"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the 25th Majesty of Aughrim coordination contest! Our contestants have been introduced and the rules explained, so let's dive right into the action! Our first match up is between Senna Krostovj and Kimberly Fairbrooke. The match is set to begin, so let's see what happens!"

The lights faded, leaving only two spotlights; one focused on Kimberly, who waited at the left side of the stage, while the other focused on Senna, who stood like a statue at the right. The orchestra began to play some soft music as they approached one another and met in the middle. They greeted each other with a hand shake.

"Udachi," Senna said in her native language. "It means good luck. I will not relent."

"Good luck to you as well, friend," Kimberly responded. "The stage is yours, you're performing first."

"Da." As Kimberly walked away, Senna reached into the vest pocket of her uniform. She pulled out a small, black, cube-shaped object that was covered in pulsating red lights and lines, then dropped it to the floor. The tiny object flared open into a dozen subsections and a pale red light began to shine above them. The vague shape of a crystalline creature appeared, glinting with a shower of static-like red sparks.

"A fantastic and... positively strange entrance! I've never seen something like that." Emma commented.

"A common sight in her homeland, Emma," Rosemary added. "Not many people in Kanetsk use Pokéballs. Instead, they favor the Capture Cluster. Quite an interesting little piece of technology they've developed, and a relic of a different time."

As the red sparks faded, the Pokémon inside began to take shape. The creature had the vague shape of a flower, but was composed entirely of shimmering ice shards. A rounded crown of red and pink shards gently floated above a central pillar of green-tinged shards. A thin fog swirled around the base of the creature, and as it moved around, the shards that made up the stem rumbled about like stones caught in the current of a mighty river.

"For her first Pokémon, Senna has chosen the mysterious creature known as Snowbelle, which is also a common sight in her homeland. Let's see what she does with it."

Senna pointed to the center of the stage and the Snowbelle began to rumble over. As it did so, she issued a lengthy command in her native language. Several of the ice shards that made up the creature split away from it and began to swirl through the air until they eventually came to rest a few feet above the stage.

"Nachat," she said.

A bitter cold wind blew through the auditorium as the largest shard began to vibrate aggressively, and with it came a deep, resonating tone. The next largest shard started to vibrate as the previous one stopped, and the process repeated until the tiniest one let out a high pitched squeal. After a few seconds of silence, the shards began to resonate together in a manner that resembled music.

"This is interesting! It appears she's using her Pokémon to play a song! Is that her country's national anthem I hear?"

"It's a little sloppy, but yes."

Snowflakes began to form in the frigid air as the music continued. Senna started a march across the stage with a rigid gait, and when she reached the edge of the stage, she stamped down hard and offered a salute to the crowd. As she did so, the music hit a crescendo and the snowflakes fluttering through the air whipped about in a flurry. She began her march back across the stage, and once again the music grew louder and the wind grew colder when she stopped to offer another salute.

"A very patriotic performance! You don't see much like this these days!"

The crowd was hardly amused and remained silent for much of the performance.

"I don't think the crowd is buying it, Leonardo," Emma commented. "Not surprising, considering the current geopolitical climate. Not many people have a high opinion of her homeland these days."

"A shame, really. I think it's well executed for what it is."

As the music ended, silence filled the auditorium. There was very little applause among the crowd; instead, they murmured amongst themselves in wonder as Senna and her Snowbelle stepped off to the side of the stage. The judges held up score cards: Emma gave the display a score of six, Leonardo rated it an eight and Rosemary offered a neutral score of five.

"And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, our first performance of the night! Senna and her Snowbelle wowed us with a bizarre yet accurate musical rendition of her national anthem! Let's watch and see how her opponent, Kimberly, counters that display."

A spotlight focused on Kimberly and she took a deep breath to ready herself for her first ever coordination performance. She reached down towards the red ribbon that dangled from her waistline and grabbed a gem studded purple Pokéball, then held it skyward.

"Is that a Master Ball I see? I thought she was only a hobbyist."

She tossed the Master Ball into the air and it exploded with a radial burst of giant bubbles. A large blue turtle-like creature appeared above the stage and crashed down onto it with an audible thud. Large steel cannons jutted from the top of the creature's shell, just above its broad and muscled shoulders.

"And it's a Blastoise! I think this is the first time I've seen one of them compete in a coordination contest, and I've been covering these events for years!" Emma commented.

"Yes, it's not a popular choice," Rosemary added. "I remember seeing just two in all of the years I spent as a coordinator myself. I must admit, I don't see why Blastoise is not a more common sight, it's a very versatile species."

"Perhaps it is the imposing and powerful appearance it commands," Leonardo offered. "In any event, let's see what tricks it has hidden away in that shell."

Kimberly timidly approached the Blastoise and rested her hand on his shell. "Juliano, I'm in the mood for bubbles. Are you?"

Juliano dropped to one knee and the cannons sprouting from within his shell began to calibrate themselves to a new position. A thin, glossy film formed at the end of the left cannon, and before long, a large bubble had drifted out of it. The bubble gently floated upward and as it did so, slowly started to take the shape of a fish. Afterwards, another bubble formed on his right cannon, and when it lifted into the air, it took the shape of a bird.

"Interesting approach with the Blastoise. A classic!"

More shapes began to form. A star. A Pokéball. An apple. A heart. Some more complicated shapes took shape next, including the likes of a ring, an open clam shell, a rounded pyramid and a sailboat. The crowd was eating it up!

"One more bubble. Just like we practiced." she said. She stood in the center of the stage as Juliano exerted a lot of energy into the largest bubble of the batch. The bubble was round in shape and lacked any special features, prompting the crowd to wonder what was so special about it. The bubble gently floated above Kimberly, then began to descend over her. She tried her hardest to stand motionless like a statue as the bubble dipped over her head and slowly enveloped her. Before long, her entire body was within the bubble. She ended the performance by spreading her arms out wide before the bubble finally popped into a refreshing mist.

"Now that's a new take an old routine! I've never actually seen anyone successfully manage to wrap a bubble around themselves before!" Emma commented as she raised a card with the number seven on it.

"Indeed, quite impressive!" Rosemary said while adding her own score of seven.

Leonardo refrained from commentary, but offered yet another score of seven.

"With the first two performances out of the way, our contestants move onto their second Pokémon! Senna is up next, let's watch."

Senna stepped forward once again and grabbed another of her Capture Clusters from her pocket. The cluster was dropped to the ground and it popped into a dozen pieces, and with a shining red light, the outline of another turtle-like creature appeared. The bluish-green creature sported a jet black shell that was covered in algae, barnacles, numerous scratches and pockmarks. It slowly pulled itself towards the center of the stage with its leathery flippers.

"Is that a Tirtouga? Now this is unexpected!" Rosemary commented.

"I thought they were extinct..." Emma added.

"As far as I know, they're supposed to be. This should be interesting."

"She take plan routine..." Senna said with a tone of annoyance in her voice. "No matter, Rakushka. We improvise." She took a step back and issued another lengthy command in her native language.

Rakushka perked up and pushed himself as high as his front flippers could take his, then began to spit streams of water high into the air. Before the water landed on the floor, he homed in on each and shot a concentrated beams of frigid air at each; a few missed, but those that made contact froze the water instantly. The chunks of ice rained down onto the stage and smashed on impact, each dispersing with a puff of bitter fog.

"This is shaping up to be an icy performance!"

"I don't like it, it's getting a little cold in here."

The crowd reacted favorably to the display, although the energy dispersed pretty quickly when Senna offered yet another of her country's traditional salutes.

"Ouch. She isn't playing off of the crowd very well, is she?" Leonardo commented. He raised a card with the number seven on it. "What did you think, ladies?"

Rosemary offered a scathing score of four. "She said she wanted to improvise that one, and you could tell she did just that. It was nothing special, and her Tirtouga's accuracy was subpar."

"I..." Emma started before holding her tongue. She raised a card with a score of five on it. "I don't think it was that bad for something improvised on the fly. But I think we can all agree that we'd have much rather preferred she stuck to her original plan, regardless of the other contestant's performance."

With the stage cleared, Kimberly approached the center once again. In her hand was her Skitty's custom made fuzzy Feline Ball, which she gently tossed down to the floor. The ball exploded with a bright flash of white light and a shower of cartoonish rainbow stars. Telandra appeared on the stage and looked at her surroundings, but her attention was immediately captured by the fluffy tuft of fur at the end of her tail.

She turned around to get a closer look, but was surprised to see it elude her. Intent on catching her own tail, she bounced around in circles in a playful manner, chasing and chasing endlessly. She dove, she tackled, she rolled and she swung her paws, but her efforts were fruitless. Her adorable display drew out an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the crowd and judges alike.

"Look at that adorable Skitty! And look at how... purrfect it looks! This contestant has clearly put in a lot of effort towards grooming her Skitty's luxuriously soft fur!"

She knelt down and called out to Telandra. On the verge of finally capturing her elusive tail, she heard her name called out and trotted over to Kimberly then began to aggressively rub up against her master's ankle.

"This is our first performance together, Telandra, so it's important that we do well. Let's do the ring routine, just like we practiced."

Telandra returned to the center of the stage, then began to pace around in small, tight circles. Her tail twitched and glowed with an icy white light and the air around her cooled rapidly. A thick haze surrounded the Skitty and started to coalesce into individual shards of ice. The shards hung in the air like fluffy dandelion seeds, and with a deep growl, they took the shape of a ring.

"More ice? There's a definite theme here tonight, folks!"

Kimberly nodded. "Very good, Telandra. Now, time for some tricks! Start off simple."

Telandra shuffled off to the right side of the stage and turned around. With a running start, she jumped high into the air and tumbled through the center of the ring. She landed gracefully on her feet and twirled in place before turning around to line up another jump. With a deft leap into the air, she somersaulted through the hoop. Another jump was followed by a back flip, while yet another involved a barrel roll.

"And now for the finale! You can do it, Telandra!"

Electrical sparks flashed through her fur as Telandra took one last running start. She jumped with all of her might, and when she reached the center of the ring, she discharged a massive bolt of electricity outward. A concussive blast blew throughout the auditorium and the ice crystals that once made up the hoop lay shattered on the floor.

"Classic, but impressive! It takes a lot of guts to perform something so simple in a contest like this, but it also takes a lot of skill to pull it off so flawlessly!" Emma said. She gave the performance a score of nine!

Rosemary held up a card with an eight on it. "Brings me back to my youth, when these kinds of tricks were the standard. I wouldn't say it was flawless, but it was certainly very well done."

"It was well done, admittedly, but it was just an old circus trick," Leonardo added, with his own score of five. "Let's see what Senna has in store for us for her final performance of the match."

Senna stepped forward one last time with another Capture Cluster in her hands. With a drop to the floor and an audible pop, the outline of a large aquatic creature that resembled a plesiosaur appeared on the stage. The creature's scaly skin was mostly black, but it also featured a white underside that ran from the tip of its jaw down towards its belly, and more white spots around its eyes. On its back sat a wickedly sharp spiked shell, encrusted in a thick sheet of ice.

"Now that's an interesting Lapras. I've never seen one like it before!"

"This majestic sea creature is out of its depth... pardon the pun. How will it perform on dry land? Let's watch."

Senna placed her arm on the Lapras' neck as she listened closely to her softly-spoken command. With an understanding between the two, the Lapras flopped her way towards the center of the stage at a snail's pace. When she finally reached the center, she closed her eyes and opened her mouth. A gently flashing pink light began to form in the back of her mouth and slowly grew in brightness. She let out a calming hum as the light surged out of her mouth in a wide arc.

It was a slow process, but the light took on a physical presence in the shape of the aurora borealis, gently wafting from side to side in a ribbon-like manner as it pulsed through numerous colors of the rainbow. Glittering stars of all colors formed within the ribbon of light, following the ebb and flow of the movement at times and being absorbed back inside at other times. The crowd watched with amazement.

"So colorful..."

With the light show over, Senna approached her Lapras and took a bow before the cheering crowd. She instinctively raised her hand for a salute, but stopped herself halfway. Instead, she rolled the sleeve of her uniform jacket up to reveal an odd device on her wrist that shared a similar color scheme to her Capture Clusters, then placed one of them into a slot found on it. With a press of a button on the device, a red beam of energy shot out towards the Lapras and it disappeared with a puff of digital smoke.

"How do we feel about this one, ladies?" Leonardo asked, scoring the performance with a nine.

Emma held up a card with an eight on it. "Very pretty. I was originally going to give this performance a seven, but she stuck to a consistent theme, so I'll throw in a bonus point."

"I could list a number of problems with that performance, from the time it took to the mismatch of colors. Green does not flow well into pink, I'm afraid." Despite the problems she had with it, Rosemary scored it with a six.

With Senna off of the stage, Kimberly patted her Blastoise on the back and they both walked to the center of the stage. She calmly reminded herself that this was the final performance of the first round and her last chance to earn a decisive victory. She was nervous about what her and Juliano were about to do, however.

"And here is Kimberly's final performance of the match, accompanied yet again by her Blastoise. She's one of the two contestants tonight who does not have three Pokémon of her own, so let's see if she can pull anything interesting out of her sleeve."

"This is it, Juliano. Let's win this. How about we show them your impressive strength?"

Juliano nodded as she motioned for him to lower his arms. He cupped his stubby, clawed hands together and allowed her to step into them. With her footing secure, he effortlessly lifted her into the air above his head.

"Now for a flip!" she called out.

Expecting to see Kimberly do the flip herself, everyone in the auditorium was surprised to see something different; with a hefty toss, Kimberly went soaring into the air and Juliano himself performed not just one, but a double back flip. With an earthshaking thud, he landed on his feet perfectly and held his arms outward. He looked up for a brief moment to find his master and caught her before she fell to the floor. He let her down and joined her in extending their arms outward as the crowd began to cheer.

"Did I just see that?" Emma asked. "Blastoise is one of the least dexterous Pokémon, I never imagined I'd see one flawlessly perform a double back flip like that. You can tell that a lot of time was spent practicing this simple routine." She gave the performance a score of eight.

"I'm really appreciating this down to earth style of hers," Rosemary said. "Sometimes simplicity is all that is needed in situations like these, especially if they're jazzed up as we saw with Juliano's back flips." She ended her analysis with a score of nine!

Leonardo, on the other hand, wasn't as impressed. "Simple is a good way to describe it, yes. I'm afraid that simple doesn't work these days, Rosemary. We haven't been in the 1900s for a very long time." he said. He half-heartedly raised a card with the number four on it.

"To each their own," Rosemary responded. "Well, with their performances complete, let's join the contestants on the stage, shall we?"

The three judges, the two contestants and their Pokémon all converged at the center of the stage, taking the time to wait for the sluggish Tirtouga to flop over to them.

Emma stepped forward. "There you have it, folks, the first match up of the night! Let's hear it for our two contestants, Kimberly Fairbrooke and Senna Krostovj!"

The crowd began cheering, with large sections of the audience offering a standing ovation to the two competitors.

"Those who are joining us on our televised broadcast already know the scores we've been giving out, but let's recap for those of us here at the Cèilidh Gailearaidh. Can we have the screen display the scores, please?" A massive screen at the back of the stage turned on and showed the portraits of both Kimberly and Senna on opposite sides. "We'll start with the scores in the order of the performances."

Rosemary stepped forward and began with the scoring. "Ms. Krostovj, for your Snowbelle's performance, your scores were 6, 8 and 5. All together, they average out to 6.3." She turned to Kimberly next. "And you, Ms. Fairbrooke, the scoring for your Blastoise's performance was a solid 7 across the board."

Kimberly simply nodded at the numbers, while Senna crossed her arms and shifted her weight back onto her left leg, as if the judgement had annoyed her.

Leonardo offered some analysis next. "For the second part of this round, Senna, your Tortouga scored 5, 4 and 7, which averages to 5.3"

Senna looked off to the side in annoyance, but she held her tongue.

"And you, Kimberly, Your Skitty's scores were 9, 8 and 5, an average of 7.3."

A smile appeared on her face, but she tried to subdue it as much as she could for fear of being rude to her competitor. Instead, she simply nodded once again. "Understood."

Emma stepped up for the last of the scores. "Your final score, Senna, following your Lapras' performance, was a 6.3, the average of 7, 7 and 8. You really shined with that final performance." She motioned towards Kimberly. "Kimberly, your Blastoise earned a score of 7.6, averaging individual scores of 8, 6 and 9."

Rosemary offered some final commentary. "We determine the winner by averaging the scores of the three rounds together. When all is said and done, Senna's average was a 6.3. A solid performance, but it was dragged down by the improvised display your Tirtouga gave us."

"Perhaps Rakushka and I should have stuck to plan," Senna responded. She had already done the math in her head and knew what was coming next.

"Kimberly's final score was 7.3, which makes her the winner of this round! Congratulations, Kimberly, you're moving on!"

Kimberly tried to contain her excitement as best as she could, adhering to the tenets of sportsmanship. "Thank you! Thank you... I... I don't know what to say!"

"You don't need to say anything, if you don't want to."

She turned to Senna and offered to shake her hand. "It was fun competing against you! I was worried for a bit that I might lose, you're really good at this!"

Senna shook her hand, as well as her head. "Not good enough. But this is learning process. I will be ready next time. I wish you best of luck."

"That's it for our first match! Up next, we have Hoster Burnett and Chelsea Griffith competing against each other, so stay tuned! We'll be right back after a word from our sponsors!"

Kimberly was seated in her wardrobe room, watching the beginning of the next match up of the night, Hoster vs. Chelsea. She clutched a sleeping and purring Telandra in her arms as an effort to keep herself calm; she was visibly shaking, both from the excitement of moving onto the next round and the nervousness of knowing she'd have to step out onto the stage again. "We did well, Tela..." she said. "I can only hope that the next round goes as smoothly."

There was a knock at the door.

"You may enter!" she said.

The door swung open and Andrea stepped in. She extended her arms out in excitement. "Hey! Congratulations for making it to the second round!"

"Thank you, friend!" she said. "Thank you for stopping by again... This would be a boring hour and a half without someone to chat with."

Andrea pulled up a chair next to her and sat down. As she began to pet the resting Telandra, she asked, "Hour and a half?"

"The second round doesn't begin until after 10 PM," she started.

Her attention was quickly grabbed by what appeared on the TV screen; Chelsea was just beginning her performance, accompanied by a Machoke seated on a chair in the center of the stage. As the camera focused on the Machoke, Chelsea entered from the left side of the screen and began to sensually rub her Machoke's shoulders. Within seconds, she was grinding up against him and rubbing all over his lap. Before long, the broadcast cut towards a view of the judges, and all three of them had looks of horror on their faces. A few seconds later, the screen went blank and 'WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK!' appeared on the screen.

She quivered at the sight. "By the gods, what is that lady doing?! Is this contest a joke to her?!"

Kimberly's horror was contrasted with Andrea's amusement. "Ha! That's one way to advertise what you do for a living!"

"That's not funny! Coordinators have been struggling for decades to achieve mainstream recognition, and she may have just undone so much of the progress our predecessors made..."

Andrea could feel that her choice of words was genuinely hurtful and offered her sincere apologies. "I'm sorry, I really shouldn't laugh... This is obviously important to you, otherwise you wouldn't be doing it. And you're doing a good job at it, too!"

"Really?"

"Well... I think, at least. I don't know anything about these contests but the crowd loved you!"

"What do you think? Are you enjoying it?"

"Yeah, I am! I was skeptical, but I'm glad I came tonight... it's been a nice escape from what's been going on."

She motioned towards the TV, which was still displaying an intermission. "Hopefully we can continue to enjoy the show... when it returns."