"Alright, everyone! Let's begin!" cried Vivian, gesturing the beginning of the next coordinator's performance with a karate chop before stepping out of the spotlight.

The lights in the stadium dimmed and shifted to mid-left of the stage, illuminating the diligent eyes of a familiar jade-eyed youth. The boy smirked slightly, taking a half-bow before tossing his pokeball and call out his long time companion—Roselia.

"Roselia, solar-beam followed with petal dance!" the boy instructed, nodding towards the thorny rose-like pokemon.

"Rose~" Roselia cheered, pausing a moment in deep concentration before releasing a powerful solar-beam above the audience; cries of awe and dismay sounded across the auditorium as the stage was lit before growing to an intensity of blinding light which impaired the vision of both the audience and the judges momentarily.

When visibility had returned, Roselia had used a combo-attack of magical leaf and petal dance, causing petals to gracefully fall upon the stage in an elegant manner.

"N-No way…" May piped, shivering in aw as she stared that the screen that displayed her rival's performance. 'He's better than what I credit him for…' she hesitated, adding the thought mentally.

"Absolutely beautiful. Not to mention blinding," Mr. Contesta replied, struggling for words through his badly concealed awe.

"R-E-M-A-R-K-A-B-L-E!" Mr. Sukizo grinned from ear-to-ear, clearly more engaged that he would normally be.

"Well, I'm at a loss for words…" Nurse Joy stammered, pausing for a moment. "To say the least, it was beauty at its best!"

May tightly gripped her seat. That was the best she had seen from Drew yet. It was clear that her chartreuse-haired rival had trained Roselia for highly appealing routines… not to forget to mention that the forest-green pokemon was graceful and beautiful on its own.
"Drew…" May whispered, swaying from side-to-side feverishly. The camera then panned in on the youth's face, his green eyes sharp with anticipation and… worry? There was something else that May could see but not understand in the boy's expression.

'Why would Drew worry after a performance like that?' May wondered, paying close attention to the announcement of youth's score. 29.6. Incredibly close to perfect. May's stomach clenched. Could she really make it to the semi-finals?

-x-

Meanwhile, Drew squinted against the blinding stage lights and listened momentarily to the deafening applause that was for him—and his Roselia, of course. Still, the moment could not be enjoyed as Drew's thought turned back to his blue-eyed, stubborn female rival who ignorantly claimed that she would make it all the way to the end.
'Dear God, please let her be alright all the way through this competition!'

Harley, having already preformed, watched in disgust.
"The nerve of kids these days…" he murmured crossly, turning away and slipping back to the room for the announcement of the participants in the semi-finals. 4 pictures appeared on the screen—3 which secured their place in the semi-finals with predicted ease. On the display of the screen were the following coordinators listed: Drew, Harley, May, and a newcomer named Boa.

"Ah, good. I made it," May smiled, breathing a sigh of relief as she flushed silently. Drew had re-entered the room by then. Standing near the bench that May was situated on, Drew then waited for the brackets to appear on the screen to inform him on who he was battling against in the semi-finals. Suddenly, a horrid feeling came over the boy as he waited for the results. Ping! His fears were confirmed.

He was to battle May… first.

May glanced hollow-eyed at Drew, hope slowly escaping her grasp.
'No… I can't lose now!' She cried mentally.

"Alright, everyone! Now that we're past the preliminaries, it's time for the semi-finals. On stage one, we have a contest battle between coordinators May and Drew. Are you ready, everyone?" Vivian, the MC, said, twirling before motioning to both coordinators. In response to her question, applause rolled off the audience like wave.

'It's time… But I won't lose!' May thought, shifting slightly on her feet.

Drew's green-eyed stare pierced through his opponent on the opposite side of the stage.
'Her cheeks are completely flushed—not only that, she looks half-dead on stage. I shouldn't take advantage of this situation; however, I won't go easy on her. May is still my rival… Hopefully she can at least make it through this battle.'

"5 minutes on the clock, coordinators. Let's begin!"

"Combusken, take the stage!"

"Roselia, Let's go!" The coordinators called, tossing their pokeballs.

In a flash of light, the two opposing pokemon stared at each other from across the stage, a sense of anticipation filling the air. Many times, the two had faced each other in similar battles. However, this time was different. This time, it was so much more...

Lupeh: I haven't wrote on this in forever! Sorry for the wait, everyone! Today, I found my old notepad an found that I had actually wrote the 4th chapter and that it was pretty decent. However, I felt like I had made it a bit long in already introducing the battle and such, so I cut it short here a made a small edit. I hope this chapter was enjoyable : D

For those of you who like Contestshipping, I ask that you also check-out my other fic-- Hate me, Or Love Me.
It's a tad bit different from the normal set-up of things and doesn't include Pokemon, ect, but is still pretty enjoyable, from what I understand. It has original Japanese names and suffixes, but the plot is much more dynamic. Please check it out!

Thanks for all the views, favorites, alerts, and reviews! Next chapter is... coming soon, hopefully. xD