Chapter Six: Like a Rock
"You should really eat a bit more, you know," Ash said.
Serena nodded, but made no attempt to actually eat.
It was the night before the Exposition, and she and Ash were having dinner in the Pokémon Center. Over the past couple of days, Serena and her Pokémon had created a choreography that would hopefully be enough to win over the crowd. They'd all worked hard, and Serena was confident that they'd be able to put on a good show, but no matter how much she practiced, those pre-competition nerves were always going to be there. And this would be her debut in an entirely new region, to boot, not to mention in an entirely different style than she was used to. She'd even searched all through the city with Ash for the perfect clothes for the performance, and she'd found exactly what she was looking for.
She was as ready as she could possibly be, and there was nothing left to do but wait for the Exposition to start — and that's why she was nervous. If she could make some adjustments to the clothes, or brush her Pokémon, or anything, she'd be able to use all the energy she felt, but just sitting around waiting was the hardest part of it all. And she knew that even once the Exposition had started, she'd probably have to wait a while for her turn to come around as well. In spite of not feeling hungry in the least, she forced herself to at least eat a normal dinner, knowing she'd need the energy, but after that she had no clue how to fill the evening other than to read the little booklet of rules from front to back all over again.
Ash seemed to realize that Serena was tense, because he mostly left her to her own devices, and eventually it was time to go to bed, where, of course, she couldn't get to sleep. Her mouth was dry, but she didn't want to drink too much water, or she'd have to get up to go to the bathroom half the night. The Exposition would start early in the morning, so she knew she had to rest well, but as usual with those kinds of things, the more she focused on how little time she'd have left, the more difficult it got to actually fall asleep. When she eventually managed, her dreams were odd, almost feverish, and when the alarm clock went off the following morning, it felt like she hadn't had a moment of rest.
"Are you okay?" Ash asked during breakfast.
Serena nodded slowly. "I am. Just…give me a moment. And a coffee. Or ten." She sighed, closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened her eyes, looked at Ash, and smiled. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. We practiced hard, you'll see."
("We'll be cheering the loudest,") Pikachu promised.
"Thanks. We'll need all the support we can get," Serena said. She took a deep breath and got up from her seat. "Well…time to get going."
Despite the early hour, the stadium was already bustling with activity. Artisans and their Pokémon were arriving from all over, many looking exactly as nervous and sleep-deprived as Serena felt, though she knew that they, like her, would be getting themselves all dressed up and looking their best before it was their turn to go on.
Serena had just registered herself when Brock showed up as well. "All ready for the Exposition, then?" he asked.
Serena nodded. "We've worked hard on this performance. We're going to show everyone here what we can do," she said.
"Good to hear. Well, good luck. Give it your all, because Forrest won't go easy on judging you just because he knows you," Brock said.
"I wouldn't want it any other way," Serena assured him. "Well, I'd better get backstage and get ready. See you later!"
"Good luck, Serena! You've got this!" Ash said.
("We're looking forward to celebrating your win,") Pikachu added.
Serena raised her hand, smiled at her friends, and then made her way backstage, to the dressing room, where she called out her Pokémon.
"All right, everyone," she said, "this is it. Did you all get enough sleep?"
("We did, but did you?") Braixen asked.
Serena smiled sheepishly. "Enough to give a great performance," she assured Braixen. "Anyway, let's get dressed up…"
She began pulling the outfits she and Ash had bought the day before out of her pack. Braixen had a red dress and a red bow to match the ribbon on her branch. Sylveon's dress was flowing, shimmering silver, and Pancham had a dark blue coat, with matching sunglasses to look the part. Serena's own dress was also deep blue, complemented by a blue hair clip and earrings, with black tights underneath the dress.
"There, all done! We look great!" she said after inspecting herself in the mirror. Even though she wasn't wearing any particular makeup, it didn't look like she'd had the worst night's sleep she had in ages, and this close to the match the sheer adrenaline was far stronger than any fatigue she might have felt. She was ready for anything, and seeing the confident expressions of her Pokémon just made her feel even more certain.
They made their way over to the waiting area and sat down on an empty bench. "Alright, once we go on stage, just listen to the musical cues, and we'll nail this for sure," Serena said.
("Our control is better than ever. We can do this,") Braixen said.
("I'll dazzle everyone,") Pancham promised.
("I'll make you proud,") Sylveon said to all of them.
"That's the spirit!"
At that moment, one of the officials entered the waiting room. "The performance order is on the screens in the corners of the room. Please get ready when the performer in front of you goes on stage. Courtney, you're up first. Jackson, please get ready to go on afterwards. Good luck to all of you!"
Serena and her Pokémon joined the group of people in the nearest corner to catch a glimpse of the screen, and after a few moments Serena finally managed to see that she'd be the seventh Artisan to go on, meaning the majority of performers would actually go after her. It didn't matter much, of course, as it would be too late for anyone to change their routine now, but it still made her nervous.
Well, it didn't matter. The audience would vote along with the judges, and in the Location Round, the audience vote was decisive. The judges could only veto an Artisan if they had failed to put on a performance related to the city. Otherwise, even if all three judges voted against, if the audience vote was in favor of the Artisan, they would advance. It would be different in the Showoff Round, but now wasn't the time to worry about that yet, so Serena made her back over to her bench, sat down, and waited for her turn to arrive.
And then, the moment was there. Serena exchanged a last look with all her Pokémon, who gave determined looks back, and together they walked into the dark stadium.
The music she'd selected for her performance, a slow and solemn piece, began to play, and from the other end of the stadium, Braixen cast her Fire Blast, folding the arms of the attack back on themselves to form a ball of fire, which she lifted up to nearly the ceiling of the stadium.
A slow beat began in the music, and Pancham raised a Stone Edge pillar, just high enough for Serena to step onto it. With each beat, he raised another pillar, just a bit higher than the previous one, and Serena followed them up in perfect sync with the music, her expression distant, until eventually she was nearly at the same height as Braixen's Fire Blast, only she stood in the middle of the field, rather than at the far end.
Serena looked up, and Braixen began to lower the ball of fire. The music changed, becoming slightly more ethereal, and from the foot of the Stone Edge pillar, Sylveon began to use her Fairy Wind, sending a sparkling breeze past Serena, who watched the Fire Blast sun with a melancholic expression as it slowly set.
Just when it reached the 'horizon', in perfect timing with the music, Braixen flared out the flames, and Sylveon picked up the strength of the Fairy Wind, now raising Serena just off the Stone Edge platform.
Immediately, the pillar burst into sparkles, and Braixen used Hidden Power, fusing the circling orbs together into a quickly rising moon, which Serena kept her eyes on as it rose, her expression changing to one of wonder.
When it reached its apex on the beat, Pancham threw his shimmering Dark Pulse up into air, while Sylveon, still maintaining her Fairy Wind, fired off Swift stars, which streaked along the sky like meteors as the music swelled, until it finally reached its crescendo just as the entire stadium was filled with the shimmering Dark Pulse rings, the sparkles from the Fairy Wind, the silver-blue glow from the Hidden Power moon, and the Swift stars racing along, each one perfectly timed to the music.
Serena looked up and leaned back, carried on the magical, swirling Fairy Wind, and gracefully made a backflip in the air with her arms spread out wide.
The music began to die down, and a Stone Edge pillar rose beneath Serena in time to catch her as Sylveon lessened the power of her Fairy Wind.
The Hidden Power moon, much like the Fire Blast sun before it, began to set, and Pancham's Stone Edge pillar followed it down, descending bit by bit to the floor of the stadium. And when the moon reached the horizon, Braixen flared it out wide, blasting the orbs that comprised into sparkles at the same moment the Stone Edge pillar burst into sparkles as well, allowing Serena to softly land on the stadium floor. She took a bow just as the last note played and the stadium grew dark once more.
There was just a moment of silence — and then the audience erupted into applause. Serena looked up with a smile and extended her arms to each of her Pokémon in turn, all of whom bowed when they were indicated, and all of whom received their own earsplitting applause from the crowd. The lights in the stadium went on, and Serena's Pokémon joined her in the center of the battlefield.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Artisan Serena!" Nikolaos's voice announced through the speakers. "Will all of you please take out your Glow Casters now, and cast your votes!"
Serena looked around, still breathing heavy from the performance. Even though Sylveon and Pancham had done the heaviest lifting, it was still quite difficult to properly keep her balance without standing on something, and she could feel the muscles in her core burning a bit.
A sea of glowing green lit up the audience, and Serena felt her heart soar at the sight of it. Unlike with Showcases, where the audience had to vote for one performer over another, here in the Location Round it was a simple yes or no, and while there was the odd speck of red, the vast, vast majority of the audience seemed to have liked her performance.
"Well, it certainly looks good for Serena!" Nikolaos announced. "Now, it is the turn of my fellow judges and myself! First, Nurse Joy!"
Serena looked at the judges' tables, which were positioned directly above the opposite entrance to the battlefield where Serena had entered from.
The leftmost table, where Nurse Joy was seated, lit up green, and the audience cheered. Serena felt like cheering too, but nervously kept her eyes on the middle table.
"Next, Gym Leader Forrest!" Nikolaos said.
The middle table lit up green as well, the crowd cheered, and Serena's smile grew wider. She could see that her Pokémon were just as excited as she was.
"And finally, my turn!" Nikolaos said, and a mere moment later the rightmost table lit up green as well.
Once more, the crowd roared its approval, and this time Serena and her Pokémon joined in. She'd made it past the first round, and she'd done it convincingly!
She gratefully bowed to the judges, and to each section of the audience, before leaving the stadium and returning to the waiting room, where several of her competitors complimented her and her Pokémon on the performance. Serena thanked them all, and then sat down on one of the benches, smiling so widely it felt like her face might tear open from it.
"You were all amazing!" she said. "You performed so well! You didn't miss a single beat, any of you. Absolutely fantastic work, thank you so, so much!" She pulled her Pokémon into a hug, which they happily returned.
("It was hard to learn all of this, but it was so worth it,") Braixen said happily.
Pancham nodded fervently. ("Did you see how they reacted? They love us!") he said.
("So many smiling faces…I really had fun!") Sylveon said.
("You did really well too, Serena,") Braixen said.
("Yeah, I think you really sold it,") Pancham agreed.
"Thank you," Serena said with a small blush. "I guess everyone liked us. Now we just need to wait to see how everyone else does."
("Nowhere near as well as we did,") Pancham said cockily, and though Serena said nothing, she hoped he would be right.
Pancham himself was the most shocked out of all of them when it turned out that, after the Location Round, Serena was actually first in the rankings. More people had voted for her to advance than for anyone else, which meant that, since twenty-seven Artisans had advanced, she would have a bye for the table of thirty-two, and she'd only have to perform in the Showoff Rounds from the table of sixteen. If all went well, she'd have to compete in four more rounds to win the competition, and after the resounding success of the Location Round, she felt much better about her chances than she'd done before.
"Okay, Braixen, are you ready to take the first round?" she asked.
Having read the rules about a hundred times over the past days, Serena now knew that, while an Artisan was only allowed to use one Pokémon at a time in the Showoff Rounds, she was allowed to pick which one she used in each round, provided the Pokémon had also appeared in the Location Round.
Braixen nodded. ("I am. We're going to win this,") she said.
("Can I have the second one?") Pancham asked eagerly.
Serena laughed. "Yes, you can have the second one," she said. "But first we need to make it past this one."
Pancham waved her away. ("Oh, you'll be fine. This guy's ranked sixteen. You're number one! He's had it.")
Serena smiled at Pancham's confidence, but she doubted it would be that easy. The Showoff Round was vastly different from the Location Round. It was much closer to a battle, and much harder to plan for because of that. Still, all her Pokémon had fantastic control over their moves, and Serena had complete faith in their abilities. All she could do now was continue to trust in Braixen, and she'd be able to see this through.
"Serena, Scott, to the stadium, please!" an official called into the room.
Serena and Braixen got up, as did a young man and his Tyranitar.
Serena hadn't seen his Location Round, nor his battle in the round of thirty-two, and it only now occurred to her that she probably should have watched at least the battle, since at that point she could easily have seen who her opponents might have been by looking at the bracket. Well, too late to do anything about it now.
("Go get him!") Pancham said.
("Have fun,") Sylveon said with a smile.
"Thanks, you two," Serena said with a smile. "See you in a bit."
She and Braixen once again followed the short path to the battlefield, where her opponent Scott was already waiting for her on the other side of the field. This time, a red light was on above the door behind him. Serena looked up and saw a green light above the door she'd just entered from.
Then, Nikolaos said, "Artisans, you may begin!"
Serena took a deep breath. Each Showoff Round lasted three minutes, within which Braixen would have to show everything she had.
Before she could even yell a command, though, Scott had already begun.
"Tyranitar, Sandstorm!" he shouted, and his Tyranitar immediately summoned a swirling, sparkling vortex of sand that shrouded the entire arena.
"Braixen, use your Flamethrower and mix it with that Sandstorm!" Serena said.
Braixen nodded and sent out a stream of fire, which beautifully mixed itself with the sand to create a fiery spiral.
"Use Dark Pulse to quench that Flamethrower!" Scott ordered, and from the other side of the field came precise pulses of Dark energy which broke the flow of Braixen's Flamethrower, causing it to fizzle out in the whirling storm.
"Use Hidden Power, Braixen, and try to clear both the sand and the Dark Pulse!"
Braixen had barely begun to use her move, however, when Scott said, "Stone Edge, Tyranitar!"
Glowing pillars of rock erupted from the ground in a circular pattern, and Tyranitar had aimed them so precisely that they burst the spheres of Hidden Power that Braixen had cast.
"Fire Blast at the center of the field, Braixen, and break all of those pillars at once!" Serena said.
Braixen obeyed and fired off her move, but once again, Scott interrupted her.
"Hyper Beam, Tyranitar!"
Tyranitar swept its Hyper Beam across the field from left to right, well over Braixen's head, but the wide attack shattered all of its own Stone Edge pillars into glowing dust that got swept up in the sandstorm, while Braixen's Fire Blast, moments later, hit nothing at all.
Serena wanted to shout a command, but at that moment, Nikolaos's voice sounded through the arena once again.
"And that's time!" he shouted.
Immediately, Tyranitar canceled its Sandstorm and the field became clear again. Serena was stunned. What had just happened?
"And now, we go to the judges!" Nikolaos said. "Once again, we shall start with Nurse Joy. May we have your vote, please?"
Serena felt her heart hammering in her throat. In the Showoff Round, only the judges would vote. Serena was on green side, so if Nurse Joy's table turned green…
The table turned red and Serena winced. Well, there was still a chance…
"And Nurse Joy votes for Scott! Now then, Gym Leader Forrest, may we have your vote, please?"
Serena clenched her fists, hoping with all her might that the light would turn green — but it turned red again. Her heart sank. That was two out of three. Scott had won. But if Nikolaos, at least, would be on her side, it wouldn't be a total loss…
"And now, for myself," Nikolaos said, and a moment later, his table also turned red.
Serena hung her head. How? How could this have happened? She looked at Braixen, who also looked downcast.
"And there we have it! Artisan Scott advances to the round of eight, and for Artisan Serena, her Exposition ends here!" Nikolaos said. "Some parting words from our judges. Nurse Joy?"
Serena raised her head. As much as she wanted to bolt from the arena, away from everyone looking at her, right then, she wanted to hear what the judges had to say.
"While your Pokémon have exquisite control over their moves, as we saw in your Location Round, there simply wasn't a lot of structure to your Showoff Round. You appeared to be on the back foot from the moment the round started, while Scott clearly had a plan. That's why I voted the way I did," Nurse Joy said.
Serena inclined her head, but said nothing.
"Thank you, Nurse Joy," Nikolaos said. "Gym Leader Forrest?"
"Like Nurse Joy said, you lacked initiative," Forrest said. "Scott moved first, and all you did was try to stop his moves or attempt to take them over. At no point did it seem like you had anything you really wanted to show, and you were reactionary all the way through. This round is meant to show off, as the name says, and your approach was far too timid, while Scott was assertive and followed his own plan all the way through."
Again, Serena nodded slowly. Each word from both Nurse Joy and Forrest sounded bitter in her ears, as if they were berating her.
Not like I don't deserve that, she thought flatly.
"Thank you, Forrest. Now, my own parting words," Nikolaos said, and once more Serena raised her head, steeling herself for what was about to come. At least it would be over soon.
"You are a very talented Artisan, Miss Serena," Nikolaos began. "No one in this stadium will deny that. However, your ability to perform when someone is actively trying to hinder and outshine you still requires work. In any performing artform, there will be hecklers. In our Expositions we have chosen to incorporate that into the competition, so that we may strengthen ourselves against those who would try to dissuade us.
"You are an Artisan. You have a vision, and you wish to bring that vision out into the world. Showing the world the strength of your vision is what this is all about. You clearly have the skill to do so, so please take what you've heard here to heart, and join us again for our next Exposition. Let this loss be a new start for you, and I, for one, hope to see your marvelous art again in the future."
Serena nodded shallowly. Her throat was closed, her breathing uneven, and her eyes burned.
Even so, she crossed the field and walked over to Scott. "Well done," she said with a choked voice, holding out her hand.
Scott shook it and said, "Thank you. I really enjoyed your first performance today. It was amazing. Good luck for next time."
Serena nodded wordlessly and left the arena. Her chest felt constrained, and it was still impossible to breathe normally.
When she reached Pancham and Sylveon, both of whom looked dejected, she tried to smile and said, "I'm sorry…"
She looked at Braixen, who still hadn't said anything. "I'm sorry," she said again.
("Let's get changed,") Braixen said flatly.
Serena nodded. Why was it so hard to breathe?! She fought to get herself under control, fought to get the burning feeling out of her eyes. It was no big deal, right? And what the judges had said had been harsh, but fair. There were eight more Expositions to come. She'd just work hard for the next one. So what if she'd gotten ninth place here?
She got changed in silence and headed back to the main lobby, avoiding everyone's eyes as she did so. She didn't want to talk.
But of course, Ash and Pikachu were waiting for her, and she couldn't not talk to them.
"You did well," Ash said. "Shall we go back to the Pokémon Center?"
Serena nodded. "Yeah, let's go," she said, her voice oddly high-pitched.
They walked through the streets in silence, Serena still struggling and trying to keep herself together. Once they reached the Pokémon Center, they immediately walked on to their room, where Serena sat down on her bed and Ash sat down on his, opposite her.
"How are you feeling?" Ash asked.
"I'm fine, really," Serena said, her voice thick and strained.
Ash sighed, got up, and sat down next to Serena on her bed. "Serena, it's okay to be angry," he said. "It's okay to be sad."
Serena shook her head. "No…no, I'm fine," she said again. "What the judges said was true. They were right. I just…need to do better next time, right? Never give up."
Her voice cracked on the last word and she turned away, feeling that she couldn't hold back her tears.
"It hurts so much," she said softly. "We worked so hard, trained so hard…and I ruined everything! I didn't prepare for the Showoff Round, I thought I could make it through, I was in the lead, and I just threw it all away because I'm just an idiot!"
She looked at Ash through blurry eyes. "I know this is just one competition. I know this is just one small step. But it's so, so hard to be positive right now. I can't be positive right now."
"And you don't have to be," Ash said quietly. "When I lost the Indigo League for the first time, I locked myself in my room and didn't want to talk to anyone. And you know what my friends did? Told me I deserved it for being lazy and not training my Pokémon well enough. Team Rocket kidnapped me before the match, everyone was tired, and Charizard refused to fight, but they said it was all my fault. I was so angry at them, at everyone, but mostly at myself, because I knew they were right.
"It's not even been an hour since the Exposition, and you're already talking to me about how you feel about it. You're doing far better than I did back then. 'Never giving up' does not mean 'never being sad or angry'. It just means you use that anger and sadness to let it make you stronger. So be angry. Be sad. All of you, allow yourself to feel this."
He stood up, and Pikachu wordlessly jumped onto his shoulder. "I'll be in the lobby," he said. "If and when you feel like talking, I'll be there. For now, though…just let it all out. And, for what it's worth…I don't think you're an idiot at all. I think you're amazing."
With that, he left the room and closed the door behind him, and Serena drew all her Pokémon into a hug and just cried.
A very long chapter for this fic's standards, but one I really enjoyed writing. More than a little bit of the competition stuff comes from personal experience. Being first seed after preliminaries, having a bye for the first round and then losing against someone you should beat either through arrogance or plain old mistakes…it sucks. It's an absolutely terrible feeling, every time. And since I've been competing for well over fifteen years, I've felt that feeling many times.
Honestly, I'm quite nervous about this chapter as well. I hope it was enjoyable to read and that I did a decent job at describing what was going on, because while I could see it clearly in my mind, I can't judge how well it came across. Let me know what you thought about it, and see you next time!
Oh, and two chapters at once is going to be a rarity, so don't count on it too often. I just wanted to write and post this so badly.