Chapter 6: A Star Debut
Kumori woke up the next morning, eager for the contest. "It's today!" she cried out, waking up earlier then usual.
Twilight stirred from his place on her stomach. He had been curled up in a tight ball but now he unwound, blinking open his eyes. "I'm so excited!" he exclaimed, jumping down from the top bunk.
Aqua was already up, searching through her clothes. "I don't have anything good to wear!" she cried out in anguish.
"I think you can buy one at the PokeMart." Kotone said. She quickly got into a dark blue dress. It complimented her very nicely. Kumori quickly got into her own dress, a black dress with golden borders. She wore a cape to cover her tail and a black top hat with a red ribbon to cover her ears. Aqua quickly darted out of the Pokemon Center and ran towards the PokeMart. She bought a dress and came back to show the others.
Aqua's dress with a light blue with frilly sleeves and it looked very good on her. The three girls helped each other do their hair and apply the other jazz.
"How do we look?" they asked in unison, twirling around for their friends to give them an opinion in the main room of the Pokemon Center.
"You look great," the others smiled.
"As long as you don't get too excited and have that cloak billow around, you should be fine," Kyou advised Kumori.
"Thanks," Kumori replied. Kyou felt his heart begin to speed up when she flashed a smile at him.
The six of them made their way to the Contest Hall and the three competing in the Contest walked backstage. The other three hurried to get good seats.
"Welcome to the Annual Floaroma Town Contest!" the MC shouted. The crowd began to cheer and applaud. "Let's welcome our contestants! First up, from Hearthome City is…Sally!"
A tall, slender blonde entered the stadium, waving to the crowd. "Alright Pachirisu…spot…light!" she threw a Pokeball into the air, the top of it purple because of the Seal. A Pachirisu appeared among lightning bolts. "Alright Pachirisu, Discharge!" the electric Pokemon's trainer called out.
"Chipa, chipa, chipa!" the Pachirisu called out. Blue lightning sparkled from its fur and then burst into the air, creating many tiny sparks.
"Wow, that's a beautiful sight!" the MC was impressed. Sally and Pachirisu went off the stage amongst tons of applause. "Our next contestant, from Twinleaf Town, it's Aqua! This is her contest debut, let's see how she does!"
The girl walked onto stage in her dress, smiling. "Alright Turtwig, blow 'em away!" the Turtwig appeared in leaves, spinning and then landing.
"Turtwig!" he called out.
"Alright Turtwig, let's use Solar Beam!" Turtwig immediately began to draw in energy from the sun. As soon as Turtwig had enough, he let loose a beam of energy. "Now Razor Leaf!" the leaves cut through the energy, the green among the orange.
"An interesting combination but nonetheless, effective!" the MC judged exclaimed. Aqua left.
"That was a great combination!" Kumori complimented her friend as the nervous Aqua appeared backstage. She heard her name called and stopped to take a deep breath before appearing on stage.
"Good luck!" she heard Kotone call after her.
"Alright, Wildfire, take the stage!" she called out. The Growlithe appeared in flames, spinning and landing with one forepaw raised. "Let's use Fire Blast then Iron Tail!"
The big flame spiraled overhead. Wildfire leapt upwards, his tail glowing and then slashed at the fire. It burst into many tiny embers, drifting onto the ground. Wildfire stood there among the dying sparks and barked. "What an amazing sight!" the MC cried.
Kumori caught Kyou's eyes and he gave her thumbs up. She left, feeling elated. "How'd I do?" she asked Kotone and Aqua nervously.
"You did great!" Aqua said, giving Kumori a swift hug. Kotone smiled, her smile slightly strained. She had yet to go.
"And now, coincidentally also from Twinleaf Town, returning champion coordinator…Hikari Maple! Please welcome our next contestant!" the MC cried out. Kumori froze. Did she just hear correctly? Her sister was in this contest as well?
"Aw, crap…" she moaned, watching her sister's performance on the TV.
"M'kay Sparkle, spotlight!" the trainer's sister called out. Kotone and Aqua compared the two. They were definitely siblings. From the red-gold hair to the small stature right down to the confident aura that they could feel even through the screen. It wasn't that hard to mistake them.
A Togetic appeared on stage next to Hikari. "Tic, Togetic!" he cried out, appearing amongst sparks.
"Alright Sparkle, let's start this off with Solar Beam!" Hikari ordered. Sparkle jumped into the air, flapping his wings and gathering energy from the sun. He shot the Solar Beam straight into the air. "Now use Metronome, quick!"
Sparkle stayed, hovering in the air, waving his paws from side to side. He used Fire Spin and the flames surrounded the Solar Beam still shooting high into the air. They gasped in amazement. This was promising to be a very good contest.
Hikari left to tremendous applause. Kumori hid behind a pole, watching her sister walk by. She wondered if Hikari had called home recently. She was conversing with her Togetic, smiling happily. "You did great," she told Sparkle.
"Thanks!" Sparkle replied, which sounded more like, "Toge!" to the other contestants, the non-Pokemon people.
Sparkle turned his head, seeming to stare right at Kumori. She stared back, as if daring him to tell his trainer that she was there. He pulled on Hikari's dress sleeve lightly and pulled her towards Kumori. She stepped out from behind the pole, staring coolly at her sister. "Hello," she said, surprising even herself at the ice in her voice.
"Kumori, you did a great job!" 15 year old Hikari smiled, giving her little sister a hug. Kumori stood stock still. "What's wrong? I thought you'd be glad to see me," she pouted.
Kumori raised an eyebrow. She wasn't about to move in any extravagant manner, just in case her cloak decided to fly and reveal her new secret. "Oh, don't worry. I am glad," she said in a monotonous voice.
Twilight climbed onto her shoulder, clinging there, staring at Hikari in curiosity. Kumori heard Kotone's name called and turned her attention to the TV screen. "We're rivals now, Hikari," she informed her sister. "I'll only be glad to see you after the contest. You better get to the final round 'cause that's where I'll be waiting."
"Very confident for a first-timer," Hikari said softly. "But you were always the type to surprise. I've thought of you more as a gym battler instead of a coordinator."
"I've heard of trainer-coordinators." Kumori retorted. "Why can't I be one of those?"
On stage, Kotone had let out Daiki and the Pachirisu had used Charge, waiting for the Pachirisu to get all charged up. "Now, use Thunder!"
Daiki unleashed a tremendous bolt of lightning, letting it snake across the audience with amazing control. Kotone came off stage, her face flushed with success. "Daiki!" she exclaimed. "You did great!"
The other contestants went and finally, it was judging time. "Who will be the eight to move onto the next round?" the MC asked, her voice trembling with excitement.
The curtain over the TV screen closed and then opened once more. Kumori looked at the screen and her eyes widened in surprise. Kotone and Aqua jumped up and down with excitement and Hikari smiled in knowing satisfaction. They had all made it to the next round. Four others had made it as well. "And now…let's give the board a random shuffle!"
The pairs were shown and Kumori grinned. It was ironic. None of the friends were facing each other. She was battling second, paired up against a red head male named Tyler.
Hikari's battle was first. She won easily with Rain, her Floatzel. Her opponent had been a male named Freddie who had used a Staravia.
Kumori calmed her nerves before heading up to the stage. She took her place and her opponent took his. He smiled confidently. This was his second contest. Kumori raised an eyebrow, daring him to even try. He rolled his eyes. He could beat that small punk easily.
"And to our right, we have Kumori Maple of Twinleaf Town! And on our left is Tyler White of Sunnyshore City! You have five minutes. The person with the most number of points at the end of those five minutes is the winner! Begin!"
"Twilight, take the stage!" the Riolu had agreed to go into a Pokeball for this once and he appeared amongst thunder, flipping and landing, taking up a battle stance.
"Summer, spotlight!" her opponent called out, throwing a Pokeball into the air. A Roselia appeared amongst flowers.
"Rose!" she called out.
"Let's start this off with Sunny Day!" Tyler called out. It began to become very sunny. Kumori shielded her eyes, watching her points go down.
"Twilight, use Quick Attack." She commanded calmly. The Riolu flashed and raced towards Summer, silver light streaking after him. The extra bright sunlight glinted off the silver. Her opponent lost some points.
"Pin Missile, let's go, Summer!" Tyler called out. The Roselia shot needles at Twilight.
"Jump into the air and dodge it!" commanded Kumori. She waited until Twilight had gotten a good jump. "Now use Aura Sphere!" A ball of aura appeared in Twilight's paws and he shot them at Summer. He flipped and landed like a cat, his red eyes glinting. The ball of aura hit Summer, knocking away some more points. They continued like this, bantering back and forth.
"We've just gone past the two minute mark and Kumori is leading by a bare margin!" the MC announced.
"Quick Attack once more and then use Double Team, c'mon Twilight, let's hustle!" the young trainer called out. Twilight dashed forwards and nearly hit Summer before suddenly splitting into a bunch of Twilight's.
"Pin Missile in a circle!" the Pin Missile hit all of the illusions. Kumori smirked.
"Force Palm!" she ordered. Twilight came crashing down from above Summer, smacking the Roselia with Force Palm.
"Synthesis!" ordered Tyler.
"Quick, use Reversal before she can finish healing!" Kumori demanded. Twilight hit with Reversal and then the clock went off. Kumori held her breath, waiting for the score.
"And we have Kumori as the winner! She will go onto the next round." Kumori breathed a sigh of relief and gave her Riolu a hug.
"We won!" she squealed. "We won, we won!"
"Wow…that Roselia has a hard head…" Twilight muttered, rubbing his palm. Kumori laughed.
She watched the battles of her friends and they won theirs. When they gave the board another shuffle, it showed that Kumori would be facing Aqua and Hikari was facing Kotone. "Good luck," she called to Kotone. Her friend smiled before heading up to the stage.
She used Midori and Hikari used Sparkle. Midori gave it her best shot but Sparkle was just a notch above her. The Bulbasaur lost to Sparkle. Kotone left the stage. "Well, it was a good battle. You can't blame yourself, Kotone. Midori had a type disadvantage." Aqua comforted her.
"Yeah, I'm rooting for both of you," she smiled. Actually, I have no idea who I want to win! She was thinking inside.
The two friends now rivals walked onto the stage. "Go, Turtwig!" Aqua called out. Kumori smiled to herself.
"Wildfire, you're up!" she ordered. Aqua pouted at her and she smiled back angelically.
She could read Aqua's thoughts on her face. She knew I was going to send out Turtwig! Well…I guess, either way she has a type disadvantage.
"I'll let you have the first move," Kumori called out. Aqua nodded.
"Turtwig, let's start this off with Razor Leaf and make it in a spiral. Then jump through it and use Tackle!"
"Turtwig!" the green Pokemon shot a Razor Leaf at Wildfire but it was in a spiral. Then he jumped through the leaves.
"Fire Spin!" the Growlithe's trainer shouted at the last moment.
"Grow!" the Growlithe snarled before launching a Fire Spin attack. It burnt all the leaves to a crisp and surrounded the Turtwig.
"Turtwig, use Withdraw!" Aqua shouted. Turtwig withdrew into his shell. The points on the board were pretty much equal.
"Wildfire, use Agility and jumped through the flames. Then use Fire Fang!" Kumori shouted.
Wildfire sped forwards and then jumped, crashing into the flames, flinching only slightly before biting down on Turtwig's shell with Fire Fang. He jumped back out and barked.
Aqua's points went down but then the Fire Spin disappeared, leaving a much bruised Turtwig on the stage. He struggled to get up and managed to do so. Aqua glanced at her points and was shocked to see how much more Kumori had then her. "Well, we'll just have to turn things around, won't we?" she muttered to herself.
I wonder what Aqua has on her mind…Find out in the next chapter!!! And sorry for updating so slowly…School and homework and other stuff so…yeah. I might take a while updating each chapter.