"Goslaire," Elric called. Goslaire. That was the name of the dark-coloured bird Pokemon. "Use Spark."
Goslaire, the goose-like Pokemon, flew up into the air and created a spark, which it flew in circles around before flying directly into, which created a surge of electricity that lit up the stage.
It was Lilly's turn! She looked so excited, and not nervous at all. "Elelel, use Water Gun!"
Elelel swam up into the air and closed its eyes, making a melodic coo as it spat a Water Gun out of its mouth in an arch like the spout of a fountain.
It was Riley's turn. He composed himself and thought of what to do to get the audience as excited as possible. He instructed Burndillo to use Ember.
Riley's sweet Pokemon friend rolled around on the stage inside its shell, and used the fire from its Ember attack to make it look like there was a trail of fire ripping behind it.
"Maskoon," Polleniah, the one unknown to Riley, said. "Use Bug Buzz, and use it dazzlingly!"
The Pokemon was an orb shape, and was already dressed up because its thick shell had the pattern of a tuxedo already on it. Riley was curious, so he pointed his PokeDex at it. "Number 28, Maskoon. Bug-type. The Cocooning Pokèmon. Maskoon grow so shy that they create shells to hide inside. In fact, they hide behind so many shells that it can take several minutes to remove all of the layers. Inside their shells, the warmth allows them to grow at a much more rapid pace than outside of their shells. So, slowly, they outgrow layers of their shells until they're ready to evolve."
How cool! Riley thought.
The round Pokemon hopped along the ground, before jumping up into the well-lit air and making a buzzing sound loud enough that it created shock waves. By manipulating its mouth, which Riley noticed was attached to some black creature inside the shell rather than actually being part of the shell, the Maskoon manipulated the sound waves into a picture. It didn't look like anything in particular, but it was certainly impressive.
The audience was clearly excited by the moves of everyone's Pokemon. The roaring and cheering exhilarated Riley, but it also exhilarated his opposing Coordinators!
"It's time for another round! Let's see the cool performances of our Coordinators this round!"
Elric took his time deciding what he wanted his Goslaire to do. He ordered it to use Discharge. Goslaire flew up and shot a thunderbolt from its lit-up feathers. It used the thunderbolt's energy to charge itself up, and then released the energy out of its body in eight thunderbolts blasting in eight vertical directions!
Lilly, Riley, and Polleniah would really have to step it up.
"Elelel, use Aqua Jet!" Elelel charged up all of the energy it had inside itself and blasted through the air. Water particles came rushing to it, and they turned themselves into the shape of a Sharpedo as Elelel, inside the water jet, flew in the air around the hall. Elelel purposely ran the Aqua Jet into the wall, and the Sharpedo made of water that was surrounding its small body exploded into a bunch of small fish. The water vapourized and sparkles dripped down, soaking the pumped audience. Lillie splayed her chest over Saturnius' body so it wouldn't get soaked, RIley noticed.
Riley REALLY had to deliver now. Those were both amazing performances. How could he match them?
Riley ordered Burndillo to use a move it had just picked up in his tag-team battle with Lilly against the Team Delta Grunts at Eclisse City's theme park. Fire Fang.
Burndillo straightened its back as much as its round shell would allow it. It opened its jaws wide and allowed the air in its mouth to heat up. It coated its fangs with flame and then blew the flame into the air. Manipulating the flames, it created a huge Charizard head made out of fire. It slammed its jaws shut, and so did the plasmatic fire dragon. The flame Charizard disappeared in the air. The residual sparks floated, dancing, towards the ground, but were put out before they could get there.
Polleniah gasped, her face contorted in shock. She knew she couldn't compete with the amazing performances before her. But she would have to try. She nodded, moving a locke of hair out of her eye.
She ordered Maskoon to use String Shot. Using its silky strings, it created a pair of wings that it used its silk ropes to control. It actually managed to manipulate the silk-string wings into flying, and the audience cheered with respect.
"This is the third and final round! After this, our Contest Palace with have a new King or Queen!"
"Goslaire, we can do this," Elric whispered to his Pokemon in a low tone. He yelled at the top of his lungs for the audience to hear his enthusiasm, "Use Thunderbolt!"
Goslaire summoned all of the power it had inside and launched a thunderbolt as thick as a tree into the air above the audience. They shrieked, terrified, but it didn't harm a single person. Instead, it ricocheted off the wall at the back of the hall and came back to Goslaire in a wave. Goslaire manipulated the electricity and turned it into a pair of electric wings that it flapped using its real wings. The electricity dissipated, leaving the entire hall feeling electrified and tingly.
Lilly grunted. She looked incredibly intimidated. The audience was so dazed by the previous performance. How could she live up to it? Elelel was exhausted from its previous ultra-powered Aqua Jet, too. She would just have to hope that the judges would be impressed enough by that impressive move to let her win. She had to use an easier, less dazzling move, for Elelel's health's sake.
But, on the contrary, Elelel looked ready and raring for another glorious attack. "Okay, Elelel! Use Bite, and add a little bit of Water-type flair into it!"
It did! It charged up the power of its jaw similar to how Burndillo had the turn before, and summoned a water beast. It summoned a huge Lapras that chomped down when Elelel did, its power causing it to accidentally make itself pop!
"Good move, Elelel!" Lilly cheered!
Riley looked at Burndillo, and Burndillo looked proudly back at its Trainer. They both nodded.
A deep red-orange light sparked to life at Riley's fingertips. He sketched the shape of a wild flame in the air and snapped his fingers. The airborne drawing exploded into a flurry of diamonds again, but this time the diamonds of light didn't just disappear. This time, they flew into Burndillo's body.
It knew what it had to do with all of the energy that had been picked up by the audience. It was time for a Perfect Talent!
Apocalypse Flame!
It rolled to the edge of the stage and used its momentum to jump into the air. The entire hall turned into an inferno. Burndillo used the audience's performance-hype to gather the power to transform the flames into a gargantuan beast the size of the Battle Tree! The fire dragon danced around in the sky for several minutes, wowing the audience, before swallowing Burndillo whole.
It flew through the air in an upward spiral, before bursting into a firey platform almost a hundred feet above the ground that Burndillo stood victoriously atop.
Briefly, the mirage disappeared and the hall was back to normal, but the audience was still absolutely awed.
Polleniah was awed too. Maskoon couldn't match that. "Alright, but we should still try our best anyway! Maskoon, use Iron Defence!"
Maskoon put up an iron wall as a shield, and jumped on top of it, using its height as a further stage to wow the audience as it pulled its arms through the split in its shell and swung the iron column around, creating a tornado as it helicoptered down to the ground.
"And that's the Pokemon Contest! Let's wait and see what the judges say!"
"Wow...!" Elric gasped, panting, Goslaire by his side. "That, for a pair of new recruits, was amazing!"
Polleniah stepped in. "Perhaps I was off my game today, but I'm quite confident I placed last."
Lilly's face was as red as the upper half of Elelel's PokeBall. "P-P-Polleniah!"
"Are you a fan, asked the pop star, "Lilly?"
Lilly was hopping up and down in her heels. "Yes! Yes! Yes, I'm a fan!"
"I'm honoured!" grinned Polleniah. "Your performance was just stunning! Having Elelel manipulate its Aqua Jet into the shape of a Sharpedo- brilliant!"
"And you, Riley," Elric added. "Your Burndillo's use of the power of its Perfect Talent was amazing! I would be more surprised if you told me this was your first performance- even though I know it is! See, I told you that the two of you were made for the stage!"
The assistant director walked in. "Coordinators, great job all of you. We're crowning the Contest Palace King or Queen now."
"I'm so excited!" Lilly smiled, taking the same pose she always did when she was overwhelmed with joy.
The four Pokemon Contest Coordinators stepped onto the red carpet that had been laid out before them. Three fashionable ladies wearing matching dresses each held a medal in their hands. One held a blue medal, one held a bronze medal, and the last held a silver medal.
Holding hands, the four Coordinators walked forward at the same pace. Polleniah was the first to stop walking with the group when the first woman wearing a white dress, the one holding the blue medal, stepped out in front of her. Polleniah bowed her head as the woman placed the cheapest of the medals over her neck. "Our country's biggest musical sensation, Polleniah!"
Next, Elric stopped walking. The woman holding the bronze medal blocked his path. He kneeled down because of his height and bowed his head so that the woman could put the medal around his neck. He held it up and struck a borderline-provocative modelling pose for the hyped-up audience, who screamed and cheered for him.
Lilly whispered in Riley's ear as she walked further toward Contest Palace throne, "I can't believe we both made it this far. I wonder who's going to get the crown and the gold medal."
The third woman, holding the silver medal, stepped out in front of the kids. She curtsied before them, and placed the silver medal around Lilly's neck. Lilly waved to Riley as he kept walking. "Congrats, Contest Palace King!"
A man in a black and white tuxedo with a stylish brunette scruff and dazzling blue eyes stood just in front of the throne. Riley kneeled down before him, and the fashionable man placed a gold medal around Riley's neck, and a gold crown atop his head. This was such a big deal that Riley could hardly contain himself. He stood up as quickly as he could.
With that, the entire hall was ambushed with fireworks and lights and loud, cheerful music. Riley waved to his adoring audience and held up the real winner, Burndillo. Another one of the people standing near the throne, this one with overblown makeup and pink hair, put an adhesive-backed ribbon on Burndillo's chest, labeling it as the Normal Rank Coolness Contest winner!
"Wow..." Lilly panted. "Did we really just have a Pokemon Contest with Pop Idol Polleniah, and Model and Master Coordinator Elric!?"
The blonde flower-named girl ran up. "You both did amazingly! I was so enthralled! And so was Saturnius! Now that I've seen you guys take on a Pokemon Contest, I really want to try it as well!" She sighed, putting her hand on Saturnius' head. "It's too bad I'm so terribly busy. Why don't we trade PokeVice contacts?"
"Yeah!" Lilly and Riley both gave their PokeVice contact information to Lillie.
"Well, like I said, I'm really busy, so I should be off now. I hope we meet again! You guys were a huge help to me and I don't know how to thank you." She pondered. "So here." She dug around in her bag (which was the same brand that Riley and Lilly had). "Ah-ha!" She pulled out a handful of empty Great Balls. She gave five to Riley, and five to Lilly. "Farewell! Good luck on your Pokemon League journeys!" And with that, she was gone.
"I sure hope," Lilly started, "that she doesn't get in so much trouble again... That rotten Team Delta! I'm going to find out what's up with them!" Then, Riley noticed somebody walking out from the Contest Palace. He called the man over.
"Riley, Lilly, you did great in the Contest Palace! I'm proud of you!" the man, who was actually Derreck, smiled.
"Wait, you know me?" Lilly questioned, puzzled.
"Riley told me about you." Derreck smiled at Lilly, then Riley.
"Riley talked to you about me?" Lilly seemed suspicious for a second, but it soon went away. "Wow, you must be something special for Riley to talk to you about anything!"
Lilly noticed something on Derreck's lapel. "Is that the Moon Badge?"
"Indeed, Lilly."
"Wow!" Lilly smiled. "Does that mean you beat the Gym Leader of Eclisse City? Do you know where the Pokemon Gym is?"
"I am the Gym Leader of Eclisse City, my dear Lilly," Derreck explained.
"How cool!" Lilly grinned. "Can I challenge your Pokemon Gym, then?"
"Unfortunately, no." Derreck checked the time on his PokeVice. "I just got out of the Contest Palace, and now I have to go do some research at the Prehistory Museum in Dinohlr Town."
"Oh darn..." Lilly sighed, slouching over dramatically. "Can we come, at least?"
"You could," Derreck said. "But I won't be taking you. I really must hurry." He rushed off to the south side of Eclisse City, which was the location of a very steep cliff with a very dangerous downhill road on it. Usually, a wire tram would take people from the top of the cliff to the bottom, but it had been out of commission for days now. They would all just have to walk down.