Chapter Twenty-Seven: Fierce and Friendly Rivals

The audience began to cheer and Serena took a deep breath. The performance had gone well, but what would the vote be?

"And we begin our day with an energetic performance from Artisan Serena!" Nikolaos said. "However, before we go to the audience vote, the judges would like some clarification on how, exactly, the performance relates to Vermilion City. Artisan Serena?"

Serena had partially expected the question. She'd seen the judges ask for qualification in some earlier performances in the previous Expositions, and this particular performance was, at first glance, more 'generic' than her previous ones had been, so she had an answer ready.

"The theme for my performance here was 'energy'," Serena said. "There are more participants in this Exposition than in any other before it, and the expectations were higher right from the start because of how well it fits into the Contest season for the Coordinators. That charge in the air is unique to this Exposition, this city, because of its timing, and, of course, the Gym in this city is Electric-type, giving an association between the electric guitars in the soundtrack and the typing of the Gym. So, while the concert-like performance could indeed be given in other cities, I feel it would only fit here, at this specific moment."

"An interesting take," Nikolaos said. "While the judges confer, I want to ask the audience to please cast your votes now!"

Serena held her breath. Her performance had been so different from what people would probably have expected, so how would they react?

Green lights began to go on all over the stands. Of course, there were some red ones as well, perhaps a bit more than Serena was used to, but it was really only now that Serena noticed how much bigger the crowd was here than at the previous Expositions, and even though the number of red lights was higher, they were still massively outshone by the green.

She breathed a sigh of relief. At least the audience had liked the performance well enough to vote for it. But now, it was time for the judges. How would they call it?

"And it is clear that the crowd liked Serena's energetic performance!" Nikolaos said. "So now, we go to our judges. Nurse Joy?"

Serena had only barely moved her eyes to Nurse Joy's table when it turned green. She clenched her fist in victory, because she probably wouldn't get vetoed now.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy! Now, the Gym Leader! Lieutenant Surge?" Nikolaos said.

Serena looked at the middle table. The Gym Leader was a muscular, tough-looking man with spiky hair. His expression was stony and Serena felt unnerved with how long he was taking…but then his table, too, turned green.

"And we have one more vote in favor! Well then, I won't hold you in suspense any longer!" Nikolaos said, and when his table turned green as well and the audience cheered once more, Serena finally allowed herself to cheer as well, before waving, bowing at the audience and returning backstage to wait out the rest of the performances.

"Great job, everyone!" Serena said to her Pokémon as they walked back. "Sylveon, fantastic Double Teams, and Pancham and Misdreavus, your special effects were the best!"

Backstage, both Dawn and May were waiting for her.

"What a start to the day!" Dawn said. "The audience is really hyped up now!"

"Your Pokémon really worked well together, great show!" May said.

Serena smiled at them. "Thanks, both of you! It was a lot of fun!"

"I take you out to one concert and you immediately use it against me," Dawn said with a mock sigh. "Pretty heartless of you."

"It definitely inspired me," Serena said. "So I'll dedicate my gold medal to you, okay?"

Normally, Serena really didn't boast like that, but she was still fired up from the performance and she was fairly sure Dawn wouldn't mind.

Indeed, Dawn grinned at her and said, "First you'll have to beat me, and I have no intention of letting that happen."

"I didn't come all the way here just to lose either, you know," May said. "So you two just continue squabbling and I'll take the gold in the meantime, okay?"

Serena laughed. The idle banter was so stupid, and yet so much fun.

Dawn and May went back to their Pokémon to await their own turns and focus on their appeals, and Serena went back to where Delphox was waiting for them.

("That was a brilliant start to the day!") Delphox said.

"Thank you!" Serena said happily. "I think we really nailed the performance. I'm glad the judges accepted my explanation, though."

("If they hadn't, I'd have a few words for them,") Pancham said.

"I really don't think threatening them would've made them reconsider, Pancham," Serena said. "Besides, did you see the Gym Leader? I don't envy Ash for wanting to battle him."

("I could take him,") Pancham said.

("Sure you could,") Misdreavus said, giving Pancham a condescending pat on the head.

("I could!") Pancham insisted, annoyed that Misdreavus didn't believe him.

She just gave him a pitying look in return. He clearly wanted to make an angry comment, but couldn't bring himself to say it, so he just turned away with an adorable angry pout.

"Well, at least you'll have plenty of opportunities to show your stuff today," Serena said. "There are so many participants that we'll probably have to start in the round of thirty-two, at least, and maybe even the sixty-four, depending on where we end up."

("More Pokémon to scare is always good,") Misdreavus said.

"They'll probably have studied your match against Houndoom, so it won't be easy this time," Serena warned her.

("Yeah, not being allowed to simply Confuse Ray them makes it harder. But it'll be fine,") Misdreavus said.

They turned their attention to the screen, watching the rest of the performances. It was soon clear that, even though there were far more Artisans here than there had been at earlier Expositions, the level wasn't necessarily higher. Sure, the top Coordinators who had come over were all impressive — Sylveon and Misdreavus were both excited to see that Zoey had both a Leafeon and a Mismagius with her — but many of the other people trying their for the first time simply didn't have the skill to make it past the Location Round, and far more people than usual ended up being eliminated.

Even so, when the Location Round finally concluded, forty-three people had made it through to the Showoff Round, including Dawn, May, and the other high-ranked Coordinators. Serena was ranked third, and studying the tableau showed her that if they all did well, she'd run into Zoey in the semifinals and either Dawn or May in the finals, but to even make it there she'd first need to face off against Drew in the round of eight, provided she made it through the thirty-two and sixteen first.

But somehow, she felt like that shouldn't be a problem. Her team was in great shape and since they had been the first to go on stage, they'd all gotten plenty of rest. Maybe it was a bit arrogant, and she had no intention of underestimating any of her opponents, but winning the Lavender Town Exposition had given Serena a lot of confidence, and she fully intended to reach the finals here, regardless of who stood in her way.

The first match went as planned, and Misdreavus easily took care of Electabuzz. Sylveon also didn't have any difficulties in her first match against Nidoking, and so Serena found herself in the round of eight, facing off against Drew, who also hadn't really faced any difficulties in his earlier rounds. Serena and Pancham were on red side this time, and Drew and Absol were on green. For both Pancham and Absol, this would be the first match of the day, so Serena wasn't sure what kind of moves Absol knew aside from the Razor Wind and Water Pulse she'd seen him use in the Location Round. He was also very agile, but nothing that Pancham wouldn't be able to handle.

The moment Nikolaos called for the battle to begin, Pancham darted forward onto the field, using his Stone Edge to launch him into complicated flips and twirls.

"Razor Wind, Absol!"

Serena knew that Absol, who'd been engaged in his own acrobatics, would want to time his Razor Wind to cut Pancham's pillar and ruin his takeoff, but for that to work, there had to be a pillar to break to begin with.

"Dark Pulse, Pancham!" Instead of launching himself with a Stone Edge boost, Pancham now fired his Dark Pulse for a boost, and Absol's Razor Wind harmlessly cut through the pulsing rings.

"Water Pulse!"

"Stone Edge!"

Absol surrounded himself in a vortex of water, but Serena had seen him do that in the Location Round as well, and Pancham's pillars erupting all around the vortex disturbed the spin and made it waver.

"Now, Dark Pulse, contain it!"

Pancham spread his paws wide, catching the disintegrating Water Pulse vortex and the broken Stone Edge pillars within it and keeping it spinning in place.

"Iron Tail, Absol!"

"Drop it, Pancham!"

From the center of vortex, Serena could see the glow of Absol's tail, clearly intending to cut through the hijacked Water Pulse in a spectacular move, but Pancham dropped his Dark Pulse and allowed his Stone Edge chunks to disintegrate, and while Absol's attack still cut through the falling water, much of the visual impressiveness was gone.

"Up and down, Pancham!"

"Flash into Razor Wind!"

"Sunglasses!"

Pancham struck the ground in the center of the arena, launching himself upward on his Stone Edge pillar, while the black, gemlike circle on Absol's forehead glowed and shot out a white ball of light, after which his horn glowed black.

Pancham put on his sunglasses and his arms glowed white as he struck his own Stone Edge with Arm Thrust, at the same moment Absol's Razor Wind sliced through the glowing ball of light.

Again, Drew's intention had been to take the Stone Edge pillar out with his Razor Wind, possibly hoping that the bright light of the Flash would throw off Pancham's timing, but Pancham's attack landed clean and shattered the pillar into fine dust, surrounding Pancham, who'd made a perfect three-point landing in the middle of the arena. The Razor Wind cutting through the Flash had triggered a sparkling explosion of its own, but Pancham's pillar smash clearly outshone it.

"And time!" Nikolaos yelled. "A very visually impressive match! And now, for our judges! Nurse Joy?"

A moment later, Nurse Joy's table turned red.

One down, two to go… Serena thought.

"And Serena gets her first vote! Lieutenant Surge?" Nikolaos said.

Once again, Lieutenant Surge's expression was unreadable and Serena nervously waited for the decision…and then his table turned red as well.

"Yes!" Serena said, clenching her fist. She'd made it to the semifinals!

"And with that, we already have our winner! Still, here is my own vote, such as it is!" Nikolaos said, and when his table turned red as well Serena truly accepted she'd won.

She walked over to Drew and said, "Thanks for the match."

Drew sighed and nodded. "You too. I thought I knew what I was getting into, but I clearly have a lot to learn."

They shook hands, and Serena used the judges' explanation as to why they voted for her to mentally prepare for her next match. Zoey was ranked second after the Location Round, and her Pokémon were clearly very skilled. At least she'd used all three of them now, so whichever one she ended up choosing, Serena knew their moves, and roughly how they could use them.

When she returned backstage, May was waiting for her. "Congratulations on beating Drew!" she said. "He's strong, but you made it look easy out there."

"I think he's too used to being allowed to hit his opponents," Serena said. "I could guess what he would do because people — mostly Ash — have tried most of it before. It's how I lost my first Exposition, too."

"Well, it was a nice match to see. But that won't work on me, you know! Hey, I know, let's use Glaceon and Sylveon if we both make it to the finals. I plan on using Blaziken in the semis, anyway," May said.

"Misdreavus was begging me to let her fight Mismagius," Serena said, thinking out loud. Then she smiled and said, "You're on. Sylveon against Glaceon in the finals."

"Yes! Alright then, I'm going to prepare for the semifinals. See you after!"

Serena and Pancham rejoined the rest of her Pokémon, and Serena said, "Okay, Misdreavus, you've got the next one, and Sylveon, May asked if I'd let you face off against Glaceon in the finals, so if you want to…?"

Sylveon nodded happily. ("Of course! I'd like to see how good of a dancer Glaceon is,") she said.

("And I get to face Mismagius?!") Misdreavus said greedily.

Serena nodded. "Yep. Well, if Zoey uses Mismagius in the semifinals, of course."

("Why do you want to have a match against Mismagius so badly anyway?") Delphox asked.

("Because I met a couple of them, and they were so snooty,") Misdreavus said. ("They said my tastes in fear weren't 'refined' enough. I'll show them refined, just because they found Dusk Stones and evolved, they go around thinking they're all that…")

"That sounds like Pikachu's grudge match against Raichu," Serena said.

Misdreavus nodded. ("It is, kind of. Maybe it'll be a good omen for Ash if I beat Mismagius here,") she said.

Serena thought about that for a moment. "You know, I like that thought. Wait here," she said. Leaving her Pokémon behind, Serena searched past every screen in the waiting room, until she finally spotted the person she'd been looking for.

"Hey, Zoey!" she said.

Zoey looked up and said, "Hey! Nice match against Drew! It's us next, huh?"

Serena nodded. "Yeah, about that…do you think you could use Mismagius? Misdreavus really wants to have a match with her."

Zoey exchanged a look with her Mismagius, who nodded once. "Yeah, sure! I wanted to use Glameow in the finals, anyway, so fine with me," Zoey said. Then she grinned. "But I'm going to win. Dawn and I have something to settle in the finals."

"So do May and I," Serena said, grinning back. "Thank you, in any case!"

She made her way back to the Pokémon and said, "Alright, I've talked to Zoey, and she'll use Mismagius, so let's win that match and hope it really does turn out to be a good omen for Ash and Pikachu."

("Do you even believe in that kind of thing?") Delphox asked.

Serena shrugged. "Not really, but it's a fun thought, at least," she said.

The round of eight ended and then it was time for the semifinals. First up would be Dawn and May, both using their starters. Seeing May using a Fire-type into a Water-type reminded Serena of the things Ash sometimes did in battles, and it really made her realize that May's remark of having been deeply influenced by Ash in her battle style wasn't hyperbolic.

The match was extremely close, with both Piplup and Blaziken showing everything they had. The many clashes of water and fire created a cloud of steam around the battlefield, but even through that their moves were an impressive sight. When the clock ran out, Serena had no idea who would win, and the judges clearly had a hard time as well, because while Nurse Joy voted for Dawn, Lieutenant Surge voted for May, leaving the final decision with Nikolaos — who also voted for May.

Piplup took the loss harder than Dawn, and Serena could see him ranting at Blaziken while Dawn and May shook hands, both pointedly trying to ignore Piplup.

Serena went over to greet them when they returned to the waiting area, and Dawn immediately pointed at May and said, "Kick her butt for me, okay? First Zoey's, then May's. I believe in you!"

"I agree with the part where you kick Zoey's butt," May said, "but Glaceon and I are taking home the gold."

Serena laughed. "I'll do my best," she said. "Congratulations, May, and well done to both of you. It was a really good match."

May smiled at her. "Thanks. It was a lot of fun, too."

"It was," Dawn conceded, and Piplup said something that sounded sarcastic. "Oh, don't pretend you didn't like it, too," Dawn said.

She and May headed back to the rest of their Pokémon, and shortly after Zoey and Serena were called to the field. This time, Serena was on green side. Zoey smiled at her, and Serena returned it. Misdreavus seemed to be pumped for the match to begin, and Mismagius mostly looked intrigued, yet also supremely confident. Given what Serena had seen from her thus far, that confidence certainly wasn't misplaced.

"Begin!" Nikolaos said.

"Double Team, let's go!"

"Show your stuff, Misdreavus, Psybeam and Hex!"

Mismagius placed floating clones of herself all around the battlefield, but Misdreavus curved her Psybeam past all of them by combining it with her Hex.

"Lucky Chant, Mismagius!"

All the Mismagius clones began to chant, and tendrils of ghostly energy extended between them, forming something that almost looked like a choir.

"Alright, then, go big or go home!" Serena yelled, and Misdreavus surrounded herself with pulsing energy and rose into the air as she strengthened her Hex. A massive, glowing red eye opened in the air above the battlefield, glaring down at the chanting choir Mismagius had created.

"Now Shadow Ball!"

"Shock Wave!"

Mismagius began to send electricity through its still glowing tendrils and the choir now had a shimmering red-and-blue web between it, while at the same time, a Shadow Ball began to form near the glowing Hex eye, almost like a teardrop.

The moment the teardrop 'fell', Serena yelled, "Psybeam!"

"Psywave!" Zoey countered.

The energy from the Lucky Chant and Shockwave mixed together and fluctuated up and down in a mesmerizing pattern, while Misdreavus's Psybeam hit her falling Shadow Ball tear and burst it into shimmering sparks which tore through the fluctuating pulses Mismagius had set up, ruining the intricate shape of the web without ever touching any of Mismagius's clones.

"Time!" Nikolaos yelled, and immediately Misdreavus dispelled all her moves, floating back down to ground level looking clearly exhausted.

("If I were alive, I'd probably be dying right about now…") she panted.

Mismagius as well undid her moves. ("Very impressive display for one so small. I don't think I could've done the same when I was a Misdreavus,") Mismagius said. Even though it was a bit harder to understand her than Misdreavus, it was still similar enough that Serena got the meaning.

"Great match, Serena!" Zoey said.

Serena smiled and said, "Yeah! Well played!"

They turned to the judges and waited for Nikolaos to speak up. "Once again, a hard-fought semifinal!" he said. "So we go to our judges! Nurse Joy?"

A moment later, the table lit up green. Zoey winced, and Serena felt her heart pounding in her throat.

"And Serena gets the first vote! Lieutenant Surge?"

Why does he always look so stern? Serena thought uncomfortably as she waited for Lieutenant Surge to make his decision. Her worries were once again unfounded, however, because his table turned green, meaning Serena would be facing May.

Zoey sighed, and Serena waited for Nikolaos to make his own decision. "And now, though it makes no difference anymore, my vote!" Nikolaos said, and his table too turned green. "And with that, Artisan Serena advances to the finals!"

Serena cheered, and with the little bit of energy Misdreavus had left, she did the same.

"Congratulations, Serena," Zoey said with a rueful look. "I really thought we'd be able to take this, but wow, I did not expect your Misdreavus to be that good with her moves."

"It wouldn't have worked in a Contest," Serena said. "There was next to no power in any of those moves, but because we can't hit each other anyway looking strong is enough."

("And even then it nearly killed me. In a manner of speaking,") Misdreavus said, clearly so tired that she didn't even care she made the same joke twice.

"Well, you did great, regardless. Good luck against May," Zoey said. Then she grinned and added, "Dawn will be happy, I'm sure."

Serena smiled and took a deep breath. She'd reached the finals of the Vermilion City Exposition at long last, and now, all that was left to do was win.

I was going to include the finals in this chapter as well, but then I wouldn't have time to post today, so I figured I'd do it like this. Honestly, the idle banter at tournaments is one of the best things about competing, so I always like including at least a little bit of it in chapters like this. Can't wait for my own season to start up again, anyway.

Oh, and…I know it's a bit inconsistent when Serena can or can't understand Pokémon. If she can understand evolved forms of Pokémon she knows well, she should've been able to understand Raichu back at the Power Plant. We'll just assume she got better at it, or something. See you in the next one!