Chapter 12: The Rivaling Routine!
"I can't believe we actually pulled that off!" Dawn exclaimed with glee, "That was incredible! Cinderace, Togekiss, you two were awesome!"
"C-Cind…" Cinderace gave an embarrassed, yet flattered snicker, its cheeks dawning a shade of rosy red as it rubbed its ears from the praise it was receiving. Togekiss just tilted its head to the side and gave a smile, happy to have played its part perfectly.
"We really managed to do it on the spot like that…" Goh stared at the television screen in the coordinator waiting room, watching over the replay that was cycling for the spectacular appeal he had managed to perform alongside Dawn.
Then, a pair of hands gripped his arm, and yanked him to the side. The boy faced his contest partner, who was holding onto him, now giving him the warmest smile he'd ever seen.
"I can't forget about you too, Goh," Dawn seemed to beam with light, "You really were amazing out there."
Had Goh not been wearing gloves, the sweat inside would have easily been felt by Dawn. Not that it betrayed the bead that gathered on his forehead. Nevertheless, even with a pounding heart, Goh managed to let out a little chuckle.
"I should-" Goh was about to turn the gratitude over to Dawn, had he not been interrupted.
"Now where are- ah! There you two are~!" a familiar peppy voice broke out over the crowds of coordinators and their Pokémon as Lisia ran over to barge in on the conversation, with Serena not too far behind, being followed by their Altaria and Delphox, "You two were dazzling!"
"O-Oh! Thank you, Lisia!" Dawn laughed, clicking her legs together as she got the feeling that this was merely the calm before the storm.
"That was a beautiful display. I felt that both of you and your Pokémon were not only pushing their limit, but somehow further beyond…" The next voice belonged to Nando, the boy arriving with Zoey, "It was such an inspiration to see!"
"And Goh, I didn't know you knew how to use Counter Shield! That's something I've only seen Ash and Dawn pull off!" Zoey chuckled, locking an arm around her Galade's shoulder as she pointed to her partner Pokémon, "Guess we gotta get some lessons from Dawn and Goh! Right, Galade?"
"Lade!" Zoey's Galade had to admit that the performance Cinderace and Togekiss had conducted was unlike anything it had seen before. The Pokémon remembered the fierce battle that it endured against Dawn's Togekiss before, and how it took almost all of its power to come out on top. This time, the Pokémon was more than humbled, and was proud to have been bested in the Performance Stage by such a sweet and kind Pokémon as Togekiss.
Then, the two coordinators that had gone up on the stage first walked on over. May was overjoyed to be able to meet up with Dawn once more. Drew, meanwhile, was rubbing the back of his head, a faint tone of humility on his face as he ended up eating his words: "Watch and learn, everyone!"
Clearly, the green-haired boy in the striking red jacket had much to learn himself.
"Wow. Guess you two sure showed me," Drew smiled, stuffing a hand into his pocket, "That's the last time I'll run my mouth like that. I had my reservations about you when I looked up your profile, Goh, but I guess I'm wrong in that department too."
May came over and gripped both of Dawn's hands, gleefully squeeing in her face, "Did you see the look on Matilda's face when Cinderace hopped onto Togekiss's back?! I think you made her drop her pen right on her desk!"
As all of Dawn's friends crowded around the two coordinators, Dawn could only nervously smile at Goh, and vice-versa.
Before long, Goh took a step back, and cleared his throat. The tuxedo'd boy began to draw the attention of all the other veteran coordinators, Dawn and all of the Pokémon included. He then put a hand on his hip.
"Guys, if you should be impressed with anyone, it's Dawn," Goh then motioned to his contest partner with both of his arms, "Even though I crammed in my research, Dawn has taught me so much in such a short span of time that… I really can't emphasize how amazing of a coordinator she is, and how lucky I am to have learned from her. Seriously, she's-"
"Goh."
The boy stopped his monologue the moment he heard Dawn's voice.
The girl in the white dress walked up to Goh, and faced him.
She smiled.
"What you're saying is really nice, but… Goh, we're a team. We're in this together, and we're two halves of a whole!" the girl giggled, "I know you're trying to be humble, but seriously, take credit for how amazing you are! The only way that Cinderace could pull off Counter Shield by using Blaze Kick in the heat of the moment like that would be if Cinderace had an amazing trainer!"
Dawn's words caressed Goh's heart. He tried all he could to not have his face adopt the same shade as a Tamato Berry in front of everyone. He could only grin, rubbing the back of his head, "Th-Thanks, Dawn."
Within the group of Dawn's friends witnessing this whole exchange, Serena gave a little giggle, "Aww, you two are so-"
"Pathetic!" the snarky and spoiled voice of Ursula pierced through the moment, the girl along with Kenny flanking Dawn and Goh, cutting Serena off before she could speak the final word of her sentence, "Face it! Dawn is carrying you, Goh! There's no way someone like you, who's never been in a contest before, could even pull something off like what we just saw!"
Once more, Goh's eyes met Kenny's. The Pokémon catcher's blue eyes and the veteran coordinator's black irises battled each other. However, Goh was taken aback for a peculiar reason. The emotion that Kenny was projecting from his face wasn't one of apathy or loathing, as he often did when coming face to face with Goh, but rather… suspicion.
Suspicion of what, however, remained to be seen.
His lips were sealed this time, as Zoey cut in with an interruption of her own, glaring at Ursula, "Hey, why don't you beat it? Clearly you need a lesson on when to scram when you've been outmatched."
"Outmatched? Hah! A complete and utter fluke was what I saw!" Ursula jeered as she pointed a finger at both of the coordinators clad in white, "You might be able to fool everyone else around here, but I know for a fact that the last part of your appeal was completely improvised!"
Dawn and Goh glanced at each other, as did Cinderace with Togekiss.
May then angrily stepped forwards, opting to keep Dawn and Goh out of the crossfire of this harassment with her own rebuttal, "Yeah? Sounds like something even more impressive to me! I think you two are just jealous you got upstaged!"
Ursula shook her head and snidely laughed, "Taking a gamble isn't skill in the slightest. And besides-"
"Attention, coordinators! The final appeal has been completed, and the results are in! The four teams that will move on to the Choreography Stage will now be appearing on the screen!"
Every conversation stopped as the intercom sounded.
Ursula's sentence was cut off as she now brought her attention to the display screen in the waiting room, as did every other coordinator within. On the television, eight blank squares were displayed, with every two representing the four teams that would be advancing to the next round from their appeals. Once again, each performer was reminded about just how harsh this first-round elimination would be as every boy and girl held their breath.
Then, the blank squares turned over to reveal the portraits.
In the upper right, Zoey and Nando's faces beamed on the screen. Glancing to the left, coordinators saw Serena and Lisia also making it to the second stage, the two idols sighing in relief for a brief second as more squares began to turn around.
The next pair revealed the peach-haired and auburn-haired duo, Ursula and Kenny. Kenny exhaled, crossing his arms. Ursula chortled, putting a hand on her hip. Dawn and Goh couldn't help but glance over at the two upon seeing that their rivals would indeed be moving on to the next round.
Then, the last portraits were revealed. To say that anyone would have been surprised after seeing the relevant appeal would have been disingenuous. The final two faces that turned over, smiling on the screen, were Dawn and Goh.
There was just a brief moment of overwhelming joy beginning to sprout in Dawn and Goh. The boy especially couldn't believe that, in his first contest, he had managed to actually make it past the extremely tight Performance Round at Dawn's side.
He was about to say something. Anything. He wanted to congratulate her once again for being such an amazing partner, and for not only being someone that he was honored to be competing alongside with, but for her insistence that the two were equals and a team.
But he couldn't, as the sounds of dismay began to wail through the waiting room. The moment of celebration that Goh had anticipated upon his and Dawn's advancement was instead met with the saddened, disgruntled, and even devastated cries and mutterings of the other coordinator teams.
"Wh-What? But I thought we did so well…" Goh picked up on one girl's reaction out of the corner of his ear.
"No way! Th-This was the last ribbon I could get!" A boy stumbled back on a bench, gripping his forehead with both of his hands, "Arrrrgh!"
Another boy simply sighed, patting his sobbing Cherrim that was sitting atop his shoulder, "It's okay. There's always next time. You did amazing out there!"
A girl was crying into the shoulder of another girl, the sobs and quivers so quiet that hardly a soul could hear her partner patting the girl's back, consoling her and telling her that everything would be okay.
Then, the group of Serena, Lisia, Zoey, Nando, Dawn, and Goh realized what had just happened.
May's eyes glazed over the television screen, her mouth slightly agape at the sight of her and Drew's missing portraits. Her contest partner let out a shocked breath, taking a step back as his pupils flickered between each and every portrait on the display. None of them had his face on it, let alone May's.
Ursula scoffed.
"Me? Upstaged? Pick your words a little more carefully next time, May!" Ursula brought up a hand to her mouth, ready to burst with laughter.
"Oh, the irony! The so-called 'Dancing Princess of Hoenn' can't even make it to the dancing round! AH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH~!" Ursula chortled as she began to walk off. Kenny remained silent once again, briefly locking eyes with Goh before blinking and turning away to join back up with the departing Ursula. The boy hadn't uttered a single word.
"We… lost…" May's face dropped away from looking at the display screen, then at the ground. Almost immediately, the girl's surrounding friends dived in to comfort her.
"Aww, come here," Lisia wrapped her arms behind the Hoenn Princess's back, "Your appeal was totally amazing!"
"Yeah, I mean, you and Drew scored fifth place! That's a really good standing, considering how far ahead you two scored from the next runner-up!" Zoey tapped her Pokétch to reveal the scoring given to each coordinator, "Me and Nando really tried, and you were decimals off! It could've been anyone's game!"
Then, Dawn walked on over and took May's hands into her own. The girl brought her head up to come eye to eye with her friend she had competed with in Sinnoh giving her a grin beaming with warmth.
"May, you were awesome out there. No one can say otherwise," Dawn squeezed May's hands with her fingers, "Your Glaceon was incredible for holding that Ice Beam for so long!"
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Drew had his face in his hand as he painfully muttered the next words, "May, I'm sorry. This whole statue thing was my idea, and… I neglected to realize the extent of your part in all of it. It's my fault that we got eliminated, so please, May, don't take this all on yourself. If you want to be angry at someone, please be angry at me, okay?"
May turned her head away from Dawn's as she found the disheveled posture of her contest partner in front of her. He was now gripping his face with his hand, as if trying his dig his fingers inside.
May let go of Dawn's hands, and put a hand on the boy's shoulder, causing him to let go of his temple and meet eyes with May once more.
"It's okay, Drew. Your idea was incredible! Just… let's not start stealing the blame from one another, okay?" May giggled, then as if right on cue, her stomach rumbled, causing every single coordinator around her to blink in surprise as May smiled at Drew, "Actually, if you wanna make it up to me, then buy me lunch during the break! If we go now, we can make it to that ramen shop we passed by on our way to the Contest Hall! So, come on!"
In a matter of seconds, Drew was being wrangled by his wrist by May; the two walked out of one of the doors of the waiting room.
"M-May, can't we at least change out of our costumes?!" Drew pointed out as May tugged on his arm.
"We have to beat the line, and I'm starving!" May argued with a smile as the two disappeared.
The instant Dawn and Goh's portraits appeared on the large hanging displays over the contest grounds, Piplup and Grookey cheered in victory. Conway simply pushed up his glasses. He had nothing to worry about, as Dawn would often say. Or was it "no need to worry"? The boy shrugged.
"Piplup, you seemed to be pretty surprised at the second part of their appeal," Conway tapped his fingers on his leg, "Did they do all of that on the fly? Your reaction would lead me to believe that's the case."
"P-Piplup?" the little Pokémon blinked at Conway before considering how it should answer. It knew for a fact that Cinderace leaping into the flaming Togekiss's aura and using Counter Shield wasn't a part of the training that Dawn and Goh had worked on. Had it missed a detail?
"So it was improvised," Conway rubbed his chin, "Interesting. Well, if I know anything from Ash, it's that the best-laid plans and strategies sometimes go up in flames."
Then, Piplup and Grookey's stomachs rumbled. Conway leaned away from the two.
"Really?! You two demolished my popcorn bag, and you're hungry?" Conway narrowed his eyes at Piplup and Grookey. Both Pokémon looked up at him, pleadingly.
The Pokémon maniac sighed, "Alright, alright. But I'm getting you two something healthy this time. Piplup, if you got a cramp in the middle of your battle, Dawn would never let me live it down!"
"Luuuup. Rook!" the Water-type and Grass-type Pokémon happily chirped and rooted.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Goh snapped out of his thoughts as Dawn took a seat next to him on the couch in the changing room, the two still dressed in their outfits.
"I got us bentos! Remember, we gotta eat lightly since we'll be up to dance!" Dawn reminded the boy, breaking apart a pair of wooden chopsticks.
"Right, thanks," Goh nodded as he wrapped his fingers around the little plastic box. He set the container down next to him on the couch as Dawn took notice.
"You don't seem fine to me," the girl set down her lunch as well, facing her contest partner, "What's on your mind?"
The Pokémon catcher-turned-coordinator rubbed his hands on his legs, exhaling out of his mouth as he began to speak in an uneasy tone, "I dunno. I'm really, really glad we managed to get into the Top Four. But… I guess I wasn't expecting… what was going on with everyone else around me."
The girl knew what he was talking about, "Oh yeah. I know what you mean."
Dawn leaned back on the couch, her hands clasped on top of her skirt, "It definitely catches newcomers off guard, hearing how the coordinators who didn't make it end up reacting. It… really does drown out the ones who are happy they advanced, especially when the cutoff is so harsh like this."
Goh listened to every word that Dawn spoke. He knew that she had to have been among that crowd of dismayed coordinators many times before. The boy began to wonder what it would feel like to know that you've lost, and that you had to not only hear the sounds of the others that couldn't make the mark seep around you, but also the cheers of the ones that would move on without you. It already felt off when Dawn and Goh were the ones winning.
The girl gripped her dress, "It's definitely a matter of how you take it. Sometimes you have friends by your side, like May and Drew. Other times… it's just you and your Pokémon."
Her contest partner now realized that Dawn was beginning to pour herself out to him within the confines of the changing room. She was referencing how she traveled alone for so long after her first journey with Ash and Brock, and how it felt to not have friends to celebrate your victories with, or to comfort you in your defeats.
"Sometimes, when I see other coordinators cry… I can't blame them," Dawn weakly smiled, "Sometimes I wanna cry too. Guess when you really stop to think about it… contests can be pretty vicious when it comes to winning and losing."
Goh looked down at Dawn's hands joined together by her legs.
The boy closed his eyes for a second, and exhaled. All of that time spent with Dawn, all of that time getting to know her, watching the stars together and sharing some of their most embarrassing and painful stories, and just…
All of that time.
Goh nearly made Dawn cry when he lashed out at her, fueled by his own insecurities and attacking Dawn for her own. Now, the last thing he'd want to see is that girl sitting on that couch next to him, clad in that brilliant white dress and red ribbons, and shining with positivity, in tears over losing, or over him.
Opening his eyes back up and turning to face Dawn, he clenched his fist, leaned forwards so that he and she were face to face, and pumped his hand in front of his chest.
"Dawn, I want you to mark my words!" Goh's outburst made Dawn's heart leap from her chest, the girl gasping in surprise at the sudden ferocity, "I want you to know that you can count on me to do my absolute best!"
"Goh?" Dawn could only utter.
"And I want you to know that you have no need to worry!" The boy got up from the couch, and stretched his arms, "Now come on. We've got a little bit of time. Why don't we just do one round of our routine to practice, and then we can snack?"
The faintest shade of red illuminated her cheeks as the dashingly-dressed bookworm extended his hand out to Dawn, pulling her up from the couch. While the changing room wasn't gigantic by any means, it was at least spacious enough for a small dress rehearsal barring their Pokémon.
Dawn gave a chuckle and smiled at her contest partner, "Alright, Goh. Let's get this down one last time, and give it our all!"
Truth be told, even though the practice still had its purpose, Dawn was dying to give their dance routine another go, one way or another. It definitely wasn't the most technical act to get down, but this time, something felt a little different when the two's legs shuffled and bopped together, moved past one another in sync with the beat, and held their striking pose side by side. As the first beat-drop in the pop score dropped, followed by that brief pause in the music before it picked back up again, Dawn's heart beat at fever-pitch, thumping with every time Goh either flashed a grin, asked if she had gotten a move down, or complimented her for absolutely nailing the choreography.
She wondered if Goh's heart was beating this way.
Out of the judges sitting in the booths, Pierre was easily the most excited for the Choreography Round. He had quite the hand in helping the overall design and classification of the new style of contest event fit its way into the Hearthome City Pokémon Doubles Contest, and he was quite proud that he could garner the support of his good friend, Fantina.
The judges reconvened to their desks in front of the stage, with the Kalosian man being flanked by Mr. Sukizo and Headmistress Matilda. As the woman took her seat next to him, she brushed her arms and gave a quick mutter, "Contrary to popular belief, I don't enjoy making such decisions like this."
"Whatever do you mean, Mademoiselle?" Pierre leaned to the side, listening to the aged Galarian lady.
"Those top five coordinator pairs were remarkably close to one another. Much further ahead of the pack," Matilda set her notepad and pen down in front of her on the desk, both instruments of writing parallel to one another, "It was a tough call to see which of them wouldn't be advancing."
"It's definitely the hardest part of the job, that's for sure!" Mr. Sukizo chimed in, still keeping his jovial attitude, "But now, we'll get to see such new and remarkable performances! I've never judged choreography, so this should be quite the remarkable dive!"
Mr. Contesta tapped his desk, "I do believe we should begin the next round. In favor?"
Each of the three other judges gave their nods of approval. Mr. Contesta then gave a signal to Marian, who began to announce over her microphone in order to drum up the crowd.
"Alright! Ladies, gentlemen, and Pokémon of all shapes and sizes! The second round, the Choreography Stage, is about to begin!" Marian took centerstage, earning another wave of hype from the audience, "Once again, I would like to give a special thank you to Monsieur Pierre for organizing this special stage of the contest for us! Without his insights, we in Sinnoh would never have gotten to witness such an experience from the outside, and give our returning coordinators a new opportunity to tackle a new challenge! Give it up for Monsieur Pierre!"
The crowd poured out their support for the Kalosian man, the sharply dressed Pierre trying his best to appear as humble as possible as he waved back, "Merci beaucoup, tout le monde!"
"And with that, our first coordinators will take the stage, and show each and every one of us all the first dance routine in Sinnoh contest history!" the announcer threw her hand towards the hanging multi-screen display above the contest grounds. The first pair of portraits were revealed seconds after.
Within the audience, Conway sat forwards in his seat, his hands clasped together with both of his index fingers paired and poking at the bridge of his glasses. The portraits reflected off of his lenses as he saw the faces of Kenny and Ursula appear on the display screen that was facing his section of the audience.
Piplup and Grookey nervously held their cheering as they witnessed both of the rival coordinators of Dawn and Goh walk out onto the stage. Conway narrowed his eyes as he focused on some of the close-up shots the cameras got on the pair, specifically their faces. The boy realized something was amiss with the two.
Both Ursula and Kenny were sporting masks. Conway squinted his eyes as he began to recognize the shape and color as similar to the face of a Duskull. Both of the disguises were ornately decorated in swirling lines and plentiful dots, highlighting the depths and recesses of the skulls.
Also found on Kenny was a sturdy and wide-brimmed black hat that matched his equally dark tuxedo, a sombrero.
The pair of coordinators stood at arm's length, apart from one another, and solidly remained on the stage as they waited for the signal to go ahead.
That signal came when Marian shouted into her microphone, "Coordinators Kenny and Ursula! Show us what you've got!"
"Now, Flareon! Let's go!" Ursula spoke from beneath the mask as she unleashed her Pokéball in front of her.
"Maractus! Come on out!" Kenny's Pokéball was thrown alongside Ursula's, both of the capsules opening up at the same time.
A rush of petals jettisoned from Maractus's Pokéball, followed by a swarm of embers from Ursula's. Together, the orange- and yellow-furred Pokémon belonging to Ursula, and Kenny's never-before-seen Grass-type partner, emerged together, a hot wind and flower buds arcing from the two creatures' entrances onto the dance floor. Ursula stood by, as did Kenny for a few seconds, both coordinators holding their eyes closed as they waited for the music to start amidst the quieting crowd.
Then, the guitarrón, the vihuela, and the trumpets began.
The footwork began.
Clad in masks, the sound of striking and tapping feet echoed through the stadium as Kenny and Ursula started to circle one another, with Kenny leaning in as he kept both of his arms behind his back, clasping both hands together as the boy mirrored the surprisingly jovial and upbeat movements of Ursula's legs.
Even Conway was taken aback by the dance that the two had chosen, with Flareon and Maractus circling the two coordinators, paws and feet tapping.
"Is this Paldean in origin… no… it's from somewhere else…" Conway stroked his chin as Ursula gave the first command in the middle of the folklórico choreography.
"Flareon, Flame Burst!" Ursula shouted.
The crowd gasped in shock as the glob of fire hit Ursula square in her skirt, the judges' eyes widening as well. Fire rolled off as the attack struck the girl's clothes, igniting her dress in a dangerous display of heat.
"Lup?!" Piplup gawked at what had just occurred before Conway brought a hand in front of the little Pokémon.
"Wait, the dress. It's fireproof?" Conway blinked. It wasn't long until the purpose of the attack became clear.
As Ursula took the corners and hems of her long and ruffled skirt, swinging them around with motions akin to knives circling and slicing through water, the flames leaped and flicked off of the girl's dress, causing waves and crescents of fire to fly off of her.
Ursula surprised everyone who knew her by giving an exhilarating chuckle, her face still hidden behind the Duskull mask as she twirled and spun behind Kenny. She began to draw circles with her dress, throwing off rings of fire that lingered in the air.
"Maractus! Flareon! Jump through the rings!" Kenny ordered as even he shuffled to move towards the obstacles that Ursula had set up for her contest partners. Along with the two Pokémon, Kenny held on to his sombrero as he effortlessly leaped through the fire, as if chasing after Ursula who curved her burning dress to produce more circles of flame.
"-Reon! Maaaractus!" the Fire-type and the Grass-type Pokémon cried out as they leaped through the rings of fire alongside Kenny. Maractus began to add to the musical score by shaking its arms to produce that oh-so-familiar maraca sound the Pokémon was known for.
The crowd was clapping along to the beat of the mariachi music, and cheering for the two performers on stage. To say that the judges were impressed would be an understatement. Pierre was astonished that Sinnoh coordinators could manage to pull off such a different style of dance routine than he had expected, while Mr. Contesta was already nodding along at the creative implementation of the fireproof dress in combination with some sort of accelerant to keep the fire flickering and growling.
The sight of the girl on fire was something to behold. Even Piplup and Grookey couldn't deny it as Kenny now began to put twists on his leaps into the flames. The music picked up as the entirety of the stadium seemed to witness the making of not only expertly crafted choreography, but a celebration put into the form of a dance routine.
And yet, the most puzzling feature of the two had to still be the masks attached to their faces. The expressions of their bodies exhumed the feeling of high energy and happiness, but for all Conway could tell, whatever their eyes, mouths, and cheeks conveyed underneath those disguises could be anything but that. Or perhaps, that was what created the mystery in the first place.
Then came Kenny's turn to give another command, "Maractus, Petal Blizzard!"
"Maaaaract~!" the Pokémon obeyed, and the two flowers that were attached to the top of its ears glowed intensely as it kept shaking its arms up and down. Leaves and petals began to rush from the Pokémon's body, scattering across the contest grounds like a blowing autumn treefall, painting red, orange, and yellow leaves to glide across the ground, as well as its own pink flower petals.
Conway blinked as he took note, "Unbelievable… Kenny's trained Maractus to produce a specific kind of Petal Blizzard… I wonder if… he intended to use this dance routine before he partnered up with Ursula."
The observation was picked up by Piplup and Grookey, who looked back at the Pokémon maniac as he stroked his chin with his fingers, "Knowing Kenny… perhaps this dance was meant for Dawn."
"P-Piplup?!" Dawn's Pokémon blinked its eyes in astonishment at Conway's analysis, the boy pointing at the two coordinators flawlessly moving on the dance floor.
"Take a look at the distance the two put between each other. And the masks as well," Conway aimed his finger at the dancing duo on the stage, "I have a feeling the dancers can be in close proximity with each other, but that's not the case here. They're apart, further apart than I'd expect even for them."
"Piplup…?" the Penguin Pokémon questioned, along with Grookey, who scratched its head.
"Yeah, the masks too. You can't see their faces," Conway nodded along, pushing the rims of his glasses further up his face, "It might be a reasonable assumption for them to wear those so that they won't show a souring face to the crowd, if one of them were to do so."
The boy then shook his head, and crossed his arms as he glanced down at the judging row, the officials all having varying degrees of impression at the dance, "Not that it matters… it's a solid routine, and the judges are eating it up."
"Impressive," Matilda tapped her pen on the table as she glanced at her notepad. There was hardly a single line of text scribed on it, "I must commend both of you. I have seen folklórico a few times before, but never in this sort of concept of 'distance' put between."
"Yes, quite the remarkable performance, and such an interesting take altogether!" Mr. Sukizo articulated his observations as he made his decision.
"Tres unique! What an original interpretation!" Pierre applauded, clapping as he gave his comments before Mr. Contesta leaned in towards his microphone, and began to wrap up the panel's scoring.
"I do believe we have reached similar conclusions," Contesta grinned at both of the coordinators, "Pat yourselves on the back! You have finished with high marks."
Kenny and Ursula nodded, returning both of their respective Pokémon back into their capsules, followed by Marian announcing over the speakers, "Give it up for Kenny and Ursula, and their amazing routine!"
The audience's cheers and applause drowned out as the two moved into the hallway leading back towards the waiting room.
Ursula ripped off the Duskull mask, grunting as she did so, "Ugh, that mask was killing me! I am this close to beating you over the head with it!"
Kenny stuffed his hands into his pockets after he knocked the sombrero from his head, "And let the audience see your scowling face? If it weren't for me coming up with this, you would have failed the dance with anyone else, considering how your attitude seems to be dropping all of a sudden."
"Oh yeah? What's that supposed to mean? Consider yourself lucky that I'd even agree to do a dance you clearly meant for Dawn!" Ursula crossed her arms.
Kenny's head tilted down, the mask still attached to his face. Ursula looked over.
"Yeah, I know," the girl rolled her eyes, "At least you had something in mind for us-"
The girl stopped herself. She was getting out of line, and she had to wrangle herself back in.
"S-Sorry, Kenny," Ursula unfolded her arms and rubbed her shoulder, "Just… getting a bit nervous is all."
The boy next to her sighed, also gripping his right arm with his hand, "It's okay, Ursula. I should still be thanking you for helping me out this much."
"Yeah, you really should," Ursula snidely retorted inside of her own mind, her train of thought breaking as the next pair of coordinators that would be taking the stage after them, Serena and Lisia, walked down the hallway.
"Break a leg~!" Ursula giggled, sarcastically waving towards the two approaching girls.
Lisia snorted at her, "You wish."
Inside the changing room, Dawn and Goh had just finished their light lunch, the bento boxes having been set aside. There was a small TV inside of the room that displayed the current performance happening on stage right now, that being Serena and Lisia's dance routine.
Sylveon and Altaria were the choices for their Pokémon partners, and it seemed to be working well as Dawn gasped, pointing at the display, "Look! Lisia's using Mega Evolution with Altaria!"
Goh bit his lip, beginning to concentrate on the act. He and Dawn had barely managed to secure their place in the Top Four, but now their competition only consisted of veteran performers and coordinators. The margin of error, somehow, had managed to shrink even further just after the Performance Stage. In the Choreography Stage, both Dawn and Goh prayed their training had been solid enough to ensure that everything would go off without a hitch.
"Y'know, I think we've got this!" Dawn confidently jumped from the couch, gripping her hands into fists, "We'll be awesome out there! Don't you think so?"
Goh blinked before he smiled, getting up from the couch along with Dawn, "Yeah! Y'know, I've been feeling so much better since the moment before our first round."
Dawn giggled, pointing a finger up, "Well, you better! Now come on! Serena and Lisia should be finishing up soon, and we'll be on right after! How about we show Zoey and Nando what they'll really be up against?"
Goh chuckled, "Sounds like a plan!"
Even from the soundproofed changing room, the overwhelming applause from the crowd managed to break in ever so slightly through the walls. That was the signal to get ready, as after judging, Dawn and Goh couldn't waste a second longer before they'd be up.
"This is it!" Dawn smiled to herself as she looked back towards her contest partner, who flashed her a thumbs-up, "Me and Goh… we're really going to do this!"
"W-Wait, what the-"
Dawn turned around at the sound of puzzlement coming from Goh, "What's up, Goh?"
The boy was unsure what was up, to be honest. He was looking at his phone when he noticed a massive amount of notifications withstanding on the device. Upon getting past the lock screen, Goh blinked.
There were fifty-three unread messages from Chloe.
"I… guess Chloe saw us on TV…" Goh nervously chuckled.
"Oh, did she? That's great!" Dawn giggled, "I bet she was really wowed by our appeal!"
Goh gave an exasperated expression as he rubbed the back of his head, murmuring to himself, "I bet she's wowed about something, for sure."