Hola, amigos! Welcome to the fourth chapter of the day, and I'm hoping to get a fifth up later. So, last chapter featured Owen winning his eighth and final gym badge of the Unova region, and Ariel arrived at the Unova League. Now, the Grand Festival will begin, and I'm looking forward to writing it.
Owen's team
Snivy, (f), level 29, Tackle, Leech Seed, Grass Pledge, Vine Whip, Leaf Tornado*, Leaf Blade*
Heatmor, (m), level 41, Flame Burst, Flamethrower, Hone Claws, Flame Wheel, Fury Swipes*, Fire Pledge*
Krookodile, (m), level 45, Bite, Dig, Dragon Claw, Bulldoze, Hyper Beam*, Stone Edge*
Puff, (f), level 35, Dynamic Punch, Sing, Rollout, Pound, DoubleSlap*
Unfezant, (f), level 32, Detect, Air Cutter, Gust, Quick Attack, Aerial Ace*
Zebstrika, (m), level 36, Quick Attack, Shock Wave, Thunder Wave, Flame Charge, Stomp
With Professor Juniper
Empoleon, (m), level 39, Water Pledge, Drill Peck, Metal Claw, Whirlpool, Bide*, Brine*
Druddigon, (f), level 43, Dragon Claw, Earthquake, Crunch, Revenge
Muk, (m), level 40, Sludge, Body Slam, Protect, Poison Jab
The group of five walked down a dusty path after hopping off a boat, and they were all anxious to arrive at the Grand Festival. According to several people, both the Grand Festival and Unova League were taking place at the same complex, so Owen was excited to see the stadiums. Fate and Brooklyn were both breathing slowly in an attempt to lower their incredibly high heart rates, but it didn't help. After continuing down the road for another mile, the five trainers finally reached an intersection, and turned left to continue down the road. Once they turned, everyone gasped when they saw the complex.
Similar to the Sinnoh League, there were four smaller stadiums located to the North, South, East, and West of the main stadium, which had a roof. The stadium to the North was green, the South was yellow, the East was Red, and the West was blue.
"It looks like this is going to have the same format as the Sinnoh League," Owen guessed as he and the others walked down a steep hill.
"What was it like?" Rebecca quizzed with intrigue while still looking at the beautiful stadiums. Snivy looked the most interested out of anyone and waited impatiently for Owen to answer Rebecca's question.
"Well, they spilt us up into four groups, and we battled at designated stadiums. There were four subdivisions in each group, and the top two trainers in each subdivision battled to be the winner of their bracket. That led to the semis and finals," Owen answered thoroughly. "I was in the blue bracket in Sinnoh. If it's the same format, then I'd presumably battle in the blue stadium," the Kantonian added.
"That sounds awesome! But I kind of like the Indigo League's format where they randomly generate your opponent each round," CJ opined before looking over at Fate and smiling. His girlfriend smiled back and leaned up against him, causing Owen to gag while the other girls smiled at the sight.
"They combine those two formats where I come from," Brooklyn told the other four trainers.
"That's cool," Fate said as the group passed through the gates to the complex and walked towards the registration center, which was located in the Pokemon Center. "I can't wait to perform tonight. It's going to be so cool!"
"You're going to do great," CJ assured the younger girl, who kissed him on the cheek for the compliment. Brooklyn waited for someone to tell her she'd do well, but no did. The blonde frowned at the lack of support as she and the others walked into the Pokemon Center to register for the Grand Festival. After waiting on line for third minutes, Brooklyn and Fate walked up to Nurse Joy in order to register.
"Hello. How may I help you?" the pink haired woman asked the two teenage girls with a Chansey standing by her side.
"Hi. We're here to register for the Grand Festival," Fate told the young woman while pointing herself and Brooklyn.
"Alright. I'll need your Pokedex," Nurse Joy replied. Fate and Brooklyn obliged and gave the nurse the hi-tech devices, and she scanned both of them. Both Fate's and Brooklyn's pictures appeared on a tiny screen, and all three of their ribbons appeared underneath their pictures. "All set. Good luck!" Nurse Joy exclaimed as she handed over the two Pokedex, and the two teens walked away.
"Nurse Joy, am I able to register for the Unova League?" Owen asked politely while Snivy waved to the woman and her Chansey.
"Absolutely." After Owen handed over his Pokedex, it was scanned and his picture appeared on the tiny screen to the right of the counter. All eight badges were shown underneath his picture, and Nurse Joy handed him his Pokedex. "You're all good to go. Good luck!"
Owen bowed thankfully and walked towards the table that everyone was sitting at in the dining hall. The food supplied by the Pokemon Center was much nicer than usual because of the yearly tournaments, but it was also incredibly expensive for those that weren't competing.
"So what should we do now?" Owen quizzed after sitting down in an empty chair.
"I'm going to sit in my room and relax until the appeal rounds tonight. I don't know what you guys are going to do," Brooklyn responded.
"I think I'll do the same thing. After all, we're staying in the same house when the Unova League starts," Fate pointed out, which caused Owen, CJ, and Rebecca to nod understandingly.
"Of course you wouldn't use this time to practice," a harsh voice critiqued. Fate and the others looked towards the lobby of the Pokemon Center to see none other than Destiny walking their way with her usual arrogant smirk. Even though everyone hated her, Owen couldn't resist staring at her beauty, which made Fate slap him across the back of the head.
"What are you doing here, Destiny?" Fate interrogated. The older girl laughed at Fate's question and the glares she was receiving from everyone, but stopped when she saw CJ's angered look.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm competing in the Grand Festival, dummy," Destiny mocked while shaking her head. "I see you two made it… somehow," she spat while looking at Fate and Brooklyn.
"What do you mean, 'somehow'? You didn't even make it to the battle rounds in Castelia, and you only made it to the finals in Mistralton because of CJ!" Brooklyn shot back furiously.
"Clearly you haven't heard of practicing. Well, I'm going to go practice." Destiny walked away as if nothing had happened, leaving Fate and Brooklyn sitting at the table angrily.
"Don't worry about her. Just focus on the appeal rounds tonight," Owen instructed the two girls. They nodded in response before exchanging glances, knowing what Owen had said was right.
000
"Welcome, everyone! My name is Julia, and I'll be your host for the Grand Festival! We have a special 32 coordinators competing this night, and we're sure to see some incredible performances! As usual, we have our normal three judges for the appeal rounds, and they will help narrow down the amount of coordinators advancing to the next round!"
"I've never been in a stadium this big before," Fate whispered to Brooklyn. The blonde nodded in agreement while keeping her eyes on Julia and waiting for the boring speech to end.
"Without further a due, it's time to find out the lineup of the coordinators!" Julia shouted as she turned to look at the enormous big screen, which was hanging from the ceiling. There were four different screens which made it look like a cube, and everyone in the audience waited anxiously for the order.
"I bet Fate's gonna be in the middle," Owen predicted. Snivy seconded Owen's notion, but CJ and Rebecca didn't care too much.
"It doesn't matter. She's going to do well regardless of where she's slated to go," Rebecca opined.
"Agreed," CJ stated while watching the screen. "Look! There's the first five coordinators!" The three spectators scanned the first row of competitors, but didn't see anyone they recognized. Then, the second row of six appeared, and Brooklyn's picture was the third in the row.
"So she's the ninth to go," Owen muttered. The next two groups of coordinators appeared, but Fate wasn't in either. Then, the last row appeared, and Fate was at the very end. Destiny was one spot ahead of her, which meant Fate would perform right after her.
000
"You've got to be kidding me," Fate muttered while standing next to Brooklyn. The two fourteen year olds were watching the performances in the coordinator room, and the first seven competitors were nothing but impressive. "I can't believe I have to close out the first round," the Hoenn girl whined.
"Well, at least the judges will know who you are. The worst thing that could've happened would have been if you were in the middle. Nobody remembers the middle performances," Brooklyn said in an attempt to cheer up her rival.
"Would Brooklyn Moore report to the stage?" a voice asked over the intercom.
"Wish me luck!" Brooklyn exclaimed before walking away and into the tunnel that led to a battlefield. Fate sighed after being left by herself, but she groaned when Destiny walked over.
"Don't say anything," Fate growled.
000
"Everyone, please welcome Brooklyn to the stage!" Julia shouted before clapping along with the 50,000 people in the stands. Brooklyn appeared on the battlefield in her usual dress, and she waved to everyone while holding a Pokeball with her right hand.
"Galvantula, take the stage!" Brooklyn shouted while throwing the Pokeball in her hand. A Galvantula appeared in front of her, and the crowd waited for the blonde and her Pokemon to begin their performance. Suddenly, a few trees appeared around the battlefield, and branches stemmed out from the roof.
"Galvantula, use String Shot and swing from tree to tree!" The four legged tarantula fired a strong and sticky string out of its mouth and onto the branches that appeared from the roof, and she began swinging from branch to branch.
"Now use Electro Ball and wrap it up with String Shot!" Galvantula landed on a branch and fired a ball of electricity into the air, and then fired a string around the attack. Then, Galvantula climbed up to the very top of the roof and hung the encased attack from the ceiling.
"Perfect! Now drop to the stage!" Galvantula surprisingly dropped from the roof, but landed on her legs.
"Now shoot an Electroweb into the air and use Slash!" Galvantula's mouth began to glow bright yellow before she fired a large web that was covered in electricity, and she jumped after it. Her front legs began to glow white, and she slashed up the web, which looked like a bunch of knives falling towards the ground.
"Now use String Shot to hang from the Electro Ball!" As Galvantula was falling towards the ground, she shot a sticky string towards the cocoon, and it stuck. The bit os lightning that hit the ground disappeared into sparkling light, and Galvantula was left suspended in the air beneath the bright glowing cocoon. The crowd began to clap for the girl and her Pokemon once Galvantula dropped to the ground, and they waved in response to the applause.
"Excellent job! Your use of Galvantula's typing was exquisite!" the man in the red suit stated.
"Remarkable!" the annoying man with slants for eyes screamed.
"Galvantula's acrobatic ability really made the performance enjoyable. Well done!" Nurse Joy complimented. Brooklyn curtsied to the three adults and walked off the stage while waving to Owen, CJ, and Rebecca, who all waved back. After she walked through the tunnel, Brooklyn sat down next to Fate, who was with Destiny on a couch in the back corner of the room.
"That was so cool! You and Galvantula were amazing!" Fate complimented excitedly.
"Impressive. But don't think that'll get you a top spot in the next round," Destiny told Brooklyn.
"Let's see how well you do," Brooklyn growled.
000
"Please welcome Destiny Jennings to the stage!" Every teenage boy - which were hard to come by - in the audience gaped at the girl that strutted onto the stage while wearing an exposing red dress.
"Snorunt, action!" Destiny shouted as she chucked a Pokeball into the air. Everyone watching the performance 'awwwed' at the tiny ice type, who looked around at the arena shyly and waved. Everyone - even the judges - waved back to the Pokemon, who smiled as a result of the kind gestures. The stage suddenly turned into an icy arena, where large rocks covered in frost were scattered across the ground, which was covered in ice.
"Snorunt, use Double Team!" Snorunt began to multiply and nine other copies of himself appeared in a circle around the icy stage. "Formation!" The ten ice types scurried around into a strange order, which people began to scratch their heads about. Once the Pokemon achieved their formation, everyone began laughing when they realized that Snorunt and his clones had spelt 'HI' with their bodies.
"Dismiss!" Destiny barked, causing the clones of Snorunt to vanish into thin air, similar to steam, which wowed everyone.
"How did she do that?" Owen asked aloud while the Snorunt clones floated around the stadium and waved to the spectators.
"Use Hail, everyone!" All nine of the clones stopped floating around, and they formed large sky blue spheres of energy. The nine spheres were thrown towards the middle of the stage, and they collided, causing a spiraling wintery blast of snow.
"Use Protect, Snorunt!" The original Snorunt shielded himself with a green bubble while a massive amount of snow dropped to the ground like a bag of bricks. Everyone gasped as the snow piled on top of Snorunt - it was at least three feet high - despite him using Protect.
"Weather Ball!" Much to everyone's surprise, a large clear ball shot straight out of the snow and into the air. The snow shockingly followed the clear ball, and covered it, which revealed Snorunt on the ground. The nine clones danced around the snow-covered ball before disappearing, singling the end of their performance. The crowd exploded with cheers, with the exception of Rebecca, CJ, and Owen, but they quieted down when the judges spoke.
"Excellent work. Snorunt's stage presence was very entertaining." The judge in the red suit smiled at Destiny in a reassuring manner, making her feel confident about her chances about advancing to the next round.
"Remarkable!" the short man shrieked.
"Using pure ice types is always difficult in a solo performance. The risk really paid off." Nurse Joy gave Destiny the same look as the red suited judge, and she walked off the stage while Snorunt waved to everyone.
Fate waited in the tunnel with an annoyed look on her face after watching Destiny's success, but Hez expressed his confidence in the rookie coordinator. Destiny walked into the tunnel while withdrawing Snorunt, and she gave Fate a smug smirk.
"Try to top that, loser." Fate nearly attacked the older girl, but Hez held her back just in time.
"Now please welcome Fate Flores to the stage!" Julia shouted over the mic, which made Fate walk onto the stage after zapping Hez back into his Pokeball.
"Daisy, it's time to steal the show!" Fate shouted while throwing a different Pokeball into the air. Her Eevee appeared on the battlefield, and the audience whistled and screamed for the popular Pokemon. Eevee wagged her tail at the attention while Fate took a deep breath, remembering all of the stunning performances before her.
"You've got this, Fate!" the girl heard Owen and Rebecca scream in unison. She turned to her right and saw her two friends and boyfriend sitting in the front row, and CJ gave her a simple nodded, which gave her all of the confidence in the world.
"Daisy, start this off by using Sand Attack!" The normal type Pokemon began slapping the ground with her front paws and tail, causing a dust cloud to cover the entire stage. Everyone in the crowd watched anxiously despite not being able to see, and they heard Fate give another command.
"Do exactly what we planned!" While the cloud continued to stay on the stage, the audience began to lose their patience. Before they could start to boo Fate and Daisy, the dust settled, and the stage was revealed. At least fifteen holes were dug into the stage, which was a strange idea. The judges gave each other puzzled looks before turning back to Fate, who didn't pay any attention to the pessimistic words and actions of the people watching her performance.
"Use Double Team and then hop out of the hole!" Daisy sprung out of the hole furthest away from Fate, and she stood there silently, waiting for another command.
"Use Shadow Ball like whack-a-mole!" As Daisy began to shoot purple balls of energy, her clones randomly appeared from each of the holes, and acted like the classic arcade game. After ten seconds, Fate felt the crowd was growing bored of the routine, so she decided to improvise.
"I want all of you to use Last Resort! Make sure they all collide in the air!" The group of Eevee looked at their trainer in confusion, but obeyed the command once they saw the stern look on Fate's face. All sixteen Pokemon formed a circle and they began to glow white while light pink sparks appeared around their bodies. "Fire!" All of the Pokemon unleashed the wicked attacks, and they collided in the middle of the stage, forming an enormous ball of sparkling white energy. Then, the ball blew up, but glittery pink dust filled the air, drawing a collective gasp from the audience.
Fate and Daisy curtsied to the arena while the clones disappeared, and a deafening roar filled the air.
"I could tell you thought of the last action on the spot. Your confidence allowed you to perform incredibly," the man in the red suit opined with a smile.
"The way you could sense the crowd's emotions was stunning. That was a masterful performance," the squinty eyed man announced, which shocked everyone. He normally only said 'remarkable!', but for some reason, he gave a long winded opinion.
"I don't think I can say anything these two haven't. Excellent work," Nurse Joy announced sheepishly. Fate curtsied to the three adults and walked off the stage with Daisy and disappeared.
000
CJ, Fate, Owen, Rebecca, and Brooklyn sat in the coordinator room and waited for the judges to make cuts in the first round of the Grand Festival.
"Both of you were amazing," Rebecca complimented. "I think I might become a coordinator after seeing those performances," the youngest of the group announced with a grin.
"Thanks," the older girls sang in unison.
"Attention please," the short judge said into the camera. Everyone turned to the television screen and waited quietly, waiting for the bald man to speak. "After reaching a unanimous decision, we have decided only eight coordinators will advance to the battle rounds." All 32 coordinators, except Destiny, screamed in frustration, but they stopped once they realized the decision was final. "Here are the remaining coordinators, which will be in order of the best to worst performances."
The first three pictures were revealed, and Destiny was the second.
"What? That shouldn't have been the third best performance," Fate muttered under her breath.
The next two were shown, and Brooklyn was the fourth picture, which was the last of the top row. The fifth coordinator's picture was in the bottom right corner of the screen and beneath Brooklyn's, which meant they'd face off in the quarterfinals.
"Congratulations," CJ said to the blonde, who thanked him for the compliment.
The final three were revealed, and Fate fell to her knees,
"I'm sixth! Yes!" she cheered while the 24 coordinators that had been cut left without saying a word.
"We'd like to congratulate you all for making it this far, but the competition is only going to get tougher. Tomorrow at noon, we will start the battle rounds, which will be single or double battles in the quarterfinals. There will be a coin flip before each battle decide the amount of Pokemon. And there will be double battles int the semis and finals. Good luck, everyone!" The TV screen suddenly went black, and the final eight coordinators looked around while breathing a sigh of relief.
000
"You're telling me he already registered for the league? How didn't I see him?" Ariel shouted while glaring at Blaziken. The fire chicken shrugged his shoulders and looked up at the stars.
"Ariel, I think you're making a mistake. It isn't the right time."
"What do you mean, 'it's not the right time'? I need to find him!" the girl screamed, causing a flock of Pidove to bolt out of the trees.
"I'm just saying, you might not want to do this. At least, not now," the fully evolved Pokemon said while inspecting the piece of metal on his forearm. The rainbow colored stone with a picture of a double helix flashed at random times, as did the bracelet on Ariel's wrist.
"You're wrong, Blaziken. I'm going to do it."
000
"Who do you plan on using tomorrow?" Brooklyn quizzed while looking at six Pokeballs that she had laid out on the table.
"I don't know. I think if it's a single battle, I'll go with…" Fate looked at the six Pokeballs in front of her before running her hands through her hair.
"If it's one on one, go with Sawk," Owen recommended. Fate turned and nodded at the boy she had met nearly five years ago, "Trust me. He won a lot of battles for me, and he's definitely the strongest fighter you have. That's what the one on one's are all about."
"You're right," Fate said while taking Sawk's Pokeball off the table and staring at it. "I guess I'll have to hope for a single battle."
Finally! I finally finished this chapter! So, Destiny, Brooklyn, and Fate placed second, fourth and sixth respectively amongst the top eight coordinators. Now with the quarterfinals looming, how will Fate and her rivals do? Till next time, peace out.
1) Should Owen and co. be scared of Ariel?
2) Are you looking forward to the rest of the G.F?
3) Are you looking forward to the Unova League?
Next Chapter: A Poisonous Pair
#Chapter 50: Unexpected Success
#Chapter 51: Clash of the Rivals
#Chapter 52: From One Tournament to Another