"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the 25th Majesty of Aughrim coordination contest! If you are just joining us, we've moved onto the second round of competitions! The first round was certainly something, full of breath taking performances... in one way or another!" Emma announced.
"Yes, I'm still trying to scrub my mind of the filth that I saw during the match between Mr. Burnett and Ms. Griffith." Rosemary commented.
"Yes, for those of you joining us via our televised broadcast, Chelsea broke the rules of the contest and was disqualified for her appalling display. We apologize to those who were subjected to that!" Emma explained.
"Indeed. As a result, Mr. Burnett has been pushed into the second round. Joining him in the second round is Kimberly Fairbrooke, his upcoming opponent. On the other end of the bracket, we have Samantha Ashwoode and Jean-Luc De la Rivière, both of whom have passed into the second round with decisive victories." Rosemary said.
Emma nodded. "Quite a stunning performance out of Jean-Luc, right? I'd argue that he was the star of each of his performances, more so than his Pokémon! I've never seen the human body bend and move like that!"
"Not surprising, considering his history as a circus performer. While Mr. De la Rivière broke from coordinator tradition by being the main attraction of his routine tonight, he hasn't broken any rules. Let's see if his strategy continues to pay off here in the second round."
"I quite liked Samantha's performance myself," Leonardo said. "While the rest of our contestants seemed more comfortable sticking to distinct themes, Samantha was much more varied in her approach. I'll be looking forward to seeing more from her."
"It's shaping up to be a great night here at the Cèilidh Gailearaidh! The next match between Kimberly Fairbrooke and Hoster Burnett is set to begin, let's watch."
The two competitors were stood in the center of the stage. After a quick wave from the both of them to the cheering crowd, Kimberly offered her hand towards Hoster for a friendly shake. "Good luck, Mr. Burnett."
Rather than shake her hand, he grabbed it and raised it, planting a kiss on the back of it.
The surprising gesture caught her off guard and her cheeks glowed red with nervousness. "Oh my! Such a gentleman!"
He smiled. "Best of luck to you as well, Kimberly."
The two went their separate ways, with Kimberly returning to the left side of the stage and Hoster adjourning to the right. The crowd started to cheer once more as a spotlight focused on Kimberly.
"Oh! I'm up first this time?" she asked herself. With her Master Ball in hand, she took a few steps onto the stage and tossed it forward. A shower of sparkling bubbles preceded the appearance of Juliano the Blastoise, who dropped down onto the stage next to her.
"Here's Kimberly's Blastoise once again, let's see what she does with him."
She rested her hand on his shell and spoke softly, "The crowd loved our acrobatics routine, should we give them more?"
After a second of thought, Juliano nodded.
"Very well!" she said with joy. "Get the crowd started with our fourth set, I'll join you momentarily."
Juliano dropped to all fours and readied himself for a running start. With an impressive burst of speed, he blitzed across the stage and leapt into the air, followed up by an impressive array of acrobatic feats; he tumbled to the ground with a somersault, smoothly transitioned into a cartwheel, then proceeded with a springing front flip which he landed perfectly.
"Holy... That's quite an entrance! I had no idea that a Blastoise was capable of such moves!"
With Juliano in position, Kimberly undid the ribbon in the center of her dress and allowed the bottom to flow freely and loosely. She took her own running start and performed a similar acrobatic routine filled with cartwheels, flips, twirls and spins, almost as if she were a professional at it. Her final jump ended with her landing in the outstretched arms of her Blastoise. The crowd cheered!
"Good execution, but it's more of the same... I do hope that Ms. Fairbrooke realizes that coordination is more about variety than being a one trick pony." Rosemary commented. A card with the number five on it was held above her head.
"Agreed, what a waste of my time," Leonardo added, scoring the performance with a lowly two.
Emma gave the performance a six. "Easy there, Leo. Remember, this is the beginner's league. Our contestants might not be the most comfortable with a wide array of routines yet."
"Surely she has more than three tricks up her sleeve. Why else would she be here?" he asked.
As Kimberly and Juliano returned to their side of the stage, she caught a glimpse of the judges' scores in the corner of her eye. "That... that's a worrying score..." she muttered to herself.
"Up next is Hoster's first performance of the night. For this demonstration, Hoster has requested the use of props, and here you can see the stage crew setting them up."
A team of men and women in black clothing descended on the stage. Split into teams of two, the twelve member crew carried with them bales of hay decorated with archery targets. When the six targets were in place across various points of the stage, they returned backstage and appeared with even more targets. By the time they were finished, a total of eighteen targets sat on the floor or hung from cables above the stage.
Hoster readjusted his belt as he approached from his side of the stage. He pulled a standard red and white Pokéball from his pocket, tossed it toward the center and watched as it exploded with a cloud of windswept sand. A short tan and brown creature no taller than his hips appeared. Large black eyes bugged out of its tiny head and dozens upon dozens of long, pointed quills jutted out of its back. Two wickedly curved talons hung from the end of each of its arms, while equally long but broader and flatter claws sprouted from the end of its feet.
"A Sandslash? Archery targets? We're in for a show, ladies and gentlemen!"
"Show them your battle capabilities, Sandslash!" Hoster ordered. "Spike Cannon!"
It was a simple command, but one that the Sandslash carried out with ruthless efficiency; with a twirl, he let loose a barrage of eighteen spiked quills, each cutting through the air faster than a speeding bullet. Each of the quills impacted the center of a target with unerring accuracy, much to the delight of the crowd.
"Mother of-"
Before the judge could finish with their commentary, he spun around rapidly once again and unleashed another salvo of quills. Just as before, all eighteen flew through the air with nearly perfect accuracy, with a large amount of the previously shot quills being split down the center by the new arrivals. The crowd began to roar! He let loose another barrage, but the accuracy wasn't nearly as perfect this time; it may have been the noise of the crowd, the fact that he was getting dizzy or some other factor, but only fifteen of the quills hit a target this time, with just four landing in the center yet again.
"That's some incredibly accurate shooting! And the speed... It's downright terrifying! I would not want to get on Hoster's bad side..." Emma commented. She gave the performance a high mark of eight.
"Indeed, very, very impressive. Worryingly impressive." Leonardo added. He raised the night's first score of ten above his head.
"I don't think this country has seen accuracy like that since the longbow fell out of favor nearly a century and a half ago," Rosemary added with a score of nine.
As the stage crew began to haul the pierced targets away, Kimberly and Juliano discussed their next routine. "We should figure something else out... I'm not sure if another bubble display will suffice. Would you agree?"
Juliano nodded.
"What to do, then..." she wondered. "There are a few other things we've been working on... would you feel comfortable with the Frost Shell display?"
He shook his head.
"Hmm, yes, that is a bit complicated... We can't do the rock breaking routine, as we haven't arranged for it ahead of time..." She groaned with worry as she struggled to come up with a display they'd both be confident in. "How about some simple mimicry?"
Juliano's head tilted to the side as his eyes wandered in thought. He nodded.
"Great! Let's do this, then!"
As the two approached the center of the stage together, Emma commented, "Looks like Kimberly is calling on her Blastoise again. I wonder what's in store for us this time?"
"If we get more bubbles, I'm going-"
"Quiet, Leo, they're about to begin!"
The two stood in the center of the stage and faced each other. She raised her left hand, a gesture that he mirrored without delay. She lowered her hand and stomped her right leg, which he echoed flawlessly. A clap was met with a clap, twirls were met with twirls and arms outstretched were met with arms outstretched, the two performing within an instant of each other.
"Ah, mimicry! This is a very tough routine to master, and it's off to a good start." Rosemary commented.
The two turned away from each other. Once again, she raised her left hand, a motion met without delay or variance. However, while she raised her left hand next, he responded by waving his hands side to side. Another mismatched move followed; Kimberly stomped with her right leg, while Juliano stomped with his left. The timing between their gestures was slowly growing.
"Oh dear, this is falling apart..."
The two twirled in unison. She followed up with a second twirl, but he jumped and clapped instead.
"Juliano!" she whispered loudly. "I think we should cut this short, we're not doing this right. In three seconds, let's turn to the crowd and finish, just like we practiced."
After their three seconds were up, they both turned to the crowd and blew a kiss. There was a mixed reaction from the crowd, with only small pockets of it clapping while the rest sat in silence or spoke softly amongst themselves.
"That was... it was okay, but more work definitely needs to be done to smooth out their interactions and their timing, especially once they turn away from each other." Rosemary said. She gave the performance a score of six. "However, you can tell that these two have very strong chemistry with each other if you look at how they started that performance."
"I don't know if it's ignorance on my part on how difficult mimicry can be, but I must admit, I expected better execution," Emma said. She held a card with the number five on it above her head.
Leonardo held a score of three up. "At least she was original this time, even if it was poorly done."
With the stage clear, Hoster started his journey to the center with another Pokéball in his hands. With a toss, the Pokéball exploded with a bright flash of light, and once again, a swirling cloud of sand accompanied the appearance of a long, serpentine beast. The creature's body was tan in color and stretched to a length of nearly seven feet. The underbelly of the snake was bright white in color and was segmented by thin brown stripes every few inches. Near its head was a diamond-shaped hood, inside of which were tribal markings that resembled a skull.
"That's a beautiful Arbok, I've never seen one like it before."
With a simple gesture of his arm, Hoster's Arbok started its display. The tip of its rattling tail emitted a soft, icy white glow as a thick haze of obscuring fog formed around it. The crowd began to wonder whether anything would happen at all as the Arbok disappeared within the cloud, stood completely still in statuesque silence.
Then, a bright orange light and the hissing of flames flashed through the fog. Shortly after, the buzzing of high electricity filled the auditorium as a bright yellow light followed. A bright white light was next, and the front row of the crowd was overcome by a blast of frigid wind. The cloud quickly faded and the Arbok reappeared in the same statue-like pose.
"Ooof! Chilly!" Emma commented. She gave the performance a score of seven.
"Excellent," was the only thing Leonardo said, giving a similar score of seven.
Rosemary nodded and held up a card with the number eight on it. "Hoster is very comfortable with mixing his moves up into unique displays. He's doing very well tonight."
The Arbok bowed its hooded head before slithering off towards Hoster's side, leaving the stage clear for Kimberly's final performance of the round.
Behind the curtains, Kimberly knelt down beside Telandra. "This doesn't look good, Tela... But it's possible we can still win if we perform strongly and our opponent drops the ball. We can't give up yet."
"Murrrr?" Telandra purred.
"The illusion technique that aunt Nicole taught you about, back when you were just a kitten... Do you think you can do that?"
Telandra forcefully nodded, then took her position in the center of the stage; a soft wind blew around her as she sat down and closed her eyes. Her silky fur was pushed to and fro by the wind as a pallid white glow began to form around her.
Emma leaned forward on the judging table. "Now what do we have here..."
The light eventually became bright enough to completely shroud her from view and after a few seconds, two bright white blurs of light shot outward. The light of these blurs quickly faded into nothingness, and before long, the light around Telandra faded as well. Instead of standing tall, she had collapsed to the floor, struggling to catch her breath.
Kimberly gasped in fright. "Telandra!" she called out as she rushed out onto the stage. She scooped the Skitty up into her arms and rocked her back and forth in a gentle manner. "Telandra? Are you okay?"
Telandra meowed weakly.
"I shouldn't have, I..." She stood back up and looked at the crowd for a brief moment before silently walking off towards her side of the stage.
"That's not good..." Emma commented. "Perhaps what they were going to do was simply too much for the Skitty to handle."
"Unfortunately, it looks as if this performance is over before it began. According to the rules, Ms. Fairbrooke receives no points. Considering the scores from her Blastoise's other performances, this round has easily been decided."
"That doesn't mean we're going to deprive you of Hoster's final performance, though! Let's watch."
A Pokéball soared onto the stage from behind the curtains and popped open with a burst of flames when it hit the floor. A small and fuzzy bat-like creature with bright orange fur flew out of the flames, leaving behind a trail of ethereal embers with each flap of its relatively large wings. Thin, floppy ears, much like those of a rabbit's, bounced around at every change in direction it made.
"Hmm... never seen that one before. Hoster's registration lists this as a Vampyre. Must be native to his homeland."
"Vampyre, write us a message to show our appreciation for those who've come to see us tonight."
The Vampyre swooped to the left side of the stage, then zoomed across towards the right with an incredible burst of speed. A long, flickering trail of flames lingered in its wake. It circled around for another pass, leaving a much shorter line behind, and with a twirl, it added a vertical line of flames just below it.
"T..." Emma started. "H... A... N... Thank... Thank what? I like where this is going!" The first few letters the Vampyre had written faded by the time it started on the next one. "Y... O... U... And an exclamation point to round it off! Isn't that adorable?"
"It is!" Rosemary added, with a score of nine. "I've seen this trick many times before over the years, and contestants usually use it to taunt their opponents. I'm glad that Mr. Burnett has taken the high road on this one."
"Fantastic display!" Leonardo added. He held up a card with the number nine on it as well. "The thing that impresses me the most is how long the letters lingered in the air. I've tried this myself many times and I could never quite master it... Not to say that Hoster has, of course."
"Agreed," Emma responded, giving the performance a score of eight. "That's it, the last performance of this match up! Let's get up on stage with our contestants and break down the final scores."
The three judges left the comfort of their table and approached the center of the stage. Hoster walked forward, flanked on both sides by his Sandslash and his Arbok, while his Vampyre was perched on his shoulder like a parrot. Kimberly was slower in her approach, taking care not to jostle the exhausted Skitty in her arms.
"And there it is, ladies and gentleman, the conclusion of the match between Kimberly Fairbrooke and Hoster Burnett!" Emma announced. She walked up to Kimberly and said, "Before I lay out the scores, I want to check in on Kimberly's Skitty. She took quite a tumble at the end there. How is she?"
Kimberly looked down at Telandra with a loving smile on her face. "I shouldn't have pushed her to try that... The trick she tried to perform always took so much out of her when we practiced it, and that was after a long night's rest. To throw in another demanding routine before that..." she said as she shook her head. "Serenity willing, she just needs some rest."
Emma gently rubbed Telandra's head. "Get well soon, you cutie!" She joined the other two judges once again and motioned towards the screen at the back. "Now, onto the scores!"
The screen at the back of the stage turned on; on the left hand side was Kimberly's portrait, followed by Hoster's on the right. Scores for the first pairing were already displayed and between the two, there was a clearly defined winner.
Emma began to break down the numbers that appeared on the screen. "The first match was quite rough on you Kimberly, even if your performance was superbly executed. You were scored a 6, a 2 and a 5, which averages out to a 4.3." She turned to Hoster and explained his scores next. "For you, Hoster, 8, 9 and the night's first 10, which averages to 9. You and your Sandslash have certainly earned it, well done!"
Hoster nodded with a smile on his face.
Rosemary stepped up next as the scores for the second match were displayed. "The second match was between Ms. Fairbrooke's Blastoise and Mr. Burnett's Arbok. Once again, Ms. Fairbrooke struggled to earn high marks and achieved scores of 6, 3 and 5, averaging to 4.6. Meanwhile, Mr. Burnett's Arbok gave us a strong performance and earned 7, 7 and 8, for a combined average of 7.3."
The final numbers appeared on the screen; Kimberly felt a weight drop through her body as she saw the large zero on the screen, even if it were justified. She started to feel a little bit dizzy.
"Lastly, the final match," Leonardo started. "With the failure to put on a third performance, Kimberly was given zeroes across the board, and because of it, her final score averaged out to just 2.9, a record low in the Majesty of Aughrim's twelve year history. I'm not sure she had any business being here tonight."
Kimberly's throat began to close up as the words cut through her deeply. "How dare he?!" she thought. She began to quiver, and before her emotions could get the better of her, she stormed off of the stage towards the left curtains.
Juliano took a menacing step towards Leonardo and glared a hole into him before rushing off to join her.
"Leo! What's the matter with you!? It must feel bad enough, you don't have to ridicule her!"
"How else will she improve?" he asked. "Hoster, on the other hand, had strong scores in the final match. His Vampyre performed admirably and earned scores of 9, 8 and 9. His final score for the entire round is 8.3, and he moves on with a decisive victory! Let's hear it for him!"
As the crowd cheered, Hoster watched Kimberly push her way through the stage crew and leave the auditorium in a hurry. He shook his head and waited for the crowd to die down a bit before saying, "I don't think that was called for, Mr. Bertucci. Not only have you made my own victory feel hollow, you may have just crushed that girl's dreams. I hope you're happy." He too walked off the stage, leaving the three judges alone.
Emma tried her best to maintain the cheerful attitude she'd presented all night. "Uhh... Right! We're going to have a quick commercial break, followed by the anticipated match between Jean-Luc De la Rivière and Samantha Ashwoode. See you on the other side!"
Andrea took a deep breath and held it in for a few seconds before letting it go. "Welp... here goes..." she said as she knocked on the door. There was no response. "Are you in there, Kim?"
After a few more seconds of silence, a sad sounding voice came from within. "Come in."
Andrea opened the door and stepped into the room. The first thing she noticed was the pastel green dress that Kimberly had worn was carelessly tossed to the floor and she was back in the clothing she wore earlier in the day. The TV that usually showed a live feed of the contest had been turned off. "I'm not sure how to... how to approach this, but, umm..."
Kimberly sighed and turned to face her. Several dark streaks of what was once her delicately applied eyeshadow ran down her cheeks. "You don't have to say anything..."
"I don't?" she asked.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" she said as she turned around again. She began to gather up her makeup supplies. "I'm terrible at this! I... I thought... that perhaps I had found something I could be good at. I was wrong."
"No, come on, don't say that," she replied in a genuine attempt to console Kimberly. "You did great, the crowd loved you!"
"But..."
"You got a few low scores, yes, but so what? This is-"
"A few? You heard that man, I smashed the record! I'll be remembered for years as a joke!" she shouted. "...sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm just... This was a dream that I was looking forward to, and that man..."
"Fuck that guy, he doesn't matter. I don't think his head could be buried any further up his own ass. You heard how he was treating the other contestants and comparing himself to them, he didn't just single you out." she reminded her. "If it means anything at all, I think you did a good job. I enjoyed your performances, regardless of whether they worked or not."
Kimberly shrugged off her words and shook her head. "I thought I was ready, but I clearly wasn't."
"Maybe you weren't, but... don't you also show a bit of promise?" she asked. "That Kanestka girl, what was her name... Senna! You wiped the floor with her."
"I don't think that's accurate... What are you trying to say?"
"When she was introducing herself, she said she was a league champion in her homeland, right?"
Kimberly nodded.
"That would mean she has a lot of experience, right?"
She nodded again.
"I don't know a lot about being a Pokémon trainer or being a coordinator or any of that stuff, but you still beat her. That has to mean something."
With another sigh, Kimberly closed her makeup kit and returned it to her backpack. All she had the strength to offer in response was a half-hearted "Perhaps."
"You've stumbled once. Don't let this be the only time."
"I'm sorry, friend, I really wish I were in better spirits... Perhaps I'd be more enthused by what you're saying, but..." Kimberly groaned as she packed up the rest of her belongings. "Did you want to watch the rest of the contest?"
She rolled up her sleeve and checked the time on her R-Kit: 10:50 PM. "I might like to, but I'd like to get to bed before midnight, too... I still have to find a hotel to stay at as well, that could take some time..."
"Yes... going to bed sounds pretty good right about now..."
She placed her hand on Kimberly's shoulder. "You'll get through this."
"I suppose you're right..."
She offered her hand forward. "Anyways, it was nice meeting you! Best of luck in the future! You can do it."
"Good luck to you, too. I hope you find your business partner."
She nodded. "Good night."