Chapter 11: Opportunity Knocks
May 27
They had been in Virbank for nearly a month when they decided to try out the Gym. Even though they had been there that long, it took a little while to find the Gym. It was a slim building, less than half the size of the buildings around it. However, it did have a neon Pokeball sign above the entrance, and the sign nearby said it was the 'Koffing Rock Club' and the Virbank City Gym.
Walking into the staircase, Rosa was reminded of a subway; it had that kind of bright yet sparse lighting, along with roughed up walls with peeling paint and many colorful posters. But some of it seemed artfully worn. Like the peeled paint, when she took a closer look as she walked by. Most of the areas where posters could be put had smoother paint, even if there were various patches of whites and grays. The peels were out of the way.
"Make sure to watch your step," Nate said teasingly. "This staircase is steep and you'd knock me down if you fall."
"Hey, I don't always fall," she said, right before she nearly tripped off the last step before a small square landing. She just laughed it off, looking at the posters around. There were a lot about bands, especially Roxie's own. Further down, they could hear the drum beats of a loud song. It grew more and more distinct as they came down.
By the time they reached the reception desk, they could even hear the vocals. There was a guy there with black hair spiked up with yellow tips. He also had a black tank top with a logo of the club on it. "Afternoon, kids," he said. "The band's in practicing, but if you're here for the Gym, I can give them a holler for a break."
"Sure, both of us are here to challenge Roxie," Nate said, getting his card and team ready to register.
"All right," he said, getting the scanner ready. "She doesn't have any particular method to the Gym, so you'll just see what you get." Once they were registered, the guy made a call, having them wait. The song stopped while the challenge was arranged. Then he hung up the phone. "Go on ahead, and good luck."
Inside, they were met with a mostly empty club, one that seemed like it should be much busier. The tables and chairs were scattered about. At one table, there was a man in blue slacks and a fancy blue shirt with a matching scarf. Another man was sitting in a corner, somehow finding time to study and type on his computer with the band practice going on. Up on a platform, there was a dark skinned man in dreadlocks running the sound equipment. The Gym staff appeared to be on stage. There was a large man in a leather vest at the drums, and a young woman with a long purple ponytail on the guitar.
Roxie was in the center, as another guitarist and the vocalist. At first, Rosa wasn't sure where she'd seen her before; she had a white ponytail similar to the guitarist, only not as long. She wore an oversized striped shirt that happened to match her guitar. She had probably seen Roxie on TV, but after thinking that, she remembered when they had first come into Virbank. She had been the one arguing with the man outside the Pokecenter. But, that wasn't important to them, right?
"We've got two of you at once, huh?" Roxie asked, clutching her guitar in a confident poise. "Same badge level, same time... you two rivals or sweethearts?"
"N-neither!" Rosa said, stopping a few feet from the stage. In the meantime, the two others on stage put away their instruments.
"We're cooperating for the most part," Nate said, not as bothered.
Roxie smirked. "But after the same goal, since you're both in the League challenger roster. You're going to end up as competitors sooner or later. Then, how about sooner? Each of you will battle one of my band members, and whichever one of you wins faster gets to challenge me first. Right then, let's see you do it!" She pointed for her band members, and Gym Trainers to challenge them.
They were competitors? Rosa hadn't thought about that much, even when they battled each other for practice. But she didn't get long to think about it before the guitarist and drummer dropped off stage. Rosa ended up fighting against the guitarist. Finn wound up getting poisoned, but he managed to win the battle on his own.
But Nate was still in battle with the drummer, as his Magnemite was fighting against a Grimer. So she had to fight Roxie first.
Undella Bay
"Hey mister!" a girl's voice called out over the waves. "Careful of the rising tide!"
Surrounded by the salty scent of the ocean, Colress smiled at the concern of the stranger. The warm waters were inching in to cover the pale sandbar he was standing on. Triste happened to be looking out to her; he pointed with one of his hands, making the small lights there blink individually. "Heeeii," the Elgyem said.
He turned around to see who it was, part out of curiosity and part out of caution. On seeing the girl riding on a two-headed Dragon Pokemon in the waves, he wondered if Triste managed to recognize the importance of her. "It's no trouble, miss," he said, waving to her. "The person I'm waiting on shouldn't be much longer."
"I hope it's not much longer for you to wait, cause the tide can come in quick," she said. "You do have a surfing Pokemon, don't you?"
Colress shook his head. "Nope. I'm not worried, though. Say, you're the Champion, Iris, aren't you? What would you be doing out here?"
As he thought, hearing that he didn't have a Pokemon to get him back to shore got her to direct her dragon to the sandbar he was on. "Yup, that's me," Iris said. "I'm training my Pokemon out here, as swimming's a good exercise for them. You sure you're okay?" She hopped off onto the sand as soon as she could.
"I have faith in my co-worker," he said, taking out his tablet from his bag. "It's quite lucky that you came along, though. My name is Colress, and I'm a scientist studying Pokemon training."
"Oh really?" she said, her black eyes brightening in interest. "I've heard about you! You were hanging around Lenora's Gym for a while watching the Trainers."
He nodded. "That's right. Would you mind allowing me an interview about how you train your Pokemon?"
"Hmmm..." she looked down at the water's edge, creeping back and forth, mostly forth. "Maybe not here. But what're you studying Trainers for?"
"Training, although trainers are involved," he explained. "Actually, my original interest was seeing how to bring out the best in any Pokemon, how to raise them to their max potential. While we've made tremendous advances over the past century, I'm sure that there's more we can do to help them out. I've narrowed my focus down on training itself for now, although there's many aspects I'm investigating over the long term. What I'd like to do is eventually have a Pokemon of unexpected power, still within healthy and happy limits of course. A person like yourself would be valuable to my study."
"I think my grandpa would be a bigger help than me," Iris said, smiling proudly. "I may be the regional Champion, but I am still learning; he's a real living master."
He gave a nod to that. "Yes, but all sorts are important to proper research."
Then, Triste came up and poked his shoulder. "Eeeesa," he warbled, pointing to the ocean.
Colress turned around. "Oh, is she coming up?"
A moment later, a Wailmer surfaced close to the sandbar, carrying a member of Team Plasma on its back. Of course, the agent was dressed in an unmarked diving suit with a scuba tank on her back, so it was impossible for an outsider to know she was a part of the team. The diver got off the Wailmer's back and walked over to them. After shifting her breathing tube aside, she said, "Uh, s-sir..."
"I already said that it's fine for you to call me by name," he said. At least when she couldn't be identified as a part of the team.
"R-right, Colress," she said, taking a small waterproof bag off her belt. "Here, I got what you asked for: sand from the, the lowest floor we could reach. And just in time too, it seems."
He smiled wide as he took the bag of wet sand from her. "Ah, excellent. See, I told you it could be done. Thank you."
"Ye-yeah," she said, looking down and seeming relieved.
"What's that for?" Iris asked, tilting her head up at them.
"Voodoo," Colress said without hesitation.
That made the girl laugh while the woman from Plasma tensed slightly. "Voodoo? But I thought you said you were a scientist, not a witch doctor."
He turned to her, raising a finger up and shaking it reprovingly. "Ah, that is true. Just because I believe in science doesn't mean I have no interest in old superstitions. There's always a grain of truth somewhere in them; one just needs to filter out the mystique from the substance. For instance, those frail gems those witch doctors and gypsies use often can be proven to have power. One just has to find the right way to use it." He then looked at the diver. "Well then, shall we go? I was going to talk to the young lady here in Undella, but if you have your own business, we can part at the beach."
"Right, we'd better go before this sandbar vanishes," she said.
"Okay, I'll meet you at the Coral Cafe!" Iris said, heading back to her Dragon. Colress waded out into the water far enough to get on the Wailmer's back with the diver and they all headed to shore.
Virbank Gym
"Yow, you both got me today," Roxie said, grinning and putting her guitar on her back now that the battle was over. "You both work so well with your teams, even if you are only on your second badge. Speaking of which, here's your Toxic Badge. Keep it with pride."
"Sure thing," Nate said, grinning as he accepted it.
"You'll be moving on, I guess?" When they nodded, she came off the stage. "Well you have the Aspertia badge, and at this time, there aren't any other Gyms for the Unova League on this side of the bay. You're going to need to cross the water. I'm going to check up on the old man about the ferry. Don't worry none; find something to do and check up on the ferry house in the evening. Guys, take a break for half an hour."
"Right, thanks," Rosa said. She turned to Nate. "Then, what should we do?"
He shrugged, then stretched his arms behind his head. "I don't know about you, but I'm fine with just chilling out and letting the Pokemon have fun."
"Hey, pardon my intrusion," a curly-haired man said. It was the one who had been sitting at the table this whole time. "But I was just watching you two battle here. You're both fine energetic youths with friendly Pokemon, and I think the two of you have real star potential. Would you like to come to Pokestar Studios and have a try at making a movie?"
Pokestar Studios? That, that was the springboard of the carers of many modern stars. Much of what came out of it wasn't full-length movies, but rather movie shorts. They recycled the scripts every few years, that was well known, but each version was said to be unique, with different actors. But more importantly, Pokestar was where a lot of big stars, even superstars, even Christoph, were found by bigger studios. So if they were given a chance to be in a Pokestar movie... they might get the chance to become superstars.
"I don't know if we have time for that," Nate said.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHIEEEE, that's amazing!" Rosa shrieked happily, then she grabbed the man's hand. "You really think so? Can we, please?"
He laughed. "I'm sure of it. I'm a talent agent for the studio. And don't worry, it won't take up much of your time to come look around and try it out. Just get your Pokemon healed up and meet me on the other side of the gatehouse to the north. I've got to get my boss. See you in a bit." He slipped his hand out of Rosa's grasp, then headed out of the club.
"Yeah, we'll be there!" Rosa said, then turned to Nate and jumped in place. "We can be in a movie! Isn't that awesome? If we do really well and people love us, then we might be able to become real movie stars! I always thought it'd be the best to be a big screen actor, and just to have that come out of blue is almost unbelievable, but it happened! This'll be great!" Then she hugged him in excitement.
He froze for a moment, then pushed away. "Um, I suppose. Although it does seem awful sudden."
"Aw, why aren't you excited?" She knew that he tended to be serious, but he also had his fun moments. Besides, being a big star was a dream that everybody shared. Why would he even think about throwing away this once in a lifetime chance?
"It just seems like a distraction," he explained. "And you are right, this is unbelievable. Why would they ask for a couple of teens to be their actors on just watching a few battles? But if it won't take long to see, I don't see the harm in looking."
Maybe if he saw that it could be done, he'd go along with it. "Yeah, that's the ticket! Then let's go get our Pokemon healed up." She rushed out of the club, soon followed after by Nate.
Once that was done, they hurried on to the gatehouse in the northern part of Virbank, the one that was usually closed off by private guards. But those same guards seemed to recognize them and let them on through. Maybe the agent had taken some pictures, but it already felt like they were special. Past the regular gatehouse, there was a lavish setting that seemed like a dream, no, that was where dreams were made. A plush red carpet sat on the concrete walkway, leading up to a grand golden arch that served as the entrance. What lay beyond was just as grand.
On the path, the talent agent was talking with a man wearing a colorful suit with a matching top hat. "Oh, here they are," the agent said. "They did really well against Roxie, and with some work might even be stylish about it. It'd be interesting to see what they could do together. Rosa, Nate, this is the owner of Pokestar Studios, Mr. Stu Deeoh."
The man took a step closer to them, looking them over. "Yes, I see what you mean. You both could be quite popular, but you're regular teens that anyone could relate to. Would you like to star in one of our movies?"
"Oh yes!" Rosa said, clapping her hands together. "This is going to be fun!"
He laughed. "Excellent. We look to make the dreams of many people alive. Don't worry, your test run won't go long. I need to go talk to the director, so have a tour of the studios. Keen, take them around for a bit."
There were a number of people in the studio; some were in costume, some were in fancy suits, and others seemed to be other regular people. Maybe there were others like themselves who got to be actors, but Rosa didn't think on it long. There were too many things to be excited about. Like seeing various set pieces on display, a nice fountain, the large filming warehouse, and the extravagant screening theater.
"This is where we do the initial screening of all of our films," the agent said as they stood in front of the theater. "Our test audience, made up of our experts, staff, and volunteers from the public, decide on what version of the current script makes it out to the general public."
"What version?" Nate asked.
Nodding, the agent said, "We have a general script, but we leave the directors and the actors a lot of freedom to interpret it how they like. The test audience often knows the basic script from seeing all of the versions, so they like to see creativity and spirited actors. Although not so much that it wrecks the basic idea of the script."
"Do we get paid for this?" he asked.
"Does it matter?" Rosa asked him. "We get to be in a movie!"
He turned to her. "Well yes, but most actors are paid."
"If the particular film is chosen to go out of this theater, then you will be rewarded," the agent said. "Why don't we go inside? The owner hasn't called yet, and one of the test films is going to be screened shortly. It runs off the base script you'll be using, so maybe you'll get an idea of what you're going to do."
"Cool, I love the Pokestar films," Rosa said as they walked into the screening theater.
Inside, there was a small group of people gathered outside the entrance to one of the screen rooms. This included, interestingly enough, Roxie and the older man who was probably her father. They didn't really get time to say hi as the door to the particular theater opened and everyone went inside. In there, it was a really nice theater, with large comfortable seats.
"How long will this be?" Nate whispered after a minute.
"They're short films," Rosa said.
Then the lights darkened as the projector started up. A title screen came up, saying 'Test Screening- VIII- Brycen Man against Riolu Man: Carnival of Chaos'. From the second part of the title, Rosa knew it was one of the costumed hero series, which excited her. The last time it had gone out, she had been young girl and it had been one of her favorites. So was that the one they were going to play out? She had thought it couldn't get any more exciting, but then it did! She felt like fidgeting, but then she was supposed to be a young lady now. She tried to keep still.
It looked quite different, but hopefully it was just as good. There was a crowd in a carnival, colorfully lit up at night with several performers juggling bowling pins in the background. Then, the villain came out dressed in dark blue cloak and and an icy mask over his eyes. He looked like the former Gym Leader Brycen, who had retired from the League a year ago. Maybe it even was him, as he had been an actor as well. He did a great job.
After a little while, the hero Riolu Man came out, along with his Riolu partner. It looked like man who was with Roxie. But, he was pretty bad and not even in a good way. It was a pity, watching one of her favorite shows wrecked like that. But she could get a chance to make it really great in a little while.
They were given a survey to rate the movie, but from the talk going on, it seemed like others were disappointed in this version as well. Rosa filled out the survey, then headed out with Nate. "I think I'm seeing how they operate," he said quietly.
"The agent explained it to us," Rosa said.
He shrugged. "Yeah. But more than that."
"Oh." Well if he understood it, that was good. "That was a disappointing version. The one like this I saw years ago was brilliant, I loved it. This one, he was such a coward."
In the lobby, they found Roxie talking with her father. From the sound of it, she was trying to cheer him up. That made Rosa wonder about how he felt. He had been in there, and all those people had been talking about the version he had been in. He must have been feeling bad about it... Rosa felt kind of bad herself for saying what she did a moment ago. But, it had only been Nate who heard, right?
She wasn't able to talk with them, though as the agent found them quickly. "We made good timing," the agent said. "Stu told me that they're ready for you in the filming area. Go on over there; good luck with your test run."
"Okay, thanks!" Rosa said, trying to put on a cheerful face. As she thought over things, she tried to focus on her excitement. She could talk with Roxie's father later. But for now...
It was really exciting!
Across the studio, they entered the recording building. The owner met with them in the lobby. "Ah, here you are," he said, smiling. "Here is where all of our magic takes place, and by magic I mean CFX! We use green-screen actors to catch all of the action, and then by building the world around them through virtual technology, we can make our films in a few days rather than many months."
"I thought so," Nate said. Rosa looked at him, but it was still hard to know what he was thinking.
The owner seemed briefly uneasy at that, but then gave her a warm smile. "Yes... anyhow, the current script only calls for two actors and three Pokemon. You can choose to use either your own, if they're fitting for the script, or rent one of the studio But we have one of the studio actors who will work with one of you today. Which one of you wants to try out first?"
"Let her," Nate said quickly, before Rosa could even think about it.
"Thanks!" Rosa said, jumping up a little Then she thought she saw something move out of the corner of her eye, like someone taller than her was coming up. Was it something to worry about? A little part of herself felt like she should be cautious about people sneaking up on her, but her excitement ran that over quick.
Before she could look, the owner started talking again. "That's good of you, Nate. Okay Rosa, so let me introduce you to your co-star..."
"Hello," a man's voice said, from behind her.
"Eek!" Who was that? Tense with excitement, Rosa reacted without a thought, spinning around and slamming her fists into the man behind her. He got thrown aside and onto the ground a few feet away. But now that she got a good look at him, it was Brycen himself. She ran over to him. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! You just were suddenly behind me and I freaked out."
"I should apologize for sneaking up on you, rather," Brycen said, sitting up better. "You must have martial arts training."
"Uh, just a little bit," she said, blushing.
"You could have fooled us," Mr. Stu Deeoh said, coming over. "Are you okay Brycen?"
"Took the wind right out of me," he said, touching his torso then wincing.
"Maybe you should take the evening off," the agent said.
Rosa nodded. "Oh sure. Um, maybe we could try again later." But then the best idea came to her. This movie needed two actors. "Or, how about Nate takes his place?"
"Well..." the owner said, scratching his head.
"As long as it doesn't involve her punching me again, I'm fine," Nate said.
That annoyed Rosa, but in the end, that worked for the owner and the director. They were both escorted to the filming area, where they were given the basic script for the Trainer hero short film. Taking up much of the room was a large area with bright green floor and walls. Various cameras and other equipment (most of which she couldn't name) were in the extra space.
"The standard script calls for a Riolu, a Pawniard, and a Vullaby," Nate said, looking over the script.
"I have River," Rosa said, happy for that. "But I think the other two live elsewhere in the region."
He pointed at something on the script's third page. "Does she have something super-effective against a Flying type?"
"Oh, no," she said, flipping the pages of her own script. "Drat, I was hoping she could be a movie star too. I guess we'll have to use the rental Pokemon they have. But didn't the guy said he liked our Pokemon too?"
He shrugged. "Can't help what's in the script... Excuse me, director, but why are some of the lines blank?"
The director, a man with a red suit and a visor that said 'Director' on it, stopped by them. "Oh, you must be some of the new actors. Yes, some of the lines are blank, but that's because you can choose what you want to say or do there. I might adjust things as well, depending on what you do. We want everyone to be creative."
"Creative, huh?" Nate said, sounding like he wasn't impressed.
"That sounds fun!" Rosa said. "Are we starting right away? I don't know if I can memorize all this that fast."
The director nodded. "We can get started as soon as we have the Pokemon out. And don't worry about memorizing the script. There's a lot of editing to do, so take as long as you need to in checking the script and redoing lines."
"We'll use the studio Pokemon," Rosa told them. So they had all the time they needed to get it right? That was good.
"I'll go get them, then," the director said, going towards a window in one of the non-green walls.
Since they had a moment, Rosa turned to Nate. "What's up with you? You're acting like this is no big deal, but we're going to be in a movie! Most people can only dream about getting this chance."
He shrugged. "Sorry, but... I'm just trying to think about this realistically. At first, I thought it must be inefficient to film the way they describe but then... recycling scripts with parts made up on the spot, getting actors off the street, CGI, multiple versions of which only one may be released to other theaters, shorts that depend on flat stock characters... I wonder how many other corners they cut in order to produce a large amount of material in order to find that one golden version that makes all the money? It must be like shifting through a collection of fanfics online to find that one good one."
"Now you're just being sour," she teased him, mockingly punching him (lightly). "Let's just have fun with this."
He put his hand up defensively, smiling. "Okay, okay. Sorry. Hey, you said that this was one of your favorites, right? Why don't you choose which role you want?"
Pleased by that, Rosa said, "You're letting me choose? Yes! Oh, sorry, I don't want to offend you, but I want to play the hero. You okay with the villain?"
"Sure," Nate said.
After a while of questions and setting up, the two of them were told to go into the green screen area. They were allowed to keep their regular outfits, even though the film would have them in costume. That was part of the script instructions, how to account for the costumes. The only exception was that the direction had asked them to leave their visors to the side, saying that it would be easier than editing that out. "Start filming," the director said. "And, action!"
Rosa was ready to go, but Nate had most of the lines as the villain (probably because they were expecting the villain to be played by one of the studio actors like Brycen). So he started off with releasing the Pawniard, going the extra mile by sweeping his hand out as he did so, as if he was flinging aside a large cape. "Such a sight, this sparkling carnival. You people are all moving through like you're in a dream. Feh, but none of you deserve it! I will turn your dream into a nightmare! Come, my Pawniard, bring chaos and destruction to this night."
"Kkkkzzzsa?" The Pawniard hesitated for a moment, as if uncertain of why Brycen wasn't there.
"Don't worry about it," Nate said in his usual less dramatic voice. "You should do something that looks vicious and intimidating for the audience."
Rosa grinned. "Oh yeah! Come on Pawniard, you can do it. Just whirl around and swing your blades, like this!" She then spun around once, slashing her hands through the air like they were bladed.
"Kuzza," the Pawniard said, his eyes seeming to glint. Then he imitated what she did, only ending up on a different pose where he crossed his arms in front of himself, then slashed down and spread his arms out wide behind it.
The director laughed. "Nice one. You two do well with Pokemon."
"They should be having fun too," Rosa said. "Didn't you have more lines?"
"Yeah," Nate said, kneeling while checking his script again. Then he dropped it and stood back up. After a moment, he gave a boastful evil-villain laugh. "Come on, cower before me! You ignorant masses have no idea of what's really going on around you. I will show you the meaning of fear and despair."
Watching him get into it, Rosa shivered. He was scary when playing a villain and the Pawniard really was having fun being his minion Pokemon. But, she was to be the heroine, so she had to match him. "Hold it right there," she shouted as she released the rental Riolu.
"Riii..." the Riolu started to call out when he saw the look on the Pawniard's face. "Yipe!" He stumbled back and crashed into Rosa's leg.
"Zzzizzca," the Pawniard said, calming down a little.
Rosa dropped down and hugged the Riolu. "Oh, you're okay. But we need to really act, buddy! Come out and face him like a real hero."
He looked back at her, puzzled. "Rii?" Then he seemed to see something and wagged his tail. He patted her hand, then got back onto his feet and was eager to go.
"Let's try that again," the director said.
"Okay," Rosa said, getting up. "Now remember, when you come out next, you gotta show that you aren't letting anyone intimidate you."
The Riolu barked happily, then was recalled. When Rosa redid her line and called him back out, he called out, "Ri lu!" Then he made fists and held them out like he was ready for battle.
"Good one," Rosa said quietly.
"Hmph, and who would you be?" Nate asked in his villain persona, showing disdain. "You hardly look impressive."
To go along with the act, Rosa frowned, but then put on a serious face and brought her fist to her chest. "I am the hero of ideals, sent to defend the truth. I am here to stop you from your destructive schemes."
He gave her a smirk. "Are you now? What use is the ideal, or the truth? It is nothing but a dream! For your insolence, I, Brycen-Man, will destroy you."
Unfortunately, the director interrupted the flow. "Should we leave it as that? Since Brycen's not the one in the villain role for this version."
"Oh wait, I have an idea!" Rosa said, jumping up. Then she pointed at Nate and got back into her role. "What are you talking about? You can't really be... are you Brycen?"
Nate brightened at that. "Oh yeah, a fake. Well then..." He paused, then asked, "Why would you suspect a deception? I am who I am. Pawniard, attack that Riolu!"
"Kzzzz," the Pawniard hissed, then sprang across the gap to slash its blades at the Riolu's face. Instead of connecting, the Riolu hopped aside and dodged.
"I could see that working," the director said, pacing and thinking.
As the cameras were still rolling, the act continued. "Riolu, use Force Palm on it!" Rosa called. According to the script, the Riolu had to use super effective moves against the two Pokemon belonging to Brycen-Man.
Force Palm knocked the Pawniard out. Briefly, Rosa wondered how these studio Pokemon liked their life. They win or lost according to a script, not to how skilled their partners were. Although, like with the version they had watched earlier, if the actor didn't know what they were doing with Pokemon battling, the Pokemon could lose when they were supposed to win. Hopefully they liked it.
Nate sneered, then switched out Pokeballs. "What use is trying? I'm going to end up humiliating you. Your dreams are futile, Riolu-Girl. Prepare to face the end of your brief career."
"Bring it on!" Rosa said, striking a confident pose.
He then brought out the Vullaby, who managed to get their mood despite having not been around to witness it. She spread her wings (admittingly slim wings) wide and puffed herself up to look bigger. "Raaaaa!"
Maybe Pokemon could really hear through the Pokeball. According to the script, she and Riolu had to move first. "Ice Punch, no hesitation," she ordered.
Barking in agreement, the Riolu dashed forward and turned his Ice Punch move into an uppercut, knocking the Vullaby backwards into the air. A pale blue glow followed both of them, hard to see against the bright green backdrop. Hopefully that made it into the recording.
"Your attempt at chaos and terror is over before it began," Rosa said, pointing at Nate again. "Now surrender yourself to the police and justice."
"Don't think you've gotten the best of me," Nate said, clenching his fist. "You may have won this time, but this isn't the end."
"Cut there," the director said, coming over to them. "That was quite good for novice actors, both of you. I'd be happy to work with either of you again. Make sure to talk to the receptionist at the door so that we have a number for both of you, so we can call you when your version is ready for the first screening test."
"All right!" Rosa said, jumping up and pumping her fist in the air. "We'll definitely be back to see it!"
Other than Pokestar Studios and the Gym, there's not a lot to Virbank. Well it is a good early grinding spot, and the Gym is pretty awesome. The Pokestar sidequest is also fun. They don't really pay you (despite income being in millions!), but you do end up with lots of useful items from the fans. I had so many lemonades...
