Ash slowly pushes his way through the masses of people congregating in the hall looking for his lost pokémon. "where the hell could he have gotten to?" he wonders slightly annoyed. It's not like pikachu to go off on his own like this though he'll admit with so many things going on around here it's easy to get distracted.

He passes a group of people that are obviously very big fans of dawn, all dressed in clothes sharing the colours of her contest costume, all of them see him and mutter quietly amongst themselves about having just seen him speaking very closely with their idol, he was slightly amused with the distinct sound of jealousy on their voices.

Passing another group of people who were carrying extra costumes and accessories, ash finally spots pikachu who somehow had found the same glaceon he was playing with last night, though this time it's pikachu who is prancing around and bowing at the smiling glaceon. Ash mused to himself that pikachu was really good at mimicking other pokémon's moves, maybe he could do this whole contest thing?

"hey, sorry my pikachu is bugging you. I'm ash by the way."

"I'm daisy, and really it's not a big deal. My glaceon really seems to love your pikachu, he's so cute the way he's bowing at her."

"he has a way of mimicking other pokémon, I'd seen glaceon doing this last night so he probably wanted to return the favor!"

"are you here to watch the contest finals?"

"yeah, an old friend of mine is competing tonight, can't wait to see the show!"

"I'm think it'll be a good one." daisy says confidently. "we're planning on taking the win tonight! Who's your friend?"

"well it's dawn, I traveled with her back when she was getting started in contests.." unsure how daisy might respond to this information.

"well you better tell her to watch out!" the rival coordinator had a certain fire in her eyes, showing just how sure she already was of the outcome. "if we ever cross paths again, it'd sure be fun if I could battle you ash!"

"that sounds awesome, I hope we do meet again. Good luck to you tonight!"

Waving over his shoulder at them, ash leaves daisy and her glaceon to get ready for the show, the confidence she had for the upcoming competition as well as the energy dawn was giving off when she'd found them had him pumped for the show tonight. He absolutely loves it when trainers get so invested in their pokémon bouts, it almost makes him jealous he isn't joining in!

Pikachu riding on his shoulder he approaches misty and dawn who are chatting excitedly, it certainly seems they became fast friends, though he imagines they're comparing stories of him from way back when he was just a dumb kid. Regardless he was happy that they got along well, all of his past travelling companions were always such cool people but even though they had different likes, specialties and dreams, they always supported each other no matter what, and that was the most important thing, they were all his extended family and he cared for them all.

As he approaches them pikachu leaps off his shoulder and into dawns ready hands, catching him effortlessly and doing a little ballet twirl that made pikachu squeal with delight. Misty catches ash's eyes and throws him a sly wink he doesn't quite understand.

"pikachu I've missed you so much! You're still as cute as ever too. Once we're done with the contest I'll have to let you play with piplup, they'll be very happy to see you I'm sure of it!"

"where was he ash?" misty asks.

"pikachu had actually found that glaceon we saw last night."

"oh really? Did you meet their trainer?"

"yeah.. Her names daisy, it sounds like she's here to compete tonight and she's super focused on winning!"

"hmm, daisy." dawn goes quiet in thought. "oh that's right, she was the winner of the super rank contest on Wednesday. If I remember correctly they were quite a fearsome trainer, using some very spontaneous move combos to edge out in front of the other competitors, she'll be one to watch tonight for sure." her tone had gone serious, ash sensed that she was determined to give it her all and had used the other nights to really get a feel for her opponents, he certainly would have done the same.

~ding dong~

A chime sounded around the hall and in response the staff floating around the entryway all rushed off in various directions, ushers appearing at the doors to the contest stage allowing visitors to file in and find their seats.

"well I better go and finish getting ready, and you two should find your seats." smiling she rushes up and hugs ash tightly. "I'm very glad you're here ash, I promise it'll be a great show. You'll never see one like it again I promise!" as she turns to leave she glances at misty and gives her a little nod. "I'll be sure to see you both after the show ok?"

"absolutely, maybe we can all grab a bite to eat!" ash says as she walks away.

"we should go find our seats ash, I can't wait to see this private box she's letting us use!"

"me too! You guys seemed to be getting along ok, what'd you talk about while I was gone?"

"oh you know, war stories about dealing with you way back when. She's really quiet a lovely woman don't you think?"

Uh yeah.. she's grown up a lot since we last saw each other." he says nervous about how his response might sound. "but it seems she's still got the same passion for contests like she did in the past, this will be a great show!"

"nice dodge ash.." she says giggling a little.

"what do you mean?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough! In the meantime, I believe this is us."

They turn the handle on the door and reveal a medium sized room holding eight cushy swivel chairs as well as having a couple small tables set up to the back of the room most likely for gourmet food displays and flower arrangements depending on the events need. At the front of the room was an open balcony that overlooked the entire stage area, to their left were the three judge podiums, the center was a large open area ready and waiting for challengers and their companions, and then surrounding the rest of the area was stadium seating slowly filling in with excited on lookers. Signs were being help, people yelling and screaming their favorite coordinators name, you could see swathes of seats holding people all dressed in similar colours or costumes, it was really quite a sight.

"we've hit the big time misty!" ash jokes. "we've got friends in high places and private rooms provided to us by celebrity friends! Wherever shall we go from here?"

"oh shut it ash, you're such a massive dork!" giving him a solid shove away from her while laughing loudly. "let's just take a seat and relax. We've earned a good night out huh?"

Settling down in two of the extremely soft and luxurious chairs near the front of the box perched to look over the balcony railing out onto the stage below. It seemed that most of the people had managed to find their seats, and the show was very nearly ready to get under way. Loud music was now blaring out of the hall speakers and colourful lights were playing across the crowds as the main lights started dimming.

Next thing they knew the hall went completely dark. It's time for the show to start.