"Um Brock, is it just me or do the scores all seem really high?" Ash asked Brock after a coordinator went and then received a 25.5.
"No, it's not just you. The scores are higher than what I remember too. But I think it's because everyone's been stepping up their game. All the coordinators and their pokemon we've seen so far have been nothing short of amazing." Brock explained
"Yeah, I just hope May can survive this." Ash said worryingly
"Don't worry, she will. Oh! Drew's up!" Brock said as Drew took the stage and calls out Absol.
"Absol, water pulse up in the air!" Drew commanded. Absol did as it was told.
"Now use flash then razor wind!" The crowd saw a flash and then the ball of water break up into a cool mist that showered the audience.
May watched nervously from the room. Her turn was coming up. She was happy for Drew, especially since he received a 28.9. But her nerves were still poking through.
"Wow, Drew did really well!" Solidad said to May. "You're up soon. Good luck!"
"Thanks Solidad." May said before leaving.
"You were great out there Solidad." Solidad turned to see who complemented her and found that it was none other than Harley.
She gave him a friendly smile. "Thank you. Good Luck today." With that, she turned her attention back to the screen.
The exchange between them wasn't anything past friendly contestant talk. But for Harley, it felt like it was a step.
On her way to the arena, the couple ran into each other. "Great job out there!" May said
"Thanks! Do your best!" Drew replied. The two simply high fived each other and went on their way. Now was not the time to mingle.
May waited anxiously at the entrance for her named to be called.
"Ok up next is May, from Petalburg City!" May took one last deep breath. This was it.
She ran out and took her place at the center of the stage, pokeball in hand. "Come on out Skitty!" May tossed the poke ball and out came Skitty.
"Skitty, use assist!" May called out, to the shock of all her friends.
"Assist? But…but that's an inconsistent move! You never know what will come out!" Ash said out loud
"Hmm…I knew May had a plan for the appeals round, but I didn't think she would take this risk..." Drew thought watching May perform from the tv.
"Relax Ash, I'm sure she has a plan," Brock said to Ash.
Skitty jumped into the air and out came petal dance. As soon as May saw the first petal appear, she immediately planned her follow-up.
"Use Blizzard!" Skitty blew up a storm, causeing the petals to glisten within the snow. "Use Blizzard again!" May called out. Skitty followed, freezing the petals mid-spin inside a beautiful ice sculpture.
"And finish!" May called, signaling Skitty to do the finishing pose, on top of the sculpture.
"Wow! A spectacular ice sculpture!" Vivian said.
"Lets hear from our judges!"
"Taking a spontaneous attack like Assist and then knowing immediately what to use as a follow-up, shows all the signs of great teamwork, well done!"
"Remarkable!"
"The combination of attacks and display was beautiful. Oh I can just watch it all day!"
May let go of the breath she was holding as her score was announced, a 29. She politely thanked the judges and exited the arena. When the door closed behind her, she couldn't help but jump for joy. "Yes!" This was her first big step and she conquered it.
"Congratulation's May! You did great out there!" Drew said as soon as she entered the waiting room.
"Yeah that was beautiful May." Solidad followed
"Thanks so much! You guys were great too." May replied before they all went back to watching the rest of the contestants. They caught the screen just in time to see Harley receive a 27.5 on his performance.
After the conclusion of the first round, the 3 of them waited nervously for the results.
"Ok everyone! We saw many great performances today from some of the strongest coordinators around. Unfortunately, only 64 will pass to the battle rounds and here they are! The trio held their breath as they saw photos of their fellow competitors appear on screen. Each of them relaxing as their own picture appeared.
"Yes! We're all in!" May shouted excitedly
"And now we're going to shuffle all the contestants to determine the round one battle opponents. And Here they are!" Lillian announced as the matches were picked out. None of them were against each other.
"Ok! We're going to take a little break so the coordinators can prepare for the next round. We'll be back with the action later!" Lillian said
"Ok so we have about an hour or so before we have to come back. Want to go grab some lunch?" Drew said to May and Solidad.
"Yeah sure, I'm starving." May said following Drew out the door.
The three of them bought sandwiches at a nearby stand and sat outside a bench chowing down. Ash and Brock met up with them briefly, congratulating them before going off to get their own lunch. Soon it was time to head back.
It was time for the battle rounds to begin.
"Hey May." Drew called out as she was about to leave for her match. He walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek. "Do your best out there, you've got this."
May smiled "Thanks Drew. I will."
The battle round went fairly smoothly; all three of them won their battle's fairly easily. The same thing repeated for the round 2 battles. Soon the three found themselves in front of the tv again, waiting for the final results of the day and the next round's matchup.
"Ok everyone, we've had a long day full of great contest shows and intense battles. We are now down to the top 16 coordinators and here they are!" Vivian said as the photos of the top coordinators appeared on screen. "They will battle it out tomorrow in our final rounds and only one will win the title of top coordinator! Lillian take it away." Vivian said signaling Lillian that it was her turn
"Thank you Viv, and here are the first matches for tomorrow." Lillian announced as the matchups appeared on screen. "It going to be an intense battle to the finish and with strong coordinators like these people, it's guaranteed to be a great show, so stay tuned!"
Unfortunately, May hardly heard Lillian's announcement after the matchups were revealed. She was too fixated on the picture of her opponent. "No, it can't be him. Not yet. I'm not ready for this." May thought to herself.
Drew placed a hand on her shoulder, which brought her out of her thoughts. She looked at him and was able to push her fears back. "No, May. Stop it. You can do this. This is what you've been preparing for all this time." She reassured herself.
"Don't worry Drew. I'm fine." She forced out a smile.
Drew had some doubts about decided to let it go for now.
That's all for now!
Ok, so I don't really have much to say about this chapter I guess. Sorry if anyone or anything seems out of character, it's been awhile since I've seen pokemon so I'm writing most of this through memory and whatever I can gather from Bulibapedia. Sorry for the lack of details in the battle scenes, I'm not very good at writing those :/
Anyways, hopefully I'll update the next chapter soon so SEE YOU IN THE NEXT UPDATE! And thanks to those who gave me feedback, faved, and/or subscribed to this story!