Pokemon Delta Sun and Theta Moon

Written by SkittleBoxx

Episode 13: The Appeal's the Deal!

At last, the Hau'oli Contest was starting, and one specific Cindy couldn't become any more excited.

Everyone backstage had stopped whatever they were doing beforehand, whether that was trying to figure out how a Seal worked or trying to choose the perfect Pokemon for the job. Instead of doing whatever, everyone had turned their attention to the television where the contest was on air.

On stage, two spotlights were lit onto a woman with frizzy orange hair and microphone. She held the mic up to her face and held one arm out. "It's time, and everyone's overflowing with excitement! That can only mean one thing..." The lights in the whole arena turned on and illuminated everything inside. "It's contest time!"

The whole audience burst into cheers and excitement, and a certain forest green-haired boy in the front row was no exception. He turned his head to his right, where he was expecting someone to be seated next to him. Where was Stephanie?

"We're coming to you live from the city overflowing with gentle joy, Hau'oli City!" the announcer continued. "Like any other contest, the winner of this contest will receive the grand prize, the prestigious Hau'oli Ribbon!" She dug into her pocket and held up a little something in a hand, which was reflecting the stage lights. The item had a golden clasp with a little crown on the top in the shape of an oval, and from the clasp ran two strips of fabric that were orange with white borders. "With this, the winner will be one step closer to collecting their five Ribbons needed for the Alola Grand Festival!"

Backstage, Cindy kept her determined blue eyes on the Ribbon and smirked. "That's my Ribbon..." She stood up and strode towards the door, knowing that she was first to take the stage and show what she was capable was. She walked towards the curtain and stood behind it as she continued to listen to the ceremonies going on on the other side of the blue fabric. She clutched her Pokeball tighter as the feelings of nervousness came back, but she dispelled them somewhat with a deep, calming breath.

The announcer moved over to the side of the stage, where a panel of three people were seated. They all waved to the TV camera that had panned towards them as the woman put a hand out to direct attention towards the first man. "And let's meet our judges! First up is the head of the Pokemon Activities Committee, Mr. Contesta!"

The older man bowed his head down and adjusted his red suit. "Thank you! I just can't wait to jump into the contest and see all these displays of talent put on by our Coordinators today!"

"And next," the woman continued, "the head of the Pokemon Fan Club, Mr. Sukizo!"

Next to Contesta, the shorter man never ceased smiling. "Hau'oli City is remarkable!"

"And finally, Hau'oli City's very own Nurse Joy!"

The nurse with the blue-purple cross on her hat bowed her head down. "Thank you. I bet I'm as excited as you are to see what our participants have in store. I wish everyone good luck."

Once all the judges were done speaking, the woman ran out to the other side of the field and then pointed to herself. "Oh, I almost forget to introduce myself! I'm the Alola region's master of ceremonies and announcer of this contest and many more, Adrian!" She swung her hand to divert everyone's attention from whatever was on their minds beforehand to the curtain, which was rising. "And our first contestant, Cindy from Celestiluna City! You're on!"

Cindy felt a bead of sweat run down the back of her neck, but she pushed through the panic and ran out onstage with Litten's Pokeball in hand. "Alrightly!" She spun around like a ballerina a few times as she released grip of the capsule device. She stopped rotating around to clearly shout, "Litten, the spotlight's on you!"

The Pokeball traveled through the air for a second before popping open. Instead of a ray of white plasma, the energy that came from the ball was a mass of flames that sparkled. The flames churned and swirled around for a second before the shape of the Fire Cat Pokemon was visible. With another pop and burst of fire, Litten was clear to the judges and the spectators. Gravity brought it down, then it landed on all four paws and put on its best face of determination.

"That's how a Seal works, Steph," she inaudibly whispered. She couldn't fight back an adrenaline forced smile as she swung her arm out to the stage. "Here we go! Litten, hold an Ember in your mouth and use Growl to fire it up!"

Litten meowed in understanding, then ran forward with flames and embers spilling out of its mouth. When it approached center stage, it angled its head up and growled while finally firing the fireball. Because of the added Growl, rings of fire dispersed away from Litten's mouth and body while the fireball itself shot high into the open air with Cheri Berry red sparkles dragging behind it.

Adrian swung her hand out to get everyone's attention on the fireball. "Wow! With Litten's Growl attack, that Ember went sky high!"

Cindy rapidly bobbed up and down as she squealed, "yes! It worked!" She put her hand up and broadly beamed. "Now here it comes! Use Scratch and get a Flame Claw up! And make sure to look good while doing so with a twist and a spin!" To demonstrate, Cindy spun around once, her red and green dress dancing with her.

Litten eyed the fireball with its mostly unfeeling yellow eyes, then sprung into action quite literally. While spinning around like a confused Baltoy, Litten extended its white-glowing claws and approached the Ember. It raked the Ember into nothing but fading sparks and flames, and along with those flames a burst of lights and sparkles. It was almost like Litten was glowing as bright as the sun outside.

"And what a show!" Adrian exclaimed while the small flecks of glitter fell around her and into the audience. "It's like it's impossible to look away from Litten's beautiful usage of moves!"

The Coordinator on stage was breaking into a full blown smile while heaving air in and out. She watched as Litten succumbed to the forces of gravity with its claws still out. When it landed, her smile only got wider as Litten's claws were fully ablaze and spread to the whole Pokemon. It wasn't just Litten's claws on fire: Litten was on fire and practically sparkling.

"Now blaze it up for the grand finale!"

Litten, while still consumed by flames, hunched over and slammed its paws on the ground ahead of it. It resumed a normal stance as the flames grew brighter and created another bout of light. When the lights receded, a gentle rain of sparkles fell as Litten tipped its head down with a fur coat that shone with the lights that surrounded it. Cindy ran on stage next to Litten and bowed down with it.

In an instant, the crowd went wild. Allen stood up and clapped like the most excited person on earth just for his friend.

Adrian laughed for a second before announcing, "and what an appeal! Using Litten's glorious show of its old fur coat shedding while combining that with the light of the Scratch and Ember combination was stunning! Let's hear from our judges!"

Contesta was still clapping as the camera panned to him. He folded his hands back on the panel desk. "Truly marvelous! The beauty of a Fire Type Pokemon showing off well-trained moves is always a three out of three!"

Sukizo never stopped grinning. "Four out of three for remarkable!"

Nurse Joy cocked her head while smiling. "I thoroughly enjoyed that performance. You can tell that Cindy and Litten were having tons of fun together."

Cindy returned to a normal stance and took a shaky exhale. She had just done it: she had done her first appeal in her first Pokemon Contest. With Litten back on her shoulder, the girl nervously waved to everyone that was giving the gesture to her, and when she spotted Allen, she returned his thumbs-up gesture. Was this what it felt like to be the Contest Master or someone like him? Even if it didn't feel like what Cindy was experiencing, she was on cloud nine. After she heard the applause die down and fade away, she gripped the bottom of her dress and sprinted backstage as the next contestant entered.

Backstage, Cindy poked her head through the doorway minutes after returning backstage. She spotted many other Coordinators, but no familiar blue ponytail in a stylized suit. She entered the fairly large room and took a seat on one of the purple cushions. Perhaps Stephanie had moved to a green room to fix her appearance? Or maybe she Torchic'd out and left the contest entirely? Although the last option had a one in a million chance, she felt like that was a probable answer. Stephanie was a little shy sometimes, so it wasn't impossible for her to do so.

But once she looked at the TV, she had her answer.

"And contestant number four, Stephanie from Hou'omaka Town! You're on!"

In the audience, Allen's jaw practically dropped to the floor. "Stephanie?! You mean, our Stephanie?!" He adjusted his glasses with a dismissive laugh. "There's no way that Stephanie is doing a contest. She's shown absolutely no interest in Pokemon Contest-"

When the curtains opened, standing in the limelight was a smaller girl in a stance that had one foot on front of the other. She had a hand on her hip, the other hand dangling by her side and clutching a Pokeball. Her outfit's tiny but intriguing silver embroidering shone with the stage lights, and her face of determination was very familiar to Allen as he had seen it before when encountering Yareta and Amaryllis.

"...that's Stephanie," Allen finally managed to get out.

The girl onstage finally broke her pose and sped forward. She jumped up with one leg up as she shouted, "Rowlet, take the field- er, stage!"

In the air, the Pokeball spun like a top before breaking open. Joining the pop of plasma was a flurry of golden stars that joined to make the general shape of a Rowlet before they shot away and revealed the Grass Quill Pokemon.

Stephanie touched the silk fabric that made up her indigo bowtie, then motioned towards her Pokemon. "Alright, start us off with a Leafage attack!"

Rowlet flew up into the air above center stage, then its wings started glowing green. With those wings, it started spinning around and conjuring leaves of the same color to swirl around it. From the audience, it was like Rowlet had been sucked up into a tornado made of bright green leaves that left a faint trail of light.

"Now Steel Wing!"

Backstage, Cindy felt a smirk crawl onto her face. "So her Rowlet knows Steel Wing... interesting combinations can be used with that." Her smile faded and was replaced with worry. "But... she's totally taking on the stage like a battlefield... and not like a Pokemon Contest."

On stage, Rowlet's wings changed from glowing green to steel-grey. It flew into the slew of leaves it had conjured and used those wings to rip through the leaves and destroy them. What was left of the leaves was a gentle rain of sparkles in the same color that fell everywhere.

"Wow, what a way to show of Rowlet's Steel Wing! It's like Rowlet is glowing!" Adrian announced.

Stephanie extended a jacket-clad arm out for Rowlet to land on. "And here we go." She quickly threw her arm up, in turn throwing Rowlet back into flight. "Leafage, again!"

Once again, Rowlet's wings turned a bright green as it spun around and gathered that tornado of leaves. The leaves encircled the Grass Quill Pokemon again, almost to the point that it was impossible to see Rowlet.

"Now finish this off with a Peck attack!" the girl commanded.

Rowlet stopped spinning around and the glow faded from its wings. The beak of the Grass Quill Pokemon started to glow a blinding white as it flew headlong into the storm of leaves and used its beak to destroy the leaves. Like last time, the leaves broke down into vibrant green sparkles. Rowlet landed back on Stephanie's arm as she bowed down while the rain of glitter surrounded her.

The audience went wild again, and Adrian put the mic up to her face again. "And what a performance from Rowlet!" She turned to face the judges and then gave them their cue.

Contesta folded his aged hands onto the panel desk. "A stunning display of beauty. Although a little basic at its core, it was still enjoyable nonetheless."

Sukizo's grin never dissipated. "Rowlet and Stephanie were remarkable!"

Nurse Joy gigged and bowed her head down. "I really liked seeing how Stephanie and Rowlet interacted. I was having fun watching them have theirs."

Stephanie looked nervously into the crowd, where she caught the sight of a familiar mop of forest green hair. She only gave Allen a small wave as she darted back behind the curtains and offstage.

Backstage, Cindy had finally tore her gaze away from the TV as she watched Stephanie run back to the silk curtain. On the topic of silk in her mind, a young woman that looked her age in a way too puffy and ruffly pale pink dress walk in front of her. She looked like an actual princess.

She didn't pay her dress much mind, though. She simply held a hand up and waved. The girl in the pink dress just scoffed and continued on her way out of the main back room. Even as she felt the cushion shift due to Stephanie's weight, she payed no mind as she kept her gaze on that one girl.

'Yep,' Cindy drawled in her mind, 'also the attitude of a princess.'

"And next," Adrian shouted, once again swinging her hand to the curtain, "contestant number seven, Heather from Hau'oli City! You're on!"

The girl in the pink dress elegantly flipped her bright blonde hair as she practically waltzed forward. She drew a Pokeball out from the tiny pink purse she toted along with her. Shortly after, she spun around (either to make a statement about her or her dress) and lobbed the device into the air. "Of course! Fomantis, my darling, shine for us!"

Along with the pop of plasma, a storm of hearts came out of the Pokeball. Every heart clumped together and formed one big heart before bursting and revealing a Pokemon. The Pokemon had a pink and green body and scythe-like arms that looked like foliage. It was tiny, but the determination on its face made it seem bigger than it was.

Backstage, Cindy pulled out her PokeDex and aimed it at the TV screen. "Who's that Pokemon?" She heard a beep.

Fomantis, the Sickle Grass Pokemon. It is a nocturnal Pokemon that sleeps during the day to collect energy from photosynthesis, which is how it evolves. When night falls, it finds a new place to rest during the day as it never stays in the same spot for two nights. Fomantis give off a scent that is described as refreshing and sweet.

Onstage, the girl known as Heather gave a laugh- what kind of laugh nobody knew. "Alright, let's start with a fine-tuned Energy Ball!"

Fomantis put its stubby arms forward and angled itself towards the ceiling. A green ball of nature's energy grew from between its arms, to which it fired straight upwards. Little green and teal sparkles followed the projectile all the way up.

"Now let's use Leafage!" Heather called.

The Sickle Grass Pokemon didn't even get an opportunity to put its arms down as it kept them up. They started to glow a vibrant green as leaves of the same color were produced, all heading for the Energy Ball that was starting to descend. Before it could hit the ground, the leaves from the Leafage attack started circling around it and therefore making it hover in midair. Another multitude of cool-colored sparkles emitted from the Leafage Ball combo, almost drowning the whole stage.

Adrian gripped her mic and laughed to herself. "And what a display! The Energy Ball is actually hovering due to the Leafage attack! Not only does that show off both moves, but the combination is glowing!"

Heather twirled a stand of her hair around her finger. "What would you expect from Alola's next Top Coordinator?" She thrust a hand forward. "Now get under the Leafage Ball combo and throw a Sunny Day up!"

Fomantis scuttled under the combination move, then surrounded its body with golden energy. It produced a bright orb of energy on each arm, to which it threw upwards at the combination. The two Sunny Day orbs met the combo move, where the Leafage Ball burst into a bright and flashy display of fireworks in various shades of the rainbow. Fomantis used a tiny arm to bow down, to which Heather curtsied along.

Like the fireworks, the crowd blew up into a frenzy of applause. Even Allen, who really had no idea how a Pokemon Contest worked, was clapping with the fierceness of a Tauros that saw a red cloth.

"And what a show! Who knew that you could produce fireworks from Grass Type moves? Let's hear it from our judges!"

Contesta gave a nod. "A striking show of moves! It's very clear that Heather and Fomantis have trained hard for this, and it all paid off. Marvelous!"

Sukizo's face remained like it had been for the whole contest. "That was remarkable!"

Nurse Joy didn't move, but her soft smile broke into one of joy. "That was fun to watch. I think we have some talent that will go far enough to see the Alola Grand Festival."

Heather ran onstage to let Fomantis hop into her purse, then slowly walked out to absorb as much as the applause she could. When she approached the curtain, she gave a small finger wave before completely disappearing behind the fabric.

Backstage, Cindy heard a familiar sound of high heels clipping and clopping across the floor. She grabbed the hemming of her dress as she stood up and ran towards the blonde-haired young woman. "Hey! I saw you on TV!" She stopped and let go of her dress. "Your name must be Heather?"

Heather didn't even turn her head to face Cindy. "And what about me?"

"Oh... y'know... just saw your appeal." She manually made Heather look at her by moving in front of her. "I think it was really cool! Do you think you could teach me how to do that? And how do you teach your Pokemon all those cool moves that they would need more experience to learn so early?"

"...you must be clueless," she spat back.

Cindy felt her smile waver, but she still held onto it. "Well, today was my first contest, so I'm still learning here and there." She eyed the puffy pink dress and then to the girl's bright pink irises. "So, where'd you get this dress? It looks really pricey... but I'm saying that in a good way!"

Heather pushed her aside. "Somewhere else than the dump that you got your excuse for a dress at." She finally voluntarily glared at the ginger-haired girl. "Listen, you're in my way. I'm here to be Alola's Top Coordinator, so back away from my Ribbon!"

"Excuse me?!" Cindy felt her fuse blow, but she didn't care. This was for contest. "I'm gonna become Top Coordinator, and you just can't insult the way I dress! My good friend picked this out for me and I like it!"

"Then tell your friend to get better tastes in fashion! And it's my Ribbon! You're just a newbie at contest, so you can't win!"

"Oh yeah? Then what contests have you done before, Little Miss Perfect?"

"That doesn't matter!"

The two girls literally clashed heads with fists connected, blonde hair spilling over the shoulder and warring with ginger hair. Before they could continued their clash, everyone's chatter died down in return of hearing the TV.

Adrian was on the screen, and a large blank space was next to her. "After careful consideration, our judges have selected the eight lucky and talented Coordinators who will be moving on to our Contest Battle rounds! Congratulations!"

Next to Adrian, a graphic was pulled up of eight different faces. While Cindy swore she heard a defeated sigh from a familiar blue-haired friend, she literally gasped upon seeing her face smile at her shocked one. A familiar set of bright blue eyes on the screen stared back at her own, which were shining with excitement. Even the sight of Heather's face and the absence of Stephanie's didn't change the reality she was now living in.

She had made it.

She had passed the appeal round and was going to fight for the Hau'oli Ribbon.

She looked back at Stephanie, who was behind her. She had her clothes folded in her arms. Stephanie gave a smile despite her recent knock out, then mouthed some quiet words that she made out as 'I'll be cheering for you'. With no more, she left the room with seemingly not a trace of sadness painted on her face.

As she contained her excitement through the means of making really high-pitched squealing noises, she sat back down and then took a glance at Heather. Based on that attempted of a greeting and friendship, she was certain that a friendly and happy rivalry that she had seen in interviews with famous Coordinators wasn't happening here.

But it didn't matter to her. She and Litten were going to give their all again and fight for that Ribbon. Whether she faced Heather or not, whether they would become friends or not, it didn't matter right now. What mattered was the Hau'oli Ribbon.

Her Hau'oli Ribbon, she assured herself.

The Hau'oli City Contest has started! Using her fined-tuned Flame Claw combination, Cindy starts off the contest with a bang! After she receives high marks, it's Stephanie and Rowlet's turn to wow the crowd. Despite entering without any practice, Stephanie is able to put on a great show. But it's the next notable contestant that catches Cindy's eye, a rich and privileged young woman named Heather. After her appeal with Fomantis, it looks like Cindy's got some competition for the Hau'oli Ribbon! With Stephanie out and Cindy and Heather establishing a very quick and explosive rivalry, the fate of the Hau'oli Ribbon is in one girl's hands as the Hau'oli Contest and the journey continue!

A/N: Hello, le fabulous readers! Here's a chapter for you to read! I don't have much to say right now, so I just hope you enjoyed and that you stay tuned for next week's episode!