[PKMN FULL] The International Idol Star Festival/Tournament! [T]

All players have been relocated to the Hearthome Contest Hall.​

"I will take this time to remind you that this competition will be a challenge. There will be stress, there will be tears. And hopefully not blood this time around... But! In the face of failure, and only in the face of failure, will you, as coordinators, thrive! Will your strengths flourish and branch off like beautiful flowers, accentuating your contest presence and dazzling and enrapturing all! See, the IIS can be described as a test, but it is a meaningful one, whether you win or lose, because of what you are bound to learn and thusly improve from! And, as I explained so thoroughly before, it is a greatly enjoyable experience. Though I cannot guarantee this year's champion at this very moment, I can guarantee that you will all, in your own way, have fun here!"

-------Juan Valencia paused, licked his lips. There seemed not much else to say after only thirty minutes of speaking freely. Thus he withdrew a manila envelope from the pocket of his coat and explanatorily announced, "To conclude our brief time here, I'll read from a very thoughtful letter addressed to all of you young... well I suppose that's no longer the case... coordinators from our latest winner: Seraphina Harowitz! What a marvel, that girl. Here is what she says:

-------"Dear coordinators,

-------Congratulations, to all of you! It already says a lot about your capabilities as coordinators if you've been chosen. Though there can only be one winner, you all have your individual strengths, so play to them! The competition will go by fast—take it from me—so take smart advantage of your time and have a blast! And, hey, sometimes the IIS will seem impossibly hard and you won't know which way you're supposed to go. Just remember, deep inside, you know you're strong; you can power through! And, honestly, if you just follow your heart, you really can't be wrong!

-------So be brave and hold on! Complete the quest that you've begun!

Signed,
Sera, Mira and Pyra​

-------"...and that's all there is," Juan ended, almost glumly. The letter, essentially, had effectively condensed his own long-winded speech, though he cared not to admit it. He paused again, swallowed, fussed about with his collar.

-------There was yet another moment of silence that the coordinators just beneath the stage were required to sit through while the host gathered what next to say. It was another reminder of how non-instantaneous the entire process had been for them so far. There had been a lot of excuses made, a lot of time dissipated while dragging everyone to Hearthome through Sinnoh's lackluster flight system. The homespun city was big but became abhorrently boring when one had to entertain themselves whilst anticipating something else for nearly a week. But, finally, finally, they'd be contacted and rounded up north to Hearthome's famous, stadium-sized auditorium where they all sat, reclined back, in the front row now.

-------Still, there was yet more waiting, as Juan seemed determined to fashion his own studded conclusion to add on top of the letter. Miraculously, he decided otherwise, having a wordless exchange with a stagehand to the side. The man tapped their wrist and Juan responded by exhaling thoroughly from his nose.

-------He eventually re-addressed them all: "Well, I suppose we've all been kept waiting long enough, haven't we? I've already introduced myself to you, but here come the judges—"

-------His words were suddenly interjected by a powerful SNAP! as a pair of Pokemon practically popped into existence center-stage. An Umbreon had leapt from the indiscernible state of Feint Attack, landing quite dazed afterwards, as an accompanying Kecleon released a magnificent Shock Wave upon their appearance at close range, explaining both the thunderous noise and Abel the Umbreon's look of terror. Dimitri—that Kecleon—, meanwhile, looked positively impressed with himself. He posed with a Snarl that near demanded respect and bared his reptilian claws, like a Tyrantrum, his Black Glasses cooly tilted down onto his snout. Behind him, his coordinator appeared as well, striding over the smoldered wood of the stage. His light brown hair was primly styled, his white suit perfectly maintenanced. The coolness judge, Jasper, had arrived and seemed despicably smug at the scene he'd managed to create.

-------"Looks like Juan came prepared this year, everyone!" he sarcastically declared. "All this talking and nothing else! And you act like you've never seen a Shock Wave either!" Kecleon cackled wildly at this and sprang onto McRae's shoulder. "Seriously, Juan, it's like you think you're a Water-type yourself, you nut!"

-------The host was not impressed. "You should turn your attention towards the people you'd be in the right for criticizing, Gasparre. I'll also remind you now that we have had plenty of coolness judges before yourself that'd be very honored, I'm sure, to take your place in case it ever becomes too much."

-------"Shut up," Jasper snarled. "You're not getting rid of me." He recalled his Umbreon.

-------"Unfortunately. You're as persistent as a stain."

-------"None of those older, crankier excuses for other judges know anything about 'cool'," McCrae continued, lighter, laughing at Juan's analogy. "I'm a master at what I do." He turned to address the competitors now. "The greatest around. It'll take a lot to impress me, probably better than whatever's your 'best effort' right now. So, try your hardest, I guess, but I can tell just by looking at some at you... you need to up your game, asap." And with a dark, parting glint in his eye, Jasper departed from center-stage to stand at Juan's side, sneering wildly. His sniggering Kecleon snatched the poor host's frilled collar in a single swipe as the duo settled.

-------Juan could only retort with a weary sigh. He made no vain attempt to get it returned from master thief Dimitri.

-------Ominously, a shadow had appeared in Jordan's wake, in the very middle of the stage. What could it--BANG! Juan flinched and Jasper jumped as Kumo the Buneary descended powerfully from his airborne Bounce attack. The impact was soon forgotten, however, as the small, curly-furred creature stumbled with purposeful, cutesy clumsiness, dropping a Premium Ball from one of his ears and charmingly putting a paw up to his mouth as if to say, Oops! Out, then, popped Rai-Rai. Dressed in a cute, pink skirt-and-bow ensemble, the Pikachu blew a magical Draining Kiss out towards the seven audience members as a vibrant heart seal flared up all around her. The brief display ended with both her and Buneary striking a pose similar to their coordinator who came clunking forward in square-heeled shoes with a basket of glitter perched in one arm. Keira put one arm on her hip, another flipped upwards, its hand forming a peace sign over her right eye; the Pokemon mimicked this as best they could, obviously omitting the sign but practically nailing all else. The pose was hardly held for a half-second by Rai-Rai the Pikachu as she immediately relaxed and flopped down prissily by her Pokeball as if what they'd done had sapped all of her energy. Kumo rolled his eyes.

-------"Alright! Woo!" Keira became her own approvation, scattering glitter from her handbasket everywhere, to Rai-Rai's dismay, and soon Gasparre's, as Keira, without animosity--none at all--, tossed a handful of glitter towards him and Juan purposefully and it rained down all over the former's vanilla-colored suit.

-------Immediately, Jasper was ablaze. "Keira! Keira, you—! You—! Stop it, auugh! You ruined my suit!" He desperately clawed at himself, at the obdurantly-clinging sparkles, all the while crying, livid. "Who do you think you are!? Seriously!? Auuugh! You wouldn't want me to squirt ketchup all over your stupid, poofy, little girl's dress, would you!?"

-------"Get real, Jasper!" Keira snapped in retort. "Ketchup and glitter are far from the same thing! Just wipe it off, you big baby!"

-------"Oh, so different. So different! You're so stupid, Keira. And you should talk about 'big babies', seeing that you're a twenty-year-old woman that dresses like she's in middle school."

-------Their rage was mutual, now, as Keira stood red-faced and flustered, stuttering some incomprehensible slew of comebacks mixed with "Ums" and "Wells". The sight may have brought a smile to Jasper any other time but, at the moment, he was quite stone-faced while he concentrated on saving his poor, "ruined" suit.

-------Juan was fortunately able to restore peace to the cuteness judge, steadying her by grabbing her arm and pointing her politely towards the awaiting coordinators below them.

-------"Oh..." Sheepishly, she staggered over, eyes looking about frantically as she rashly constructed what to say. "H-hi everyone... I-I guess all I have to say is.... Try your best... and don't give up!" And with those words still hanging in the air, Keira nervously hobbled over, taking a stance cleverly to Juan's left just as the third judge arose from backstage. Regardless, she and Gasparre still exchanged looks like daggers with one another.

------- But here came Anne-Marie, now, sliding in and across the stage with ever-casual strides. Her Bellossom followed at her heels, sending out a shower of pretty, pink flower petals behind her coordinator while Hyacinth herself twirled around and around, gleeful yet contained in terms of movement. Her floral shower was caught in Autumn's Gust where the petals tumbled up and down and around Anne-Marie. The Mothim flapped its wings precisely so that the wind did not consume his coordinator. Instead, it accentuated the beauty judge with her long scarf, sweeping skirt and deep brown hair blowing in the 'mon-made breeze. The Gust dispersed as Anne-Marie soon neared her cohorts. Hyacinth's petals scattered in a simple but appealing flourish and Anne-Marie curtsied for a fittingly-simple finale. It was a perfect moment until the woman realized with shock that her Bellossom had not joined her or Autumn and instead gone twirling off in the opposite direction, no longer emitting petals as Petal Dance, controlled or not, was expected to do. It appeared the uniquely-colored Bellossom had just gotten lost.

-------Swiftly, Anne-Marie rushed to her partner's side, took the little purple Pokemon by the hand as it slowed and steered it in the right direction, cooing inaudibly to Bellossom as if she were her child.

-------Meanwhile, Mothim had seemingly lost all control and was frantically flying loops in the air with typical Bug erracticism, sending out a shower of silver scales that glinted in the stage lights before disappearing on the wooden ground. It was certainly not part of any routine, especially not a Beauty one; it was just a great sparkling mess, accompanied by Autumn's ear-brazing whining. Anne-Marie only needed to glance halfways up before promptly having her Mothim returned to its Net Ball.

-------Clearly not wanting to linger on the sour note Anne had ended on, Keira leapt forwards, beaming. "That was gorgeous, Anne-Marie!"

-------"Until the end at least," she murmured, very quietly. But to Keira's praise, she smiled and modestly stated, "I suppose it is my duty to make it so." Hyacinth then tugged expectantly at her long-hanging skirt and Anne-Marie responded by gathering the Bellossom up in her arms.

-------"...I suppose I should—?" Anne-Marie received an affirming nod from Juan before walking to the very edge of the stage where she then, silently, stared out into the audience, her eyes sliding critically over the very first row and all of its coordinators. After a few wordless seconds of studying, a curious expression slipped subtly into her gaze and she was forced to abruptly shrink away.

-------Quiet murmuring on the other judges' part.

-------"Oh," escaped Anne-Marie's lips. A single, soft exclamation of shock. Was Anne-Marie dreadfully appalled with this year's line-up, or the opposite? This was the question the judges' debated in hushed voices. Anne-Marie herself, however, soon straightened up, realizing in that instant how blatant her reaction had inevitably become. She stated, "Anywho, it will be a pleasure judging for you seven. I do hope you enjoy yourselves while you are here." Punctually, she departed to stand with her peers.

-------"Well?" Keira asked, as quietly as she could manage, though in-response the beauty judge could only shake her head.

-------And with that, something whizzed past, hit something else, and whizzed past again. The judges leapt back, Keira screaming as she did so, as another white-hot object streaked forward and back again, hitting against another invisible surface, and then another on the opposite side of the stage, and then another above, and then another below. It grew faster and faster with every ricochet, bounding from one angled Barrier to the next, before finally it had reached a point precisely over the very center of stage where there was nothing left to hit. The Electro Ball plummeted and smashed against the stage with a sound like deafening thunder. In its still-sparking wake, Dequan jumped out from seemingly-nowhere, his signature, orange varsity jacket thrown over his suit. Erik the Galvantula came skittering from behind, looping energetic circles around the judge.

-------He himself declared: "What is up, coordinators! It's your boy Dequan here and, with your combined talent, I think we've all got what it takes to make this the greatest year of the IIS in history—"

-------The showcase was interrupted, startlingly, by a Mr. Mime scrambling out from backstage. He rushed at Dequan, waving his arms around fervently and blubbering indistinguishably in an offputting, human-sounding voice.

-------"What, Bunkley? What do you need?" the clever judge inquired with an edge as his Pokemon cried on, motioning around almost apologetically at all of the barriers he'd gone and silently positioned right before the coordinators had been hustled in. Dequan's visible frustration soon vanished in place of an empathetic look as Mr. Mime turned tearful. His wants were still incoherent to most everyone else but Dequan kindly gave Bunkley the go-ahead.

-------The Psychic type gladly raised his hands, then, and the upstanding Barriers shone, highlighting their positions, before disappearing in glimmers of light.

-------"I must say, Dequan," Anne-Marie spoke up, having recovered the fastest from Erik's contribution. "For a clever Pokemon, Bunkley is quite cute."

-------At this, the cleverness judge erupted with echoeing laughter. "Now that's something you don't hear everyday! You really are an anomaly, Miss Anne-Marie Schienburg-Lebeau!

-------His Mr. Mime appeared thoroughly offended.

-------Miss Anne-Marie could only form an uneasy little smile at Dequan's loud ebullience before he took to re-addressing the crowd once again. "Yeah, so, I'm definitely looking forward to what all you have in store! Not only am I lucky to be here with all of you talented people but you're pretty lucky to be here yourselves with such an amazing panel! I mean, I don't want to brag on behalf of all of us but we're honestly some of the greatest around when it comes to coordination. Basically, all of us should feel pretty special tonight! And we're all gonna have an awesome time!"

-------Juan, Jasper, Keira and Anne-Marie all applauded and Dequan, with a twinkle in his eye and an equally-radiant grin, moved over to join them with Bunkley and Erik ambling behind.

-------"I suppose we have one judge left to introduce and then we should begin discussing tonight's performances," Juan said.

-------"I hope no one's out there," a husky voice called from offstage immediately after. "Because it's about time we got this show started!"

-------A mutual wave of dread passed amongst the host and judges and, just as Jasper finally rid his suit of the fiendish glitter, Carlos Rustigi appeared from behind, lifting the curtains at the very back of the stage and striding forwards.

-------"Hello, coordinators. Let's keep things blunt, shall we?"

-------Suddenly, in his wake, the curtains were ripped upwards and a formidable Rhydon came sailing out from underneath. "Some of you, I can tell, look embarassingly misplaced. Like a Magikarp out of water. You do not belong here! But regardless—" Rhydon stampeded forward, as fast as his massive form would allow him. Carlos raised his arm mid-speech and his sole partner responded to the command by blasting forth a substantially-sized boulder from his maw. "I expect something out of all of you, whether you look too old, too fragile or simply ridiculous with your nasty haircut! I do not expect to be sincerely impressed—" As the Rock Blast flew forwards, Rhydon's horn began to rotate, blurred by motion in milliseconds. He dived. "—as, frankly, it will take more than most of you can likely handle to impress me, but I expect to be surprised!" Rhydon iniated Drill Run, body instantly rotating at the same velocity as his horn, and with great lightning speed, he outran the rock that, compared to his own speed, was simply inching closer and closer to the onlooking audience of coordinators. Just as it began to descend into the seats, Drill Run struck it head-on and, as if it were brittle, the boulder cracked fantastically into a brilliant show of flying debris that rained down on the entire front row.

-------"Avert my expectations! Challenge me!" Carlos was concluding.

-------Rhydon, rebounding off the now-shattered, singular Rock Blast, stopped heavily right on the stage's edge—there was a visible heaving sound as he landed—and ended his own display of power with a guttural Roar. It lacked the vibrato to echo throughout the stadium but it was enough to shake the Pokeballs of those closest to the Drill Pokemon. And with that, the rock monstrosity crashed onto one side, comfortably propping his head onto one large paw before yawning, overall communicating, "No big deal."

-------"At least try to challenge me! I'm sick of 'safe' performances! They made up all of fifteenth year and last year too, aside from the utter deplorable ones. Goodness, last year was abysmal..."

-------"That's quite enough, Carlos!" Juan briskly intervened, earning a hard stare from the toughness judge.

-------"Please. You always have to interject whenever I say anything negative about last year. You can't deny it, Juan. It was one of the worst; that's a fact. Almost as worst as twelth year, I'd even go as far as to say."

-------"Perhaps that is true but I'd question the relevance of debating it at this very moment." Time was running short; that was the main part Juan bothered with arguing in the first place, but total composure was not exactly his greatest priority then as the well-dressed host uneasily eyed a trembling Pokeball just beneath his coat.

-------"Oh, dear!" To his utter dismay, Roar's effects settled in and the capsule cracked open without his consent, releasing his vulnerable Luvdisc out onto the stage. Moments later, Rai-Rai also came somersaulting out of her own sealed 'ball, sparks crackling from her cheeks out of sheer agitation, such that flew up and hit poor Keira who was already screaming and crying from the overwhelming flash of fuchsia light and nauseating heart patterns. Dequan's own Electric-type was also thrown out: a wide-eyed Zebstrika that bucked and whinnied out of panic as his owner sought to stabilize him. Bunkley, of course, was not helping as he circled the two with tears running down his face before storming off-stage. Anne-Marie followed en suite. Being unaffected, she cast a single, dismayed look at the situation and vanished behind the curtains.

-------The only other unaffected judge was Jasper who was practically gasping for air, holding his stomach and retching with laughter. Dimitri had fallen from his shoulder; the Kecleon was rocking on his back, chortling uncontrollably. He had absentmindedly left Juan's collar beside himself and Juan collected it while the opportunity was there before his attention back to poor, poor Luvdisc who was Flailing this way and that but never into the host's awaiting hands.

-------Carlos regarded the chaos he'd begun and, as a response to it all, could only mutter one thing: "Oops."

-------Dequan confronted him lightly, though his patience seemed worn severely thin as he called: "You couldn't have told Rhydon to reign it in a little with that Roar? Just... contain it, just by a little?"

-------The toughness judge sniffed. "A Pokemon shouldn't have to 'contain' itself."

-------"But you contained Rock Blast, didn't you!?"

-------"That was a product of Denzel's extensive training. I didn't limit him unnecessarily."

-------His challenger gave in with an almost-exaggerated look of exasperation. Carlos then turned his critical eye onto the row below, realized how dirty he'd made them and chuckled deeply, almost complacently.

-------"I'd apologize if I weren't in-power here. Seems Denzel made quite a mess, eh?" he stated flippantly, but the gaiety was short-lived and Carlos quickly turned serious again. "Right, while Juan's over there—", he thumbed towards the aghast man fighting to regain control of his Luvdisc, "—I'll give you all the rundown. Don't think because you're supposedly 'experts' that you don't need me to tell you anything.

-------"Since we wasted so much precious time, you only have about half an hour to situate yourselves. Backstage is the waiting room, the seven smaller dressing rooms, the common dressing room, which is very large, lots of supplies already in there. All of your 'cases' and such are back there. You all need to be backstage before the cameramen arrive which is, again, in thirty minutes. I suggest you all go there now and don't waste time 'exploring' or what have you. If I see any of you fumbling with the Pokeblock machines or treat dispensers out in the main hall, I will not hesitate to call you out on your last-minute bull. And if you're one of those idiots who try to make an entire batch of poffins or give your precious Furfrou a haircut in less than half an hour, I might have to personally remove you from this competition! Stupidity of that extent is not permitted.

-------"If you must leave this auditorium for any reason, the doors are all the way down the aisle. There's an emergency exit to the right. I'm going out of that and it's none of your concern why. ...is there anything else? Ah, right. PCs are backstage. Really, everything you might need is backstage. You all have your main with you in their Pokeball, right? Good. We've got a somewhat competent crowd this year. Ignoring fashion sense, of course. Speaking of which, all of you need to get changed immediately! Look sophisticated, please! Even Mr. Krabb had the sense to at least wear a tie! Bless his heart. Each of you can drag whatever equipment you have with you to a dressing room. And then sit and twiddle your thumbs. Play on your phones. Converse, but Gyarados forgive that."

-------"Whatever." Jasper had long recovered and he cut off Carlos from the far end of the auditorium, his Kecleon recalled. "I'm going out too!" he then announced.

-------To both calls, the toughness judge appeared nettled. "I forgot we added a toddler to the line-up this year," Carlos darkly sneered. "Suppose I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up after all." Nonetheless, Denzel was returned to his Ultra Ball and the judge ambled down from the stage and towards the emergency exit where his fellow panel member stood, smirking.

-------"Honestly, I can't believe they're still letting you serve, grandpa," Jasper jeered.

-------Carlos leered back at him. "Watch your tongue. We don't need two smart-talkers on the panel so I suggest you find someone else to mimic, child." He pushed open the door—"Move aside"—and disappeared outside.

-------Gasparre seemed hardly disturbed, simply rolling his eyes before turning back to the poor, dirtied coordinators. "Boy, this is gonna be a Blast of a year, isn't it?" His voice broke slightly with laughter at his own joke. "Alright, see ya, nerds! Good luck with them!" He motioned to the other judges that still struggled on-stage with their freed Pokemon. Jasper cackled malevolently at their plight before he too left them all by themselves in the expansive space.

-------The three sorry head-coordinators were left coughing and sputtering as they were flushed with moisture but, fortunately, spared. Their Pokemon were not as lucky and they quickly beheld the frozen forms of their partners; Keira's Pikachu had instinctively curled into a ball inches from the cuteness judge's feet, while Terence the Zebstrika, who had just managed to break away from Dequan, emerged from Sheer Cold a white-streaked, equestrian ice statue at center stage, and splayed out in front of them was Juan's poor Luvdisc, frozen and perfectly flattened.

-------The gelid outcome received mixed results. Keira, the hapless, had already fallen to her knees, immediately seeming to forget how her now stock-still Rai-Rai had stung her with sparks just moments before as she regarded the pitiable-seeming Pikachu and let out a low moan. Juan seemed equally upset, immediately rushing to his Water-type's aid.

-------"Amorita!" the host cried out with woe, and with a swish of his billowing coat that sent in its wake a spray of frost, had his beloved Luvdisc coddled in his arms. "Ave Maria, she's utterly frozen!"

-------With another brisk shift of movement, he frantically faced the source of his despondency: the boy in yellow. "Well that was… entirely—"

-------"Brilliant!" Sprite-like laughter. "Aha! Well played; that's all I can say, really!" Dequan's sunny voice intercepted Juan's icy tone, leaving the host wordless as he regarded the cleverness judge with a look of blended incredulity, bewilderment and horror. Keira's boggled expression seemed to communicate the same.

-------"Pretty heedless but I can't complain. Your Cryogonal's in good shape, kid. You don't see many of those in the coordination business. And unless I was mistaken—I'm no Ice-type expert—that was Sheer Cold you used to manipulate that Mist, right?" Dequan ignored the expressions of his other ogling cohorts, instead jerking his head towards Soren and said to them, "We've got a cleverness expert in the making!"

-------Then, the judge laughed again and made another attempt at motion, this time seeking to move towards Terrence. The Zebstrika's pupils were rolling about wildly and with perplexity, the only indication that it was not entirely lifeless in that moment. But as Dequan made an effort to arrive at his Electric-type's side, his legs obstinately refused to follow the command. They stuck in place, just as his torso, arms, chest, shoulders...

-------"I'm frozen!" Dequan exclaimed. He made a jagged movement that only his neck could follow. "I'm frozen!" He swore, but then began to laugh riotously. "Ahahaha! Hahahahaahaha!"

-------"You! What's your name? Soren Ferngully? That's a name. That's a name indeed. A name I'm gonna remember! You can count on that, 'Soren Ferngully'!" He burst out again into cackling hysterics. "Get outta here!"

-------Juan then withdrew Amorita into her pretty-pink Love Ball and raced, ignoring the chilled tenseness in his legs, to the cleverness judge's side. "You heard him. You're dismissed, Soren. Fare thee well!" He brushed the boy away with a flippant wave of his hand. Then he threw his arms underneath Dequan's shoulders before putting all his weight into a strained attempt of lifting his peer. Possessing no muscular control, and thus, technically, no control at all, the cleverness judge tipped back, falling into Juan to the host's utter dismay.

-------"This is ludicrous. Utter irresponsibility on the youth's part. And you praised him for that display, Dequan? ...look at me! Ruined by frost! My beloved coat… And look at you!"

-------"Well, yeah, I know I'm frozen now," the debilitated judge bit back. "And I was just tryin' to be positive. Everyone's in a pretty trashy mood right now. You didn't see the looks on those two girls' faces when they went backstage? We're all just frustrated and impatient 'cause Carlos is a jerk and we want the show to go ahead and start already."

-------"What a wonderful attitude in which to open this year with." The host muttered sardonically as he began to drag the cleverness judge westwards. He called out to Keira: "In need of a little assistance at the moment!"

-------She mumbled a response. In the far corner of the stage, she sat bent over Rai-Rai.

-------He of course did not hear her. "What was that, darling?" he called again, wrestling a Quick Ball from Dequan's pants pocket at the judge's request and rightfully returning Terrence.

-------"The Mist fell on my legs…!" She lifted her head, revealing moisture dancing in her widened, brown eyes. "I-I can't move!" Her voice wavered.

-------Juan exhaled deeply at this. "Oh, Keira…" He promptly left her to herself, deciding it more prudent to tackle one problem at a time, as he continued dragging Dequan across the stage. Despite the great effort that it required, as perceivable through the look of suffrage imprinted on his face, Juan was making fine progress and was already beginning to disappear behind the westward curtains as Keira finally began to cry.

★ Keira
★ Miss Anne-Marie

-------Enraptured in her sobs and self-pity, the judge evaded anything prior to the particular incident with her head in her hands. In was in those seconds before the contestant landed before her that she heard the muffled shout and felt the sensation of another person's presence careening towards her. Keira hesitated; she spread her fingers just enough to shyly face her fate, but things turned out much more fortunately for her than expected.

-------There was Carcol—she immediately recalled his name—splayed out unflatteringly before her, rear forward, head back and down against the ice. He attempted to communicate with her: "Thonoba—! Ah dwopped mah Pogey-Bawlth!"

-------Keira's sniffles were punctuated with giggling and that quickly evolved into full-out laughter. She went on raucously, laughing and laughing, her hands still cupped over her mouth. From the rise of her cheeks and the shimmer in her eyes, their lashes just dotted with tiny tears, it was obvious that the cuteness judge was grinning like a fool.




-------There was a certain sullenness to the situation that Keira's amusement caused her to overlook. She fought to speak coherently through her tee-hees: "Oh… Carcol… your name's Carcol, right?"

-------On that note, Keira finally gave up, throwing back her head and cackling greatly. Her Pokemon cringed at the sound. She was seemingly unconscious on the floor before her coordinator but Rai-Rai snapped to attentiveness and glared profusely at the strident near-screaming that was the cuteness judge's laughter. The Pikachu was still bundled up with her limbs, ears and tail are folded and curled against her. Still, her fabulous outfit glimmered on; the cropped top, wavy skirt, armlets and adorning bows.

-------"I-is that your Pokeball?" Tittering on, Keira reached out her arm to beckon towards a capsule rocking dangerously near the stage's edge. "Y-you should go get that…!" Another burst of breathy hysterics. The judge once against threw her face into the palms of her hands; she'd realized the direction Carcol was facing. And she stayed there for a while, snickering into her hands, her legs folded underneath the poofy silhouette of her dress; it was if she were sitting on a pink cotton candy cloud, for her entire gown was the same solid shade of pink, ignoring the white hem and circular sleeves.

-------"I'm sorry…" She may have been apologizing for many things. Keira lifted her head and gave a weak smile… at Carcol's rear. "You can't move either, can you? You're frozen too? Huh…" She sighed. "Well, I guess we're stuck, then! Haha! Ha ha ha!"

-------With a tone strikingly similar to Dequan's, Keira gave yet another hearty chortle before crossing her arms and settling down like a child reluctantly doing as told, though her deceivingly happy look might have blurred the intention.

-------A moment of silence—Keira was fighting back laughter as best she could—before the curtains beside them rustled with movement. A little Grass-type came spinning out, a Bellossom with pink flowers and purple complexion. The Flower Pokemon hustled from backstage, skittering slightly on the ice as she slid up to Carcol. She bent over slightly so look him curiously in the eyes before her attention was drawn to his lolling hairdo. The Bellossom began gently tossing its end up and down, wondering how it might respond.

-------"Hyacinth, sweetie!" Anne-Marie cried in a singsong tone light with feverishness. The judge appeared before both Keira and Carcol, arms falling tightly to her sides and eyes locking onto the commotion she'd walked into. "Oh…?"

-------"Hi, Anne…" Keira sounded almost sheepish. She had lowered her hands once more to watch the over-curious Bellossom waltz in and how her gaze shifted overhead to her fellow judge who, unfortunately, seemed a tad nettled.

-------Miss Anne-Marie muttered something—"Indecent" it might have been—before beckoning Hyacinth over. The shiny Bellossom instantly skated over and clutched onto the beauty judge's skirt.

-------"Hyacinth…" She gently redirected the Grass-type, bending over to push her forwards the other forlorn and frozen coordinators. "Offer your assistance with Sunny Day."

-------She did as told. Bellossom gave a slight grunt of effort before releasing some pent-up energy and letting loose a ball of light that emanated heat. Densely-packed, it coursed like fire over Rai-Rai. The Pikachu immediately relaxed.

-------In a seconds time, the Electric Mouse's ears perked up, bringing a great look of joy to Keira's face. "Oh, Hyacinth, thank you!" The Pikachu's cheeks were already begin to spark again and the cuteness judge offered hushed assurance to her somewhat-startled Pokemon before scraping up Rai-Rai's Pokeball and returning her.

-------"Your legs should be fine in a few moments," said Anne-Marie.

-------"I can already feel it!" The cuteness judge appeared to tremble before abruptly tipping to one side as she cautiously unbent one leg, and then the other. She winced as she now stood on numb legs but seemed thoroughly grateful all the same. "Thank you so, so much! I owe you one! I really do. You and your Bellossom are the best!"

-------"It's fine." Her peer replied with a straight face, allowing her Pokemon to cry jubilantly before rushing into her skirt again. Anne-Marie watched as Keira took a hesitant step forward, teetering dangerously on the icy stage with her red heels, but ultimately moving at too slow of a pace to fall as disastrously as Carcol had. She disregarded his presence near entirely now, moving past Anne behind the eastward curtains, an invigorated skip in her step as she vanished from sight.

-------Anne-Marie, however, did not feint nonobservance. Once her fellow judge had left, she turned a piercingly critical look onto the coordinator collapsed a couple feet away.

-------"The Sunny Day should thaw you as well. Collect your Pokeballs when you're decent and move backstage, please. I saw you sleeping in the audience, Carcol. I don't miss things like that. And this display… you're unlucky that I found you lying like this, is all I'll say at the moment."




-------"Let's hope, for your benefit, that you didn't miss much during your nap. Come now, Hyacinth…" She referred to her blooming Bellossom now who, with the same fervent enthusiasm, rushed after her as she bluntly left Carcol in his discouraging state to follow in Keira's wake.