After Olivia and Alcea's performances, the bar has been set high for the first competition of the Miss Pokemon Academy Contest! Ayame will take the stage next, followed by the idol duo! What sort of performances will we see from them? Well, hopefully it should be exciting!
KedharS: Well, maybe they will get the chance to battle in some capacity...
Hellraiserphoenix: I'd say Kanone has a pretty good idea about what he's doing, yeah.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Interesting, will Alcea be able to beat Olivia at her own game? We'll have to see!
Guest: That would certainly be interesting. But who would her date be, I wonder?
Aakareo Kokokuhikari: I dunno.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 735
Alcea stepped off the stage to a chorus of cheers, and in her place Ayame walked out, a confident smile on her face.
"Yeah!" Blake cheered. "Go, Aya!"
If Ayame heard him, it didn't show on her face. She took a deep breath, and reached for her belt, throwing a pokeball into the air.
"Roll, come on out!" She declared, the ball capsule around her pokeball flashing and shimmering, sparks of electricity spraying out in the air as her Voltorb emerged. The round pokemon spun, landing on the ground, crackling with electricity.
"So she's using her Voltorb?" Cynthia asked, intrigued. "That seems like an interesting choice. I wonder how she's going to show off her beauty with that pokemon."
"It shouldn't be difficult," Blake sniffed. "Aya is beautiful on her own, she could show it off with any pokemon!"
Claire snickered and Cynthia rolled her eyes. "What a surprise," she scoffed, "lover boy is enamored with Ayame Toujou, could have fooled me."
Blake scowled at her, but she pretended to ignore him, staring at the stage as Ayame began her performance.
"Roll!" She shouted. "Use light screen!"
Normally when a pokemon uses light screen, they cover themselves in a forcefield to protect themselves from enemy attacks. But that wasn't what Roll planned to do. Instead, Roll created several large screens with their move, the screens hovering in the air around Roll, turned at different angles.
The light screens were shining brightly, and that was exactly what Ayame wanted. "Perfect, Roll!" She cheered. "Now, charge beam!"
"Voltorb!" Roll buzzed. Electricity began crackling around them, and they gathered up energy into their body, releasing it in a powerful beam of light. But it wasn't another pokemon that Roll was targeting with their charge beam. Instead, they were focusing the power of their move directly at one of the large screens. The charge beam hit the light screen, and like a laser shone on a mirror it bounced off the reflective surface, turning towards another one of the light screens.
The charge beam leapt from light screen to light screen, charging electricity into the shining light screens, which began to crackle with energy as the charge beam shrunk in power. By the time if flew from the last light screen, headed right for Ayame, it was practically just a sliver of light.
Ayame smiled, holding up her hand, the charge beam dispersing harmlessly against it.
People were cheering, but Ayame wasn't done yet. "Okay, Roll! Nicely done! Now, charge!"
"Voltorb," Roll buzzed, charging electricity through their body and strengthening their defenses. As they did, Ayame tucked her foot under the round pokemon, and bounced her up into the air. She lifted Roll up and bounced them on her knee, passing them back and forth like a soccer ball as she showed off her athletic ability.
"Now, Roll! Light screen!" She ordered. She bounced Roll off of her knee, and the round pokemon created another barrier, this time wrapping around them to protect themselves from any damage. As they fell to the ground, she pulled her leg back, and kicked her pokemon as hard as she could, much to the shock of the audience. "Gyro ball!"
Roll began to spin, flying through the air and rotating at high speed. They hit the first light screen, bouncing off of it and absorbing the electricity that the barrier had stored from the charge beam. They flew through the air, bouncing from light screen to light screen as they followed the same pathway that the charge beam had carved, bouncing through the screens like a pinball and building up more electricity with each hit.
Filled with electricity, Roll flew towards Ayame, glowing with so much electricity it was next to impossible to make out their body through the current.
Ayame smiled, not bothered at all. "Discharge!" She ordered.
As Roll flew towards her, they began to release the electricity they had stored up, discharging it in a massive shockwave that avoided Ayame, but swept across the stage and struck the light screens. As the electricity hit each one, the light screens burst into pieces, shards of electrically-charged glass glistening in the air as they rained down upon the stage in a shimmering hail.
Ayame held her hands out, a confident smile on her face as she reached out and caught her Voltorb, rolling them over her arms and down her back, the small pokemon coming to a stop at her feet, she flung her arms to the sides as the light screen shards rained down upon the stage, glittering in the spotlights.
"Well?" She asked. "What do you think?"
The crowd went wild, that's what they thought. Everyone was cheering like crazy, and Ayame's chest swelled with pride. No one was cheering louder than Blake.
"Yeah!" Blake cheered. "That's my girl! What an amazing performance! Aya, you're gorgeous! I love you!"
Cynthia rolled her eyes and snickered again, and Kate just scoffed, shaking her head. Claire giggled just like Cynthia, while everyone else looked at Blake's excitement with amusement.
"That was a pretty cool performance," Akira had to begrudgingly admit.
Ian nodded, "I couldn't say it better myself," he agreed. "Ayame's performance was certainly something alright."
"Just as I expected," Kanone said, applauding. Hearing Kanone's praise was surprisingly embarrassing for Ayame, who didn't like how much attention Blake's brother had paid her. But she didn't let it get the better of her, and she quickly recalled her Voltorb and headed off the battlefield.
"That was our excellent athlete, the tomboy prince Ayame Toujou!" Lukas declared. "And following her comes a girl who needs no introduction! One half of the idol group 'Grimm Fantasia', the lovely maiden who dreams of fairies, Lila Seelie!"
Lukas raised his hand and stepped aside, making room for Lila to take the stage. She flounced out with a cutesy smile on her face, the audience cheering for their favorite cute idol. She waved at them, and began her performance.
"Hey, everybody!" Lila winked to the audience. "Are we all having fun today?"
"YES!" The audience answered as a unanimous roar.
Lila smiled. "Great! That's just what I love to hear! I'm excited to, and I can't wait to show you a stellar performance!"
She put on a pout. "But unfortunately, mean ol' Darla is competing against me today!" She groaned, crossing her arms in front of her chest and puffing up her cheeks. The crowd began to boo, and someone shouted "that's not fair!"
Of course, Lila wasn't really upset, and she quickly regained her focus as a smile returned to her face. "But it's okay! Because I've got a new partner to sing with today! And we're going to prepare a melody for you that will blow you away!"
"YEAAAAAAH!" The audience cheered. Lila reached onto her belt and took off a pokeball, throwing it into the air with a flourish.
"Raindear! Take the stage!" She called. The ball capsule on her pokeball released a swirling gust of blue and pink bubbles that filled the sky, popping into sparkles of light. And from the center of that swirl of bubbles emerged a beautiful pokemon that shined in the light like a mermaid.
"Primarina…!" The gorgeous sea lion mermaid sang, brushing her hair behind her shoulder as a warble erupted from her throat in a melodic song.
"To start, Raindear, let's set the stage!" Lila said, snapping her fingers. "Misty terrain!"
"Prima!" Raindear nodded, her bell-like voice sending cheery tremors through the audience. She took a deep breath, and began to sing. As she sang, pink fog began to spread across the stage, bathing the whole place in a sweet-smelling mist that had a relaxing, cool effect on the audience as they watched the pokemon's sweet melody.
"Echoed voice," Lila said. And Raindear's song really began.
Lila wasn't the kind of girl who used her pokemon's moves in appeal. When it came to a contest with her Raindear, she preferred to let Raindear's natural talents shine, and the way to do that was to just let her do what she did best.
Sing.
And Raindear sang. Echoed voice could be used over and over again without the audience getting bored, and they were enraptured by Primarina's beautiful warbling song, like a real aria. And then Lila added her voice to the choir.
Singing along to Raindear's wordless melody, Lila's sweet voice mixed perfectly, singing a haunting, sweet song that enraptured the audience. A smile spread across Lila's face as she reached the climax of the song, nodding to Raindear.
The time for echoed voice was over, now it was the time for Raindear's climax. Raindear tilted her head back, and as her voice grew in strength water began to gather in front of her mouth, swirling and throbbing in tune with the song. And then, she let it go, the sparkling aria exploding in a burst of sparkles and water as the song reached its crescendo, the sounds of the flowing water blending together with Raindear's song and Lila's voice in a perfect harmony.
The song drew to its conclusion, and Lila gave a cute smile, bowing along with her Primarina as the audience went wild.
"It was an okay performance," Akira had to admit. "Though, I was expecting more than just a song. You know, something a little more like a pokemon contest instead of an opera."
"There's nothing wrong with playing to your pokemon's strengths," Ian laughed. "I think that was a remarkable use of her talents as a singer, and her pokemon's talents of a singer as well."
"It was alright," Kanone agreed. "I definitely found the song to be alluring, I can see why she's such a successful idol."
Lila giggled, flattered by the compliments.
"After that heart-pounding performance, Lila walks off a success!" Lukas continued, wiping a tear from his eye. "But don't go anywhere! Coming up next is the girl who's stood by Lila all this time, the other half of Grimm Fantasia, the cool beauty with the heart of a dragon! The wonderful Darla Drake! Come on out!"
As the audience applauded, Darla headed out onto the stage. She passed Lila on the way there, the two sharing a smile and a look. They reach up and clasp their hands together, Lila silently wishing Darla the best with her eyes.
"Hello, everybody!" Darla greeted her fans with a wave, coming in off the current of Lila's performance and drawing in some of their excitement. "I hear you guys were really drawn in by my partner's performance! Today's your lucky day, because you get not just one, but two performances by Grimm Fantasia! Let me show you exactly what we can do now! Take the stage, Melody!"
She tossed up a pokeball, and the ball capsule flashed, sparkles and swirls of clouds spinning around her Altaria as the pokemon emerged, flapping her cloudy wings, the soft down scattering over the stage as she circled over Darla's head.
"Should have seen that coming," Cynthia nodded. "After all, I remember that other girl, Lisia, had an Altaria. One that was able to beat Olivia. Altaria must be very good pokemon for Pokemon Contests I would imagine."
Darla didn't care about anything like that, Altaria was one of her most beloved partners, the pokemon that was the center of her friendship with Lila, and that's why she made the perfect stage partner to replace her best friend.
"Melody! Let's clear this mist away," Darla said, waving her hand. With a flap of her wings, Melody cleared away the misty terrain. Darla smiled. "Excellently done! Now, let's replace it with some mist of our own! But none of the sparkling fairy stuff, our fans are looking for something a little more intense, don't you agree?"
"Altaria!" Melody chirped.
Lila's eye twitched. She wasn't amused.
A thick mist spread over the battlefield, bathing Darla and Melody in a haze that made it difficult for them to make out.
"Now, Melody, time for our specialty," Darla declared. "Echoed voice!"
If anyone was bothered by the fact that Darla was taking the same route as Lila, they didn't let it show. Perhaps it was because the type of song Melody was singing was a lot different than Lila and Raindear. While that duo had sung an aria that filled with sky with impressive tones, Melody's song was much more somber and down to earth, a deep, mournful tune.
Darla began to sing. Where Lila's voice was the sweet and soft lilt of a fairy, Darla's extensive range let her sing in a deep bass that blended with Melody's voice perfectly. It was a sad song she sung, mixing with the mists like something one would hear on the foggy moors of a distant land, a song of solemnity that captivated the audience.
And then the echoed voice stopped. In its place, Melody switched her song to a far more painful tone, no longer the hollow echo, but now a voice filled with agony and passion, the passion of a perish song. To match, pain bled into Darla's voice as she cried out in a reflection of heartbreak, singing of tragedy and lost love. The audience could HEAR the sorrow, and though she could barely be made out in the mist, it was like you could SEE the tears on her face.
By concealing themselves from the audience, Darla and Melody's appearance was held back, and instead their voices took the focus. It was a different kind of performance than Lila's was. Instead of the spectacle of a sparkling aria, focusing on the rising of her voice to a crescendo, Darla had set a mood where the audience could listen to her pokemon's mournful tune and let that fill the stage instead. Now came time for the finale.
The mist had begun to clear. But in its place, a dark wind began to blow through the stage. Flapping her wings, Melody mixed together an ominous wind that dispersed the mist and wrapped around Darla, bathing her figure in darkness. The ultimate effect was that Darla stood against a curtain of midnight as she sung, presenting herself clearly to the audience like a specter rising from the haze. She stepped out of the mist as the song reached its final, pained notes, and the perish song came to an end, bathing the stage in silence.
As the mists cleared, the audience stood there stunned for a moment. And then they burst out into applause, amazed at Darla's wonderful performance.
"Wow, that… I don't know what to say," Ian said, amazed. "Two competitors both had the same idea for their performances, to make themselves and their pokemon take the stage with the emphasis on their songs. As for which one did it better, I honestly can't say. To think that the same idea could be executed so differently…"
Akira didn't have anything to say for some time. He had honestly been moved to tears by Darla's solemn performance. It brought out emotions in him that he hadn't wanted to focus on, emotions filled with memories of Satsuki, along with a painful reminder of Dakota's tragic fate. But he had a job to do, he wasn't going to break down crying, even though he was already feeling the tears creep up into his eyes.
"That… it was a moving performance," he said softly, knowing that those words weren't nearly enough to describe what had happened. "I honestly… I'm shocked that she could present so beautifully. It responded to me, I guess, that's the best I can say."
"I think it's the kind of song that could respond to anyone," Kanone said, his voice lacking its usual mirth. He sounded like he was a million miles away, staring off into the distance with a hollow look in his eye as he thought of the tragedies in his own life, brought to the surface by Darla's emotional song.
Darla bowed and recalled Melody to her pokeball, turning and stepping off of the stage to see Lila had waited for her in the wings.
Lila wore a big smile on her face. She wasn't even upset that the judges seemed to have liked Darla's performance better than hers.
She'd known for some time that when it came to being an idol, Darla was leagues better than her. They'd started at the same time, and Lila had far more passion for the profession than her best friend did, having wanted to be an idol since she was a little girl, but she couldn't deny that Darla's talents as a singer far eclipsed her own.
It was because she loved Darla so much that she could smile in genuine happiness for her friend, and clap. She was Darla's biggest fan, after all, so she was fine with Darla taking the lead on her. "Darla!" Lila gushed, clasping Darla's hands. "That was amazing! Your song was so beautiful! Why don't you ever have us play sad songs?!"
"Ehehehe," Darla laughed, scratching her head sheepishly. "Don't worry about it, Lila, it's not a big deal," she smiled. "I thought that it would be a good contrast to yours, but it's totally fine. Those aren't the kind of songs I want to play with you, anyway."
Lila pouted. "It's because my range isn't good enough for sad songs, isn't it?"
Darla knew that was part of it. Lila was good at more upbeat and positive songs, as well as soulful arias. But the solemn, painful song that Darla had sung would have sounded out of place with her chipper voice.
"It's kind of that," she admitted. "But honestly…"
Darla clenched Lila's hands tighter, and smiled sweetly at her.
"I want only want to be singing happy songs with you, Lila," Darla admitted. "You're my partner, after all, and you always make me happy. That's what I want to focus on when I'm on the stage with you. Those other songs, those are part of my voice, but when I'm with you, my voice is nothing but smiles and happiness, honestly."
Lila's heart skipped a beat, and she felt like she was falling for Darla all over again. Oh, why did she have to be such a coward on Valentine's Day and not tell Darla how she felt?! She had been such a fool! She could be hugging Darla right now, she could be…
Wait, even though they were friends, it was totally okay for Lila to hug her! So she did. "Thanks, Darla," she grinned, hugging her friend tightly. "You're the best!"
Darla was startled, not expecting Lila to hug her so suddenly. They were still in the middle of a competition, after all. But she didn't mind, and let the hug stand, hugging her friend back. She was glad Lila was here to support her, even if they were competing against each other for the title of Miss Pokemon Academy.
Heck, Lila could have the crummy title. Darla was more than content just singing beside her, that was enough.
Aww. Nice to see that a true friendship will survive even the struggles of competition. Hopefully, these two will keep up these positive vibes into the next round! In the meantime, we finish the first competition in the next chapter!