Wow. We've finally reached the fiftieth chapter of Unova, and I can't believe there are only ten (maybe eleven) chapters left! So, last chapter Fate and her rivals advanced to the semifinals of the Grand Festival, and things are going to start heating up. How, exactly? Let's find out!

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

"This is it. We've got to give this everything we have," Fate told the two Pokemon standing in front of her. Hez and Angel nodded at the fourteen year old's words while Rebecca, CJ, and Owen were sitting at a table in the corner of the coordinator room. Destiny, Brooklyn, and the fourth coordinator that no one knew were all talking to their pairs of Pokemon, too.

"So two of them are guaranteed to face off. That's gonna be interesting," Owen stated while looking at Fate and her two rivals. Destiny kept shooting nasty glances at the two younger girls, but neither paid any attention to the fifteen year old.

"Yeah. Fate really wants to go up against Destiny," CJ added while looking at his girlfriend and Destiny.

"Would the remaining coordinators report to the stage?" a robotic voice asked over the intercom. The three girls and one boy turned their attention to the tunnel and Fate looked back to her three traveling companions with a worried expression on her face.

"You've got this!" CJ cheered, making Fate nod while Owen and Rebecca clapped for their friend. With that, Fate and the three other coordinators walked out of the tunnel and appeared on the stage with the audience roaring. The entire stadium was packed, and tickets for the semifinals and championship were sold out in a matter of hours, much to Fate's surprise. The fourteen year old looked around and her eyes went wide at the 120,000 people in attendance.

"Welcome to the semifinals of the Grand Festival, which is in it's first year here in the Unova region! We only have four remaining coordinators, and they will be narrowed down to two in a matter of an hour! Because of how the quarterfinal bracket was set up, the two semifinal match ups have already been determined! In the first battle, Brooklyn will face Jeffrey! And in the second, Fate will battle Destiny!" Julia shouted while pictures of the four coordinators appeared on the jumbotron.

"What?" Fate shouted as she turned to face Destiny. The older girl snickered at the matchup, while Brooklyn locked eyes with her opponent, who was the number one seed. "Shouldn't I be going up against Jeffrey?" Nobody answered Fate's question, causing her to cross her arms over her chest angrily.

000

"This battle is going down to the wire! Brooklyn has the slightest lead over Jeffrey, and there are only twenty seconds remaining! Who's going to win?!" Julia screamed into the camera before it was refocused on the battle.

"Samurott, use Water Pulse against the ground! Beartic, use Blizzard to freeze the water!"

"Blow it up with Fire Blast, Typhlosion!" Jeffrey countered. Once the Water Pulse struck the ground, Beartic released a freezing blast of energy that froze the water. The ice in front of Samurott and Beartic acted as a large shield, butt Jeffrey's Typhlosion was refusing to give in to his two opponents, despite his partner - an Ampharos - being earlier.

The fire around Typhlosion's neck began to burn brightly, and he released a star shaped flame that exploded once it hit the ice wall. Everyone clapped for the Johto starter once they saw that the ice had melted, causing Brooklyn to lose her minuscule lead. "Follow up with Flame Wheel on Beartic!"

"Counter with Superpower, Beartic! Samurott, use Razor Shell!" Beartic charged towards the spinning ball of fire while her body turned bright red, and Samurott trailed close behind the bipedal ice type. Beartic swung her enormous arms at Typhlosion, and the two attacks battled back and forth while the timer reached five seconds. "Hurry, Samurott!" Brooklyn shouted to her starter. Samurott jumped forward and grabbed both of the swords on his forearms before slashing Typhlosion and sending him flying into Jeffrey. Once the buzzer rang, everyone gasped when they saw Typhlosion was unconscious.

"Typhlosion is unable to battle! That means Brooklyn will be advancing to the championship round later this evening!"

"We did it, you two!" Brooklyn cheered after hugging both of her Pokemon. Samurott and Beartic cheered alongside their trainer as they walked off the stage, and Julia cleared her throat before speaking into the microphone once again.

"Would Fate and Destiny please report to the stage?"

"Oh man. I'm so nervous, I can't stop shaking!" Fate screamed while waiting in the tunnel that would take her to the stage. "I've never performed in front of this many people before!"

"Don't worry, Fate. All you have to do is focus on you and your Pokemon, and everything will just fade out. Trust me," Owen instructed, recalling what he did before each of his league battles. "Whenever you get nervous, just talk to your Pokemon."

"You've got this. Just think about what you can control and do your best," Rebecca told Fate while patting her on the back.

"Good luck, babe. No matter what, I love you," CJ said, causing Owen (and myself included) to gag. "Now go get 'em!" CJ exclaimed as Fate waved back to Owen, Rebecca, and her boyfriend. With that, she walked out onto the stage, and everyone exploded with applause.

000

"This semifinal match will be between Fate and Destiny! Competitors, choose your two Pokemon!"

"Serperior, Sigilyph, action!" Destiny shouted while flicking two Pokeballs forwards. Fate frowned when she saw the familiar grass snake slithering across the battlefield, but scratched her head while wondering what Sigilyph was.

"Hez, Angel, time to steal the show!" The younger teen yelled while throwing tow Pokeballs into the air. Her two trusty starters appeared next to each other and glared at Destiny's two Pokemon while inching towards the middle of the battlefield. Julia looked at both sides and their Pokemon before throwing her hands in the air and screaming,

"Begin!"

"Hez, use Earthquake to send Angel flying through the air! Angel, spin and use Flame Charge!" Hez ran froward and slammed his arms against the ground, causing the stage to shake mightily before a column of dirt shot up from underneath Angel and sent her flying in the air. The fire pig then launched herself towards the flying and psychic type, but Destiny used a simple, yet effective counter attack.

"Sigilyph, use Gust to send Angel flying back! Serperior, use Leaf Blade to slam Angel into the ground!" Sigilyph began whipping its wings forward, creating a powerful wind that stopped Angel in her tracks and sent her flying back towards the ground. Serperior then hopped into the air while his tail was glowing bright green, and he slammed it over Angel's body, spiking her into the stage. Fate winced at the ugly sight, and when she saw how harshly her points fell. Despite countering once, Destiny had already erased a third of Fate's total points, and Angel was in awful condition.

"Stand tall, Angel! Use Flamethrower on the ground! Hez, hose the ground down with Hydro Pump!" Angel quickly covered the battlefield in flames before Hez extinguished them with a powerful Hydro Pump, causing a cloud of steam to cover the battlefield. Both Hez and Angel disappeared into the smoke along with Serperior and Sigilyph, which made everyone sit on the edge of their seats. "Now use Ice Beam!"

"Protect Sigilyph with Frenzy Plant, Serperior! Sigilyph, take Angel out by throwing her into the air with Psychic!" Suddenly, the cloud of steam turned bright blue, but it cleared when thirty gigantic vines shot out of the ground and blocked the Ice Beam attack, which dropped Fate's points down to a mere quarter of their total. Then, a thin line of blue energy appeared around Angel's body, and she was thrown into the air. Fate watched as everything went into slow-motion, and she thought go nearly twenty different counters, but her mind settled on one that she had seen Owen pull off while practicing for the Unova League.

"Countershield, Angel!" Angel began to spin 360 degrees while releasing a powerful Flamethrower, which struck Sigilyph and Serperior. Both Pokemon were pummeled by the genius counter, and Destiny lost a quarter of her points, giving Fate a glimmer of hope. "Hez, use Take Down on Serperior!" Destiny gasped as she watched Serperior fly into the wall behind her, but the fully evolved starter slithered back onto the stage. Again, her points dropped by a quarter, leaving her with only a half remaining.

"Use Psychic to stop Angel, Sigilyph! Serperior, finish this with Solarbeam!" Angel stopped spinning as a thin blue line of energy appeared around her body, and she was thrown against the ground, which caused her to cry out in pain. Fate began to sweat as she watched her point total drop down to a mere sliver, but she still held out hope.

"Hez, knock Sigilyph out with Hydro Pump! Angel, use Flame Charge to keep Serperior from using Solarbeam!" Hez reared back and unleashed the strongest Hydro Pump he could, which hit Sigilyph and sent it soaring through the air and into the crowd. Despite this, the psychic and flying type made its way back onto the stage as Angel covered herself in fire and sprinted over to Serperior, who was charging a Solarbeam attack.

"There's no point, Fate. This is where it ends!" Destiny shouted to the younger girl, who refused to believe the words. "Fire!" Before Angel could hit into Serperior, the grass starter shot an enormous beam of white energy, which overpowered the tiny pig. Much to her dismay, Fate watched as the attack continued across the battlefield and struck Hez. Both Angel and Hez rolled across the ground, but got back up with weak looks on their faces. Neither were ready to give up, but they turned when a loud siren went off throughout the arena.

"Fate has lost all of her points! That means Destiny will move on to the finals where she will face Brooklyn!" Julia announced, causing Fate to drop to her knees.

"I can't believe it. We lost." Angel and Hez limped over to their trainer with dejected looks on their faces, but they were surprised when Fate smiled at them and patted them on the head. "It doesn't matter, guys. I couldn't have gotten here without you or the others."

000

Fate walked back into the coordinator room, but no one said anything. Owen, Rebecca, and CJ all remained silent along with Brooklyn, and Fate sat down at a table by herself.

"Sorry, Fate. I was really hoping we'd get our rematch," Brooklyn said reluctantly. She didn't want to hurt Fate's feelings in any way, so she spoke very carefully.

"Thanks. I was looking forward to it, too. Maybe a bit too much," Fate muttered after sighing. "There's nothing I can do about it now, though. Me, Hez, and Angel gave it our all."

"Hey, loser," Destiny greeted upon entering the room. "How does it feel to not know you're in the championship?"

"Shut up, Destiny," CJ barked. The other fifteen year old didn't listen to the boy she used to like, and continued picking on Fate.

"I just want to let you know that you and your Pokemon are a disgrace to coordinating, and you should've never gotten this far to begin with." Before Destiny could continue, Brooklyn got up in her face and glared daggers at the wicked teen.

"Leave her alone! You're going to regret saying any of those things, because I'm gonna crush you tonight!"

Destiny snickered at the outburst from Brooklyn, which made the blonde try to attack her. Owen, however, managed to hold her back with Snivy's assistance. "I'd like to see you try. Toodles." Destiny strutted out of the room while cackling at her two rivals, which enraged both girls.

"Hey, Brooklyn?"

"Yeah, Fate?"

"Make sure you kick her butt."

Well, Fate lost in the semifinals, but I think she should be proud of me writing… I mean, her performing :P Next chapter will be the finale of the Grand Festival, and the introduction to the Unova League is looming! Will Brooklyn be able to avenge Fate? When the heck will Ariel appear? Can Owen reverse his misfortunes in his past league competitions? Till next time, peace out.

1) Are you surprised Fate lost to Destiny?

2) Will Brooklyn win? Or will she lose?

Next Chapter: Clash of the Rivals: With the Grand Festival coming to a close, Brooklyn and Destiny battle it out for the right to be named Unova's top coordinator. Hoping to avenge Fate's loss, can Brooklyn claim victory?

#Chapter 53: From One League to Another

*Chapter 54: Survive and Advance

*Chapter 55: Keeping the Streak Alive

*Chapter 56: Begin the Full Battles!