Disclaimer: Pokémon is still owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.
Chapter 11: Reflecting Performances
"Nidoking and nidoqueen have two types. Poison and?" Max asked Serena from the other side of the table, stacks of paper to his left and right. They were practising for a Quiz Theme Performance, but Danny wasn't here yet, so Max and Serena had decided to just have her answer questions as warm-up.
So far, she had only missed one question. "Ground," she told Max confidently.
"Correct. Name two Pokémon who need a Dusk Stone to evolve."
"Doublade and… lampent?" Serena ventured. Doublade was correct, she knew that, but she wasn't sure about lampent, but Max nodding told her she'd been right. "How many Pokémon evolve with that anyway?"
"Four. Misdreavus and murkrow need one as well," Max answered without hesitation. "How many Pokémon evolve using a Dawn Stone?" he asked as the door to the lobby opened with a soft sliding sound.
He started counting down on his hands when Serena took a bit too much time, but he still had two fingers left when she told him "Two. Male kirlia, female snorunt." She added the last bit because she expected Max to ask her that question after, but he didn't react, instead getting a new slip of paper. "You totally made that one up just now."
The grin was answer enough, but it made sense, what with froslass and Max having given Danny the Dawn Stone. "Yup. Which Pokémon is heavier? Solrock or lunatone?"
"No idea," Serena admitted, picking one in her head. "Lunatone?"
"Good guess. Lunatone are about ten percent heavier on average." Max put this slip away before diving into his pocket and putting a paper clip around the stack of unasked questions. "Did the Center finally run out of hot water?"
"Y'know I need it to feel a bit alive this week," Danny replied as he pulled up a chair and sat down on Serena's side. She moved her chair left a bit to allow him to sit at instead of near the table. "Don't get ill. It stinks." He paused, cocking his head. "At least I don't, now."
"We're going to need to buy more shower gel, aren't we?" Max asked with a roll of his eyes, ignoring the bad joke the same way Serena did – by pretending it didn't exist. "So, you ready for your first steps outside in over a week?"
Serena still didn't know why the boys were so fake mean to each other all the time, but ever since Danny had explained it a month back, she could at least understand it. And, truth be told, it was kind of funny sometimes, even when it was aimed at her. It was never malicious, and the one time Danny had joked about something Serena didn't like, he'd been faster than a rapidash in apologising.
Once outside, Max led them to a relatively nearby park. Fennekin walking beside Serena as she usually did when they were out. The Fire-type seemed happy today, not least because the sun made it really comfortable to be outside, and it hadn't rained in a few days, so the streets were all dry as well.
"So, here's how this is going to work," Max said as they reached a small skate ramp, with a playground next to it. Since it was not even lunchtime on a Monday, there were no children present. "I'm going to have baltoy hide some of these," he held up two small green bouncy balls – where had he found those? - before tossing them to his Psychic-type, who levitated them effortlessly. "You select a Pokémon and have them try to find one first. The trainer whose Pokémon returns first gets first shot at answering the question."
Serena was impressed. It was a lot like the actual Quiz Theme Performances they'd read about. The only difference was that some of the Performances featured having to destroy an object to get to the item you needed to retrieve, but they couldn't really do that here.
Serena chose fennekin, and Danny picked bunnelby. "First question. Which of eevee's evolutions weighs the least?"
Oh, that was a hard one. Serena was pretty sure sylveon were lighter than most of them, but she wasn't sure about espeon and jolteon, who also looked really light and sleek.
At least she had time to think about it while fennekin and bunnelby searched for the balls around the park. Bunnelby actually found one first on top of a slide, but fennekin found the other one hidden inside a spring rider, closer to them, and she was a tiny bit faster than bunnelby in any case. "Sylveon?" she half-guessed.
"Correct," Max said, collecting the balls and giving them to baltoy. Humans and Pokémon turned around. "How much of a guess was that?"
"A bit," Serena said, explaining her thought process and getting approving nods from both the boys. "I don't think they'd ask this during a Performance. It's probably too hard."
"Well, I have to challenge Danny here as well," Max said, and Danny gave him a glare right on cue. "Besides, this is for fennekin, not so much for you. You've been answering most stuff correctly, and the questions you didn't get were usually hard questions I had to look the answers up for."
Serena hadn't known that. She knew Max had spent some time figuring out questions over the past two weeks, but she had just thought it had all been from memory or just random facts he happened to know. She hadn't put it past him. "Oh."
Danny got the second question when bunnelby lucked on finding a ball inside ten seconds, but Serena had the opportunity to answer the next few questions first, missing only one when Max asked her about what type was rarest. She thought it was Ghost, but to her surprise – and Danny's as well, since he thought it was Dragon – it was Ice. "Right, next… last question," Max corrected with a blush as his stomach gurgled audibly. "Which Legendary Pokémon is known for being able grant wishes?"
Fennekin was first again, finding the bouncy ball hidden behind a skate ramp, but Serena was completely stumped at the question. "Eeeeh… arceus?" Wasn't granting wishes part of a god's arsenal?
"Jirachi," Danny answered as soon as Max indicated that Serena's answer was wrong. "Are you…"
"Correct, and yes," Max told them as he returned baltoy to its pokéball and the balls themselves to his pocket. "C'mon. I'm hungry."
Serena had no idea what they were talking about, so instead, she went and picked fennekin up, scratching her behind the ears. "Well done fennekin. You were great at finding them."
Fennekin gave a happy bark, before letting out a yip that sounded completely surprised. Serena had no time to ask her what it was about before her starter burst into white light.
She was frozen as the shape in her arm just… changed. Fennekin's paws that had been on her arms were replaced with something softer, and something comfortingly warm grew over her wrist as well. At the same time, the light reached all the way up to Serena's neck, forcing her to close her eyes. The Pokémon in her arms became heavier as well, but she could still hold her starter.
The lack of light shining through her eyelids told her the evolution had finished, and Serena opened her eyes, her head still angled down a tiny bit, and looked straight into the eyes of her braixen, who let out a happy "Brai!" at seeing her trainer look at her.
Serena gently set her starter down on two legs, and the Fire-type took a few unsteady steps, trying to find her balance, but she managed. Her legs looked pretty sturdy, too, unlike her frail arms. The tail had also grown in proportion to braixen's body, and that was was had fallen over her wrist, Serena realised.
"Braixen look pretty cool," Danny opined as he and Max crowded around, giving her Pokémon a good look over. "I thought they had branches, though."
In response, braixen jumped away, with surprising agility too, and climbed a tree, sitting on a large branch with a hand on her chin as she studied something.
Three small branches were studied, broken off, and discarded before a fourth one was approved of. The braixen jumped down, laid the branch on the ground, and gently breathed a weird flame over the wood. It was orange-red like normal, but it came with some purple edge to it that made it look spooky and eerie, and it also didn't burn the wood, or the grass around it, at all.
Ritual complete, braixen stuck the branch in her tail and walked up. "Xen,' she told them, sounding satisfied, but the three of them just stared at the branch in her tail. "Brai…" she said, offering the branch up.
It was wood, but… it wasn't. It felt and didn't feel like wood. It was harder, and not dirty, but still slightly swishy like branches of that size – about a hand and a half – normally were. It was against everything Serena had ever learned about nature, but it still existed.
Max's stomach rumbling interrupted the study, but the road to the nearest place to eat was filled with discussion about what had just happened. All Serena really knew is that the only one who knew for certain wasn't telling. In part, that was because she was a Pokémon, but Serena also thought that braixen just wouldn't tell even if she could speak human languages. The secretive smirk on her face certainly seemed to point to that.
~~§~~§~~
Max jolted awake suddenly, as a door slammed in the hallway, followed by hurried steps. He would have tried to ignore it, but opening his eyes revealed bleary, pale light falling onto the desk. Apparently, they hadn't closed the curtains completely, and the light that was coming through told Max it was probably about time to get up anyway, or close to it.
Twenty to eight wasn't the worst time to wake up, and now that he was actually a tiny bit more aware, he noticed Danny snoring – a side effect of the flu – above him. That settled it, and Max got out of bed as quietly as he could, slipping into his clothing and sneaking out of the room to let his friends sleep some more. Danny still needed it, and Serena definitely wanted it.
He greeted both Nurse Joys – one just finished with her shift, the other just starting – and walked over to the telephone booth, punching in the numbers that would connect him to the Littleroot Laboratory. For a moment, he felt bad about calling this early, but then he remembered the time difference, and he rolled his eyes at himself for forgetting that. Apparently, he wasn't fully awake yet.
"Up early, aren't you," Professor Birch greeted without waiting for the video to connect or Max to introduce himself. From what the teen had gathered, they were the only trainers that called to the Professor currently in Kalos. There were more like them – often a bit older – but they only dealt with the Laboratory for exchanging Pokémon, and they didn't need to call for that. "My nephew still coughing his lungs up, then?"
Max shook his head as the video flared into life, revealing a Professor with a bit of a changed hairstyle, courtesy of some Grass-type probably, if the leaves were any indication. "Just woke up. Someone slammed a door, and quarter to eight is okay for me. And yes," he added, pre-empting the adult, "I could have turned around and caught some more sleep. It's fine."
"Wasn't going to mention that, actually," the Professor said lightly, reaching to the side for a second. "I thought you were up early because of what day it is."
Oh, yeah, that was a thing too. "I'm not that awake yet," Max said, scratching his head sheepishly. "It's strange. It doesn't feel like it's been a year, but I'm not sure in which direction."
Professor Birch laughed. "Oh, if I had money every time somebody said that. It's always like that, Max, trust me. There's just so much to see and do and you can't believe you did that much in just one year."
"Exactly!" Max exclaimed, surprised the Professor got it so right. "Even if I did more with Ash, this feels like more."
"Because you were an actor in your own story, to borrow a phrase from my brother. Things you do are different, and you certainly did things in the last year." Two of his assistants walked past, neither paying attention to the call. "How ar… Hang on. Professor Sycamore is calling."
"Wait!" Max blurted out before the Professor could put him on hold. It caused a surprised look. "I need to talk to him too. I found something a few days back, but he was out of town."
The Professor looked sceptical, but accepted Max's words anyway, and soon the screen was split, showing two Professors side by side. "Good morning, Maxim, Max," the Kalos Professor greeted. "That's a convenient coincidence. I was hoping to catch you today, Max. My assistant said something about a Mega Stone you needed to identify?"
A pen clattered onto the keyboard in Littleroot, from the sound of it. "A Mega Stone? Max? What happened?"
"I found one, in the hills near Shalour," Max said, taking the Mega Stone out of his pocket. He'd forgotten to take it out of there last night, but he was glad it had happened this way now. "See? It was just lying on the ground in a dead end."
"You don't find Mega Stones just lying around," Professor Sycamore said, shaking his head sadly. "It's probably an elaborate fake. There's been reports of those." He sighed, the sound of a pokéball opening also coming from his end. "Still, let's test it anyway. You're still in Shalour?"
Max confirmed that, and a moment later, an alakazam appeared a few steps behind Max's chair, the quiet whoosh of teleportation only audible because the lobby was dead silent otherwise. The teen handed the Mega Stone to the Psychic-type, who Teleported out. "I'll be two minutes," Sycamore said before vanishing from sight, an icon at the bottom of his part of the screen showing he had muted his phone.
"I'd ask how you found it, but if it's not real, it's not important, and if it is real, Augustine will want to hear it as well," Professor Birch told Max. "So let's just wait for him to return."
Two minutes turned into four before a baffled Professor Sycamore walked into view. "I checked, double-checked, triple-checked even, and it's real. It's actually a real Mega Stone." He sounded faintly shocked as he held it up. "The chip is optical damage only: the energy readings are identical to another set I have on record. You're a very lucky Trainer, Max. It's a Manectite."
"Holy shit!" Max exclaimed loudly. "You mean…"
"If you find a Key Stone, and if you can make the Mega Evolution happen, you'd be the youngest user of Mega Evolution on record," Professor Sycamore half-answered Max's unasked question. "You are coming to Lumiose soon, right?"
Max tried to remember what Contests they had picked out for Serena to attend. There was one in Lagoon Town in six days, but then there weren't any nearby, or any at all, in the first half of April. There was one in Coumarine, near the end of April. "Sometime in May, I think."
"Well, there's plenty of time for you to beat that record. Professor Oak's grandson has that right now." Professor Sycamore still seemed a bit shocked as he handed the Mega Stone to something out of sight, and Max turned around to see the alakazam teleport in. "How did you find it again?"
Max told them the story of how vulpix – and he saw Professor Birch frown at that – led him to the Manectite, ending with the flicker that had forced him to close his eyes and the note that he had found. "We tried to make sense of the numbers on the note, but if it's a code, we didn't crack it."
"A note, you say..." Max saw the Kalos Professor close his eyes, a couple of fingers against his left temple. "That implies someone left it there with purpose, but what for? And who would do that?" He looked back up, frowning. "All we know is that it's someone with a powerful Pokémon capable of Teleport. The flicker you described is a technique used for disorientation."
"Augustine, you're the expert, but is it even possible for Max to use Mega Evolution? Your research notes suggested requirements," Professor Birch asked.
"An excellent question," was the reply as an unwelcome feeling settled in Max's stomach. Steven had told him a bit about what was needed, but the way the Professors spoke of it led him to believe the requirements were more detailed than what had been said. "Unfortunately, it is not one I can answer. Everyone we've asked has reported something slightly different, and even Pokémon from the same species require specific introspection to achieve the requisite connection."
"And as answering such a question is deeply personal, I assume you have been reticent in asking about what makes the Mega Evolutions work," Professor Birch ventured, to a confirming nod amidst a sip of coffee. "Well, that brings us no further. I suggest you ask Ash about it, Max. If anyone's going to be able to help you, it's him."
Max's stomach grumbled, loud enough that both of the Professors could hear it, prompting a laugh from Professor Birch and a simple smile from Professor Sycamore. "Well… I think I'll be going now.. Thanks Professors!"
"Max," Professor Sycamore said, stopping the teenager from ending the call. "Be careful with that stone. It has great worth, and I can think of many people who would want to lay their hands on one. Keep it well-hidden, and tell only those you trust utterly."
Max made his way to the cafeteria after ending the call, though he barely noticed what he ate – and nearly spilled some of it twice. He thought. Some time later, a hand on his shoulder startled him, but it was only Danny, bed hair and all. "You're up early," Max told his best friend while the latter took a seat, a sandwich in his hand.
Danny gave him a look of disbelief. "It's a quarter to ten. Can't call that early."
A quick look on the clock proved that Danny was telling the truth, and Max shook his head. It hadn't felt like half an hour, let alone an hour and a half. "Right. Sorry. Stuff on my mind. Mega Stone stuff. Not here," he added when Danny tried to ask a question. "In our room, once Serena's up."
"Boy, you sure are weird this morning," Danny told him. Max ignored that. "Serena is up, but she's taking a shower. We can talk once she's had breakfast. And you."
"I had some."
"Half of one," Danny said with a nod down, and Max saw half a bowl of cereal and about three quarters of a glass of water still left. The apple slices he had taken along were, at least, nowhere to be seen. "Go get some for yourself and Serena. I'll throw this out."
~~§~~§~~
For the first time in over three weeks, they were travelling to a new place. Danny had fully recovered from his illness, Serena's knee had also appreciated the rest, and all of them were anxious to continue their trek around Kalos. Lagoon Town wasn't that far off, and the direct route took them pretty much straight along the beach. At first, they were at sea level, but the road gradually sloped up, Max noted that the beach was now about fifty feet below them, if not more, with a climb up ahead.
By the time they were done, it was probably over a hundred feet to fall all the way down, but the view was worth it, and they took a moment to look into the distance. In the March sunlight, vision was pretty good, and Max could see the outlines of both Shalour and Lagoon in the distance. The latter was closer, but the Tower of Mastery was easily the most noticeable landmark.
A sudden gust of wind assaulted them, and Max heard Serena's swablu titter in dismay. The small Pokémon was using her Trainer's hair as a nest again, with Serena's own hat going to braixen. It was a bit too small for the Fox Pokémon's head, thanks to the orange tufts growing out of her ears, but she made it work. "So that's Lagoon Town," Serena said, suddenly. "Doesn't look too far from here."
"The inlet's going to ruin our day," Danny told her, taking the map from his pocket and unfolding it just enough. "It's too wide, and we're going to have to go around – it!"
With a second gust of wind, the map flew off, torn from Danny's hands and luckily floating away from the cliff. Danny hurried after it, to laughter from the two others. "How about we make lunch first," Max offered when a scowling Danny – at his own stupidity more than them, probably – rejoined the other two. "Preferably somewhere away from the cliff."
After finding a sufficiently sheltered spot to actually have lunch at, they sat down with a pre-packed salad and some other dried fruits, while swablu, braixen, and Max's manectric, who had decided to come out as well, ate some Pokémon food. Max barely got two bites in before Serena spoke up. "What's it like, meeting a Legendary?"
Max swallowed his food and restrained himself from sighing. Serena deserved a full response on this, and the pointed look Danny gave him spoke of a similar thought process there. "Except for the whole Legendary Pokémon part, just like normal ones," he said honestly. "Some are friendly, others try to harm you. Usual stuff."
"I still can't get over you being so desensitised to Legendaries," Danny said with a disbelieving smile. "You've probably met more than Uncle."
"Blame Ash for that. He's a Legendary magnet." Idly, Max wondered if Ash had finally met that raikou to round out the Johto Beasts.
"Okay, I'll bite," Serena interrupted the banter. "How many Legendaries have you actually met?"
"Uuuh..." He put his food down, starting to count. "Do we count multiple different Legendaries of the same kind as one or more encounters?"
"Make it one," Danny advised when Serena didn't reply. "Easier."
He ran through a quick double-check. "Twelve, then. Rayquaza, deoxys – twice – mew, celebi, manaphy, and the seven you know about."
Max had told Danny and Serena about the Kanto Battle Frontier after seeing a few of the Frontier Brains in the audience during the Champion's League. That had led to talk about Ash's challenges, and Max had dutifully talked the fights he remembered, which included the ones with articuno and the regis. Serena also knew of groudon and kyogre after the Geosenge Museum, and he'd told her about jirachi a few days back. And the fake groudon, though he wasn't sure that counted anyway.
"Hang on? Celebi?" Danny questioned. "I don't remember you telling me about that."
"Eh, it was simple stuff. Celebi was hurt, we tagged along with a Pokémon Ranger and made sure it was okay. Nothing compared to some of the others." Danny nodded in understanding, but Serena was still sitting there with her jaw wide open. "Trying to catch flies?"
Max's remark prompted a glare. "Ha ha," she said sarcastically. "Twelve Legendaries? How many were dangerous? You're lucky to be alive."
"Twelve unique Legendaries," Danny corrected Serena, and Max didn't know whether to thank him for making the point Max was going to make himself or to be annoyed for being so blunt about it. "And only like half were hostile." Danny cocked his head. "Huh. No wonder you're so calm about them. It makes a bit of sense, in some twisted way."
"I want to hear about them," Serena demanded loudly. Manectric actually looked up at them, Max noted. "You owe us that."
Part of Max wanted to tell Serena that he owed them nothing, but the shock of realising that he had actually thought that stopped it from coming out. "As long as I get to decide the order."
"And one story per week," Serena added to her demands. "I thought we were done with the secrets."
Max really had to bite his tongue to not point out that everyone had secrets, her included, but he managed.
Somehow.
~~§~~§~~
She had been in bed for an hour, as had Max and Danny, but still, Serena couldn't sleep. The bed was too warm, but then her foot was too cold if she let it out from under the covers. Every position she tried was uncomfortable, and while the boys' breathing had long evened out, her attempts at forcing sleep the same way didn't work.
She slipped out of the bed as quietly as she could, leaving the covers at the end of the bed to let it cool down a bit, and after grabbing braixen's pokéball, she left the room, heading to the lounge. If some of the older trainers gave her weird looks for coming here in her pyjamas, she didn't see.
She'd sat in a corner for maybe two minutes when she heard someone else sit down at her table. Looking up, she saw a sleepy-looking Danny in the old and faded shirt he used to sleep in. It looked a bit too small on him up close. "Couldn't sle-eeep?" he asked, rapidly and violently shaking his head. "Nervous for tomorrow?"
"I guess?" she ventured. "Why are you here?"
"To help you with that. Make sure you sleep." He yawned again. "Max owes me bi-hiiiig for this. Was having the nicest dream."
Serena resisted the urge to giggle. "If he woke you up, why isn't he here?" she wondered.
"He doesn't do nerves for stuff like this. Used to it from everything," Danny told her as he sent froslass out, pressing his face to his Pokémon's for a brief moment. The soft yelp that escaped his mouth was very not-masculine, but he did look a lot more awake all of a sudden. "He said he's seen too much or something. He can't relate."
"And you can? It's not a battle," Serena said, feeling a bit conflicted about the boys apparently reading her like an open book. It felt strange to be anticipated like that by someone not family.
Danny returned his Ice-type before answering. "You're still on a stage hoping to not make a fool of yourself. And for everything to go as planned," Danny countered, shrugging. "League battle or Showcase or Contest or whatever, that's not different. Am I right?"
As a matter of fact, he had hit it on the nose. "Yes, exactly!" she said enthusiastically, before she winced at how loud she was in the mostly silent lounge. "I know we practised, but it's different for just us three than it is for an audience."
"Didn't you do dancing? Never had a school dance or something?"
"Yes, but..."
"But what?" Danny interrupted, ignoring Serena's sound of annoyance. "So what if it's been a while? Stuff like that doesn't change. What was it like for that?"
Serena cast her mind back to the dance recitals, but try as she might, she didn't recall being really nervous during the dancing. Before, sure, but when she was dancing, she was focused on getting the dance right, not on being nervous. "Uh… I think you're right, but it's still different. What if I lose in the first round?"
Danny gave one of those boyish shrugs that so annoyed her. "Then you do, and you figure out where you went wrong. And don't tell me you think you're not good enough," he added, somehow reading Serena's mind about one of her fears. "A wise man told me that it's not about how good you are, it's about how good you can be, and working to get there." He put his hand on hers, the sudden contact comforting. "But you can't get there if you doubt yourself too much."
"It's too late for this deep stuff," Serena said, glancing at the clock. Quarter to eleven already. "I don't want to think about life mysteries. I just want to sleep."
Danny stood up, somehow not letting her hand go, and Serena felt forced to stand up as well. "Let's get some warm milk. That'll help."
The Nurse Joy was understanding, and she gave them two mugs of warm milk not too long after. The temperature was just right too, allowing them to drink it pretty quickly.
As soon as she finished the milk, Serena felt a yawn bubbling up, and the pleasant tingle that came with the long yawn was so welcome. "Let's go back now."
"Good idea," Danny replied as he took her mug and placed both of them back on the counter. Nurse Joy was temporarily absent, but Serena figured she'd pick them up. "You ready to try and sleep, then?"
"Let's try," Serena agreed as they started walking. One question did remain on her mind. "Who told you that stuff about being good? Your uncle? Your father?"
"Nah. That was Drake. Former Hoenn Elite Four member."
She hadn't expected that, and they entered their room in silence, finding Max reading the book she had given him for his birthday. He gave them a short nod in greeting, put the book away, and crawled back under the covers as Danny climbed the ladder up the bunk bed.
The bed was so comfortable now.
~~§~~§~~
Serena and the other two Performers – she'd missed their names – took the platform up to the stage, appearing to polite applause and three make-up areas. They were the second group up, so Monsieur Pierre didn't explain what they had to do, as they'd heard it before. Instead, all of the girls moved to their respective stall, and with a snap of his fingers, the hourglass started ticking.
Serena took quick stock of what was available. Not a lot of make-up: only the bare minimum in standard colours; rouge, pink, the likes. A lot of lint was available, as well as at least six pairs of scissors to cut lint, fur, clothing, whatever was wanted. Various dresses and an assortment of tuxedos hung from a rod covering one side entirely, and a simple chest was hidden away underneath all of the clothes.
Serena pulled the chest out first, wheels making it easier than expected, and opened it. In it, she saw various hats and other headgear, but one item in particular caught her attention. It was a beautiful silver tiara, with the symbol for fire taking front and centre. She took the tiara, shoved the chest back to its original position, and sent braixen out.
It fit perfectly on her starter's head.
She'd seen two dresses that had looked like they would fit well with braixen's colour, but one of them – a lovely peach that would bring out the polite princess theme and look great next to her pink dress – was too small, and so she took the other option: a larger golden-yellow dress. It fit well in general, but it was slightly too long in the back, and Serena could see a small drag as the Fire-type took what few steps she could in the small space.
Then her starter did something with her tail, and the drag nearly disappeared. "Well done braixen," she complimented. A look on the clock revealed that she had nearly seven minutes left, and with just make-up to go, she felt pretty good.
In the end, she went with minimal make-up. The focus was on the tiara and the dress, and too much make-up would distract people from that, Serena felt. It did mean she had three minutes of doing nothing at the end, but that was okay. It gave her time to coach braixen.
They all came out as Monsieur Pierre commanded them to, and Serena saw her competition. The girl to her immediate left had gone for a furfrou trim with a wide-brimmed hat, but the La Reine Trim wasn't that great in Serena's opinion. The girl on the far left seemed better, having gone for a flower wreath and some make-up on her sunflora. Serena wasn't sure about what looked like nail polish on the tips of sunflora's leaves, but the audience would have to decide.
She felt her heart trying to burst into her throat as she walked up the catwalk, both her and braixen giving a small curtsey to the audience as they reach its end and then turning back around – Serena turning clockwise and braixen counter-clockwise – and walking back to the main stage.
She felt, and saw from the corner of her eye, braixen stumble slightly as they were a few steps away from Monsieur Pierre, but braixen gripped Serena's right hand tightly and managed to keep the tiara sat on her head, so it ended up being okay.
Serena really wanted to let out a big sigh of relief, but she couldn't. She'd been the first, and the audience would need to see that she could maintain composure while her competitors walked up and down the catwalk as well, and so she waited for them to do their thing.
And then the votes.
Serena was dark green, while the girl with the sunflora was light blue, and from the moment voting was allowed, she saw equal amounts of both, with only a little bit of yellow sprinkled in. "Oh, this is a close race," Monsieur Pierre commented. "Who will come out ahead, huh?"
She couldn't look at the screen tallying the scores, because it was straight up from where she was standing, but the amount of votes that she had seen go for her made her feel a lot better. She'd been afraid of going out like the girl with the furfrou, but losing it like this was a bit better.
"And the winner by only three votes is…" Monsieur Pierre started, drawing out the silence. "Serena!"
The spotlight went onto her, nearly blinding her, but she remembered to curtsey in thanks, and braixen mirrored her.
Now to wait for… a long time. She didn't know how long exactly. There were six more rounds to go, and a small break separated the last Theme Performance from the first Freestyle Performance to boot. The order for the Freestyle Performances was fixed in some weird pattern Serena didn't understand: she had expected to go second, as she was in the second group, but apparently, the winner from the second group would go sixth?
Weird.
At least it gave her time to think about what to do. She'd had an idea while waiting for the timer to run out earlier…
The two-and-a-half hours passed faster than Serena had wanted it to, but she thought braixen had understood what she wanted, and her other Pokémon was on board as well. With a deep breath, she walked onto the stage carefully, mindful of how she walked. Braixen walked beside her, and after a short bow to the audience and Monsieur Pierre, Trainer and Pokémon stood opposite each other, Serena about thirty feet away from her starter.
Her starter waved her branch in a large circle, sparks on the end forming into a fiery circle that had braixen on one end and Serena on the other. The flames burned low, but bright, and the lights dimmed as she had requested.
Time to begin.
Braixen directed the flames towards Serena, who took a quick three steps before kneeling, settling into a praying position, her hands palms up, a necklace she'd found in the props lifted skyward. "I offer thee this, oh great Queen."
As agreed on, braixen flung the necklace aside with a gentle but swift application of her budding psychic powers, the violet energy sweeping over Serena's hands and making them tingle.
The flames started moving, and Serena crossed most of the circle with quick but calm movements as the flame slowly chased her. Again, she took out a prop; a golden-coloured bracelet that looked old, but was actually plastic, and she repeated her words of before.
Braixen flung this left, and Serena nearly flinched when the bracelet barely stayed on the stage. No time to dawdle, time to move. She walked to her starter, kneeling in front of the fox-like Pokémon, offering the third item.
This time, braixen walked up, taking the tiara – the same tiara she had worn during the Theme Performance – in her hand before causing a wall of flame to erupt behind Serena.
The heat was more than she expected, but it was over soon, and when the fire vanished, a boy stood there. He was about as tall as Serena was, with brown hair down to his shoulders, wearing a tuxedo and a mask to obscure his face. He held out a hand, and Serena accepted.
They led each other into a waltz, swaying to the music that had set in, the circle of fire revolving around them. He was light on his feet, but not as familiar with the dance as Serena was, meaning that she led most of the time, though she let him lead her through an arch of fire. The heat was blistering for a moment as they passed underneath, making the return to the normal warm air all the more soothing as sweat on her face cooled down.
After a minute or so, the dance ended, and the boy stepped back, bowing deeply before vanishing in a pillar of fire, and Serena turned back to braixen, kneeling once more. "Did I please you, my Queen?"
Braixen beckoned for her to rise, and she did. A gesture, and Serena saw blue dance just above her eyes – a blue crown of fire settling on her head, without any heat or burning.
She bowed to the audience, braixen swiftly doing the same beside her, and as she bowed a second time, zorua appeared from nowhere, jumping into Serena's arms as she straightened up.
The applause was more than a minute long. She counted.
She left as two wartortle moved in to make sure every bit of fire had been extinguished. Braixen had removed all of it as far as Serena saw, but you could never be too careful, and she returned to the waiting room, where the five Performers that had preceded her immediately mobbed her.
They had liked it. A lot. Serena missed the last two Performances just answering questions about how long it had taken to get this to work, about how well braixen controlled the fire, about how well zorua was able to dance… The questions didn't end, though they had to once a Showcase assistant called everyone up.
"And now, we vote for the winner of the Lagoon Town Princess Key," Monsieur Pierre said as all eight contestants lined up across the stage, spaced some ten feet apart each. "Remember, choose the number associated with the contestant carefully. You can only vote once."
The familiar light show returned, this time all white, as the small balls flew into the key pinned on every contestant's clothing.
The theatre was packed to capacity and the lights were bright, and between that and the amount of lights coming Serena's way, she had no idea how anyone was doing, except that she was probably not going to end last. She had quickly lost count of how many votes she had received, but that was just impossible to keep up with anyway.
"We have a winner," Monsieur Pierre announced after a minute of voting, and all the lights suddenly went out, leaving the stage in near-total darkness, except for a few lamps in the audience. "In a dominating performance, gathering nearly fifty-five percent of all the votes, the winner is… Contestant number six: Serena from Vaniville Town!"
The ceremony that followed passed in a bit of a haze. The words 'I won in my first Showcase' kept echoing through Serena's head, and she vaguely felt a smile threaten to split her face apart, but even ten minutes after, she had completely forgotten what Monsieur Pierre had told her on stage. It probably wasn't important anyway, and if it was, Max and Danny could tell her.
Both boys were ecstatic as they met back up. Danny immediately hugged her, and Max's hug was only restrained by comparison. "That. Was. Amazing," Danny told her as they looked at the Princess Key that Serena had been given. "Everyone loved how cool it was, and how calm you were. Or looked, at least," he added, winking.
Serena giggled, their talk from the night before still fresh in her mind. "It was sort of a spur of the moment thing. I just had the idea while waiting, and… it worked out."
To Serena's surprise, Danny shoved Max. "You're being a bad influence. Now Serena's doing crazy stuff too."
"I'll corrupt you yet, muahahahaha," Max said, sounding almost cartoonish, his voice shaking with genuine laughter near the end, and that set the rest of them off as well. "I'm surprised the theatre officials didn't go crazy over the idea. How long did you take to convince them?"
"Three separate demonstrations of braixen's control."
"Could have been worse. Just like your first Showcase."
~~§~~§~~§~~§~~
Vaniville Talent Wins Lagoon Showcase
A first-time Performer took the Lagoon Town Showcase Princess Key in dominant fashion this Sunday. The girl, who gave her name as Serena, barely made it through the Theme Performance after her braixen stumbled on the catwalk, but her Freestyle Performance was on a wholly other tier. Utilising the pyrokinesis of her starter and the illusions of a zorua, the twelve year old beat out several seasoned Performers with a great appeal involving fire, praying, and dancing.