get to you!" Lt. Surge called out, clenching his fists. "Use Wild Charge!"

Emerging from under the judges' table, Sofiya prepared to pounce again, shrouding herself with electricity. She built up so much electricity that she made all her fur stand on end, making her look like a fluffy blue poodle. For some reason, this effect made the electric sparks around her turn blue as well, a beautiful cerulean blue that really got the audience's attention. And then she gave Mana an oddly endearing look... and charged.

"Quick!" Morty interjected. "Use Minimize to avoid it!"

"Now remember," Avatar Nix pointed out from the judges' table, "you two are supposed to be working together, not having your Pokemon battle each other."

"Well, it's not like Lt. Surge is giving me a choice..." Morty mumbled, about as annoyed and bored with all of this as Mana was. But Mana did obey his battle order, shrinking himself to about the size of a lightbulb. Right after he shrank himself, Sofiya came at him with her Wild Charge, only to miss him by about an inch and fall flat on her face. But she made a comeback: turning around, she gave Mana about the cutest smile she could muster, her eyes twinkling in pure love and affection, her back side wiggling side to side again. (Her fur had returned to normal by now.) Mana hovered closer, Captivated, while Sofiya walked backward to approach him. She bumped right into Mana... actually, it was worse than that. Mana ended up getting the little dull spike on his underside stuck in a hole beneath Sofiya's tail. Cursing, Mana tried to wiggle himself free, but that just made Sofiya laugh and roll about on the floor, thoroughly pleased.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Oh my god, did that just happen? Kirby! Why must you be so awkward?!)

Seeing this, Avatar Nix rushed out onto the stage and knelt down in front of the two, blocking them from view of the audience.
"Whoa whoa WHOA! Let's keep this show family friendly, all right? Meanwhile, Lt. Surge and Morty, you two are both disqualified for not only this awkwardly lewd display, but for refusing to work together on your appeals. Sorry, that's how it... Lt. Surge, I will call the police if you physically assault me."

Growling in disapproval, Lt. Surge retracted his fist. Meanwhile, Morty decided to take on the task of removing Mana from Sofiya's butt, which proved to be difficult since he had returned to normal size by now. Eventually he gave up and returned Mana to his Pokeball instead. Lt. Surge did the same, and the two walked off the stage without another word.

"Well then," Avatar Nix resumed after the newly disqualified gym leaders exited, "Let's hope the next performance isn't as... disturbing to watch as this last one. This next event is not a double, but a triple appeal! I already picked out the contestants: Bugsy, Brawly, and Gardenia! Come on out, you three!"

A bug catcher, a surfer dude, and a plant specialist... within moments, the three were standing in a line across the stage. Gardenia looked a slight bit worried, but other than that nobody seemed to hate each other. Yet. In fact, Gardenia was inviting the other two to send out their Pokemon first. Bugsy and Brawly played a quick game of rock-paper-scissors to see who would go first, but they ended up in a tie three times. An annoyed Gardenia told them to just send their Pokemon out at the same time, which they had to agree to...
"Come on out, Joshua!" said Bugsy.
"You can do it, Sigmund!" said Brawly.

And out came a Kricketune and a Mienshao. The two looked at each other and nodded in approval. Joshua, in fact, was already whispering an idea to Sigmund. Whatever it was, Sigmund liked the thought.

"Oh cool, a Kricketune," Gardenia commented. "Could you do me a favour and have him knock my Pokemon out if he misbehaves? One X-Scissor should do the trick."
Knock a teammate out? Was Gardenia crazy?
"Uh... okay, I guess..." Bugsy replied. Joshua had an equally uncertain expression on his face.
"Okay then," Gardenia affirmed as she took out a Pokeball. "Go, Shinai!"

The Pokemon Gardenia sent out got much more crowd approval than Joshua or Sigmund. Why? Because he was a Serperior. He was both larger and prettier than the other two, though the way he stuck his nose upward and refused to smile made him come across as somewhat of a jerk to them. Shinai certainly looked like he didn't want anything to do with either of them. But how would he misbehave, exactly?

Ignoring the other two Pokemon, Shinai slithered forward and whipped up some leaves, spinning around and making a tornado. Then he leapt vertically out of his own tornado, and with his leafy tail he slashed clear across it, cutting several of the leaves in half. The crowd seemed pleased, but Avatar Nix clearly wasn't.

"Hehheh, wow," Gardenia muttered, rubbing the back of her head. "He used his well-rehearsed Leaf Tornado and Leaf Blade combo without me even telling him to." Bugsy and Brawly were giving her weird looks. "What? How would I have known there'd be random triple appeals in this competition? Um, why don't you try working your appeals around him then? He generally acts distantly from others..."

"We noticed," Bugsy and Brawly droned in unison.

Hearing Gardenia's advice, Joshua and Sigmund stood next to each other, waiting to see what Shinai would do next, preparing to use their attacks in such a way that would look good alongside whatever the apathetic and slightly egotistical Serperior did. Joshua was tentatively preparing to use X-Scissor, figuring he could use it to cut down any leaves Shinai summoned. Sigmund decided to use Calm Mind in the meantime.

After a brief glance at the two inferior Pokemon behind him, Shinai made his move. Raising his nose skyward, he summoned a glowing green sphere right above it, using energy drawn from each and every one of his emerald-green scales. When the ball was of sufficient size, he leaped upward and Coiled his way around it. The way his body glowed with the light of the Energy Ball made the audience ooh and ahh.

And then Joshua and Sigmund reacted. Darting underneath Shinai, Joshua crossed his knife-like forearms and ran forward. When he stopped, wisps of energy came off his criss-crossed blades in the shape of an X. At the same time, Sigmund jumped up high, leaping right over Shinai, and performing a spin kick in the air. As he fell, he looked like he was going to land right on his back, but Joshua held out his arms to catch him. Except he failed to realise that Sigmund was heavier than him, thus fell onto his own back upon catching him. Hearing Joshua groan from the impact, Sigmund sheepishly stepped aside, while a slightly dizzy Joshua stood up and waved his arms, as if to say "I'm OK!"

Meanwhile, Shinai had finished his appeal and was about to land, when he noticed the two inferior Pokemon on the floor in front of him.
'Urrgh, those clowns are trying to show me up. What pests. Ah, looky there...'

Having spotted something in the audience, Shinai sent a huge flurry of leaves flying behind him, propelling himself forward into the audience. As he got closer to the front row, he opened his mouth, revealing his serpentine fangs. Fangs which sank right into the aforementioned Buneary sitting on a little girl's lap. Satisfied, Shinai lifted the Buneary high, not swallowing it whole, but sucking on it.
'Mmm, Buneary blood, what a delicacy. Why bake Bunearys when you can suck them dry?'

Back on the stage, Gardenia gave a cry of shock. Her hand shaking and her legs giving out beneath her, she ran towards the front of the stage, Pokeball in hand... but tripped over Sigmund's tail. Luckily, when Gardenia fell, the Pokeball rolled out of her hand and opened, pulling Shinai inside it. A wounded Buneary lay next to the Pokeball.

"DISQUALIFIED! DISQUALIFIED!" Avatar Nix shouted, waving his skinny arms as he made his way over to the Buneary. "I will NOT tolerate such cruelty. Security, kindly escort Gardenia to the police station, and call in the Nurse Joy to tend to this Buneary. Urrgh, these gym leaders have such sick and twisted Pokemon..." Then, with an unexpectedly sugar-coated smile, he addressed the audience. "But, at least Joshua and Sigmund put on a good show, didn't they?"

The audience applauded, while Joshua linked his bladed forearm with Sigmund's overgrown hand fur. The two shook hands, and did a high-five with their other hands. Sigmund winced and withdrew his other hand; slaps from Kricketune hands were painful. A sweatdrop crept down Joshua's neck as he went back inside his Pokeball, and as Sigmund did the same.