Chapter Twelve: Fire and Ice
Dawn was waiting for Serena when she returned backstage.
"That was awesome!" she said. "Also insane with how cold that water is, but awesome all the same."
Serena laughed. "Thanks. It was a bit cold, so I'm going to go and change into something dry," she said with a shiver.
"I don't think anyone else is going to be crazy enough to go into the water themselves. You've probably been around Ash for too long, if you're coming up with ideas like these," Dawn said with a shake of her head.
Serena gave her a sideways look. "So you're going to go into the water as well, then? Since you've traveled with Ash too?" she asked.
"No, thanks, I think I can do without the hypothermia," Dawn said with a grin. "Piplup loves the cold water, so he gets to take the plunge. I'll be staying nice and dry."
Piplup asked her something with a mischievous expression, and Dawn gave him a warning look.
"Don't you dare," she said.
She looked at Serena again and said, "Well, I'm going to wait for my turn. I'll see you in the Showoff Round."
With that, she walked away, and Serena changed back into her normal clothes, before turning to her Pokémon.
"You all did great out there! Now let's watch everyone else and prepare for the next round. Just keep an eye on anything you think we might be able to use. Braixen, you get to go first, so we can finally leave what happened in Pewter City behind us."
Braixen nodded. ("This time we won't go down so easily,") she promised.
"Right then. Pancham, before you ask, you're second, Sylveon third, and then we'll see who we get and who would be best suited for it, alright?"
Her Pokémon all agreed, and soon they were back in the waiting room, watching the other performances on the monitors. Like Dawn had said, none of the other Artisans went into the water themselves, though plenty of Pokémon did.
Dawn had Piplup and Pachirisu create something of an ocean storm with Whirlpool and Discharge that she herself watched from a distance. It was very well done, but Serena did consider her own performance to have been better, and though Dawn also easily passed the Location Round, it did look like the audience had been more in favor of Serena than Dawn, which gave Serena a small confidence boost.
When the final Artisan had performed and the scores were finally shown, Serena turned out to be ranked third this time around, which was still a very good position to be in. Once again, it gave her a bye for the round of thirty-two, since this time twenty-two people had advanced to the Showoff Round.
Dawn was ranked twelfth, so she would have to battle right away. It also meant that, if Serena and Dawn were to face off, it wouldn't happen until the final round, but Serena knew better than to already assume she'd make it that far. She wouldn't make the same mistake again.
She and Dawn made their way to the regular stadium together with Ash. "That was a lot more difficult than I thought it'd be," Dawn said. "Usually I can just come up with anything flashy and use some tried-and-true Contest Combinations, but the theme requirement really makes it difficult to do that. At least I can just do whatever I want in the Showoff Round."
"Except hit your opponent," Ash said.
Dawn shrugged. "I don't need to hit them. I just need to look cooler than them for three minutes, and I know how to do that."
Serena wondered if Dawn was about to run into the same problem she herself had faced in Pewter City, but given that Contests involved actual battling, it was entirely possible that Dawn would be very proficient in the Showoff Round.
Once they reached the stadium, Serena and Dawn made their way to the waiting room, while Ash and Pikachu went to find a place in the stands. It didn't take long for Dawn to be called for her performance, and Serena and her Pokémon joined a group of Artisans around one of the screens to watch.
It was immediately clear that Dawn was used to competitions like this, because she and Piplup wasted no time at all to set up a fantastic routine using Whirlpool, Bubble Beam, and Drill Peck, which her opponent's Mantine simply couldn't match.
Serena's own opponent was a girl named Hannah, who had a Lapras and an Ampharos. Either would be hard to deal with, but by no means impossible; though their moves were powerful, they were very rough around the edges and not particularly finely controlled. That would give Braixen the opportunity to interfere with their performance while continuing her own with little difficulty.
When Serena's name was finally called, she almost jumped up from the bench, that's how eager she was to get started.
"Come on, Braixen. Let's do this," she said confidently.
Braixen mirrored Serena's smile and said, ("This one's ours.")
With her heart pounding a million beats per minute, Serena entered the arena and gave a nod to Hannah, on the other side, which was returned somewhat hesitantly.
The moment Nikolaos gave the command to begin, Braixen began to move, dancing gracefully around the battlefield, using her Flamethrower to trail ribbons of fire into the air as she jumped and twirled.
"Light Screen into Dazzling Gleam, Ampharos, go!" Hannah yelled.
Without waiting to see what would happen, Serena said, "Braixen, eyes closed for the flash, switch to Hidden Power!"
Without missing a beat, Braixen closed her eyes, extinguished the flames on her branch, and began placing Hidden Power orbs on the field. Hannah's Ampharos, meanwhile, flicked his tail in a grand gesture to summon a Light Screen, and with an impressive somersault he used the orb on his tail to fire off a bright flash of light into his own defensive move, causing it to ripple wildly in many shimmering colors.
"Braixen, eyes open and break that Light Screen with Scratch!" Serena said.
Braixen opened her eyes, saw the shimmering screen Ampharos had created, and quickly dashed towards it.
"Ampharos, Power Gem on the Hidden Power orbs!" Hannah yelled.
"Braixen, you know the drill!" Serena said.
Braixen kicked off from the ground, slicing through the Light Screen with her claws and shattering it into pieces, while Ampharos once again swished his tail, firing a sweeping beam of small gem-like balls of light at the Hidden Power balls.
Braixen, however, merely flicked her paws upward as she made a backflip after shattering the Light Screen, and the Hidden Power orbs rose up from the ground, allowing the Power Gem to harmlessly sail on by.
"Use Thunder to get all of them at once!" Hannah shouted.
"Braixen, finish!" Serena countered.
Ampharos jumped and threw his arms up, calling down forked lightning to where the Hidden Power orbs had just been, but Braixen forced them all together into one glowing orb, which she then shot up into the air.
"Fire Blast, now!" Serena yelled, but Braixen didn't even need the command.
She shot her Fire Blast straight into the orb, folding the arms of the attack around it, before making a grand flourish and shattering the combined attack apart into a shower of red and white sparks.
"And time!" Nikolaos yelled.
This time it was Hannah and her Pokémon looking bewildered as to what had happened to them, rather than Serena, and Serena had to admit it felt good to be on the other side of that.
She was still nervous when it was time for the judge's decisions, but far less so than she'd been in her last Exposition.
"And with that, we go to the judges! Nurse Joy, your winner, please," Nikolaos said.
Serena and Braixen exchanged a short glance before looking up at Nurse Joy's table. This time Serena was on red side…and Nurse Joy's table turned red! Yes!
"And Nurse Joy votes for Serena! Next up, Gym Leader Misty!"
Again, this was the moment Serena was most nervous for, but it didn't take Misty very long to make her decision, and her table, too, turned red.
Serena clenched both of her fists to keep from shouting out in joy. She'd made it through to the next round!
"And last, but not least, though I do say so myself…my turn," Nikolaos said, and then his table too turned red. "And with that, Artisan Serena advances to the round of eight, and for Artisan Hannah, the competition is over!"
Serena didn't really listen to the judges' advice for Hannah, instead already thinking about her next round.
Once all the judges had said their piece, Serena and Hannah shook hands and went back to the waiting room, where Pancham and Sylveon were the first to greet them.
("You did it!") Pancham yelled. ("You beat them!")
("Well done! It looked like so much fun!") Sylveon said.
"Braixen did all the hard work," Serena said, finally allowing herself to smile as widely as she wanted. "You did so well! Thank you, Braixen, thank you so much!"
Serena gave Braixen a big hug, which she eagerly returned.
("Our practice really paid off! That went so well; I loved it!")
"Your control was what did it," Serena said. "You didn't miss a beat and Ampharos just couldn't get going because of it. It really couldn't have gone better. I'm so proud of you!"
After celebrating a few moments longer, Serena took a deep breath and became serious again.
"Alright. We've cleared one round, but we're not there yet. Pancham, you're up next. Let's give everyone another great show, okay?"
("You bet! I was made for this,") Pancham said eagerly.
It soon turned out that Pancham's boast wasn't exactly idle, because he made short work of the Lunatone he was faced with, and when Sylveon ran circles around the Blastoise opposite her, Serena actually found herself in the finals of the Exposition…facing none other than Dawn, who had dispatched her opposition with similar ease to Serena.
"Oh, this is going to be so awesome," Dawn said before they were called on stage. "Just so you know, I'll be using Piplup for the finals. Who are you going to go with?" she asked.
Serena looked at her Pokémon. All of them had performed incredibly well. Her initial thought was to use Braixen again, but Piplup's Whirlpool would probably be highly effective in clearing out her fire moves. Pancham might be able to use his Stone Edge and Dark Pulse to create a similar light vortex he'd created in the practice against Ash, which would certainly be a solid performance, but again, Piplup's Whirlpool had been incredibly powerful in clearing out big attacks all throughout the competition. What Serena really needed was something too big, yet too formless for Piplup to sweep up in his Whirlpool, and Sylveon probably had the best moves for that.
"Sylveon, can you do another round?" Serena asked.
Sylveon nodded happily. ("Sure!") she said.
Pancham looked disappointed at not getting to perform a second time and Serena petted his head. "Sorry, Pancham. You'll get your chance to compete in a final, okay?" she asked.
("Well, with how we did today I guess we'll make another one,") he conceded.
Serena giggled. "That's the spirit."
She looked at Dawn and said, "Well, there you have it. It's going to be Sylveon."
Dawn nodded. "Awesome! I can't wait to get this started," she said, and her body language confirmed that she was eager to move. Her eyes sparkled and again, her expression reminded Serena of Ash before a Gym battle.
"Neither can I," Serena said.
Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long before they were called out again. Since this was the final, there was a bit more ceremony involved than for the earlier rounds, and Serena, Dawn, and their Pokémon stood next to each other in the center of the field.
"On the green side, from Twinleaf Town in Sinnoh, here in the final in her very first Exposition, Dawn, and her partner for this last round, Piplup!" Nikolaos said.
A spotlight shone on Dawn and she waved at the audience, and Piplup did the same.
"And on the red side, from Vaniville Town in Kalos, reaching the final after competing before in Pewter City, Serena, and her partner Sylveon!"
The spotlight now shone on Serena, and like Dawn she waved at the audience. She tried to spot Ash and Pikachu somewhere, but the stands were too dark to really make out any faces. She was sure he'd be cheering for her, though, just like he promised. The idea that the situation Dawn had asked him about only a few days ago was now actually happening already made Serena happy, but now it was time to put the icing on the cake and actually win.
Serena and Dawn shook hands and then took their places at their own end of the arena.
"And…begin!" Nikolaos said.
"Alright, Sylveon, start off strong, Double Team!" Serena said.
"Bubble Beam and Ice Beam, Piplup!" Dawn said.
Sylveon flipped and jumped around the battlefield, leaving illusory copies of herself which were all performing different acrobatics, while Piplup jumped into the air with a twirl, firing off bubbles which lazily began to float down. Before they could get very far, though, Piplup had already landed and he fired his Ice Beam into the bubbles, freezing them solid and bursting them into glittering puffs of ice.
"That looks like fun. Sylveon, help Piplup out with Swift!" Serena said.
Sylveon didn't break her routine even for a moment, but she began to fire off Swift stars with pinpoint accuracy, popping the bubbles before Piplup could.
"Alright, then, let's get those bubbles a bit closer together, Piplup, Whirlpool!" Dawn said.
Piplup summoned up a massive whirlpool, which he used to collect the remaining bubbles and at the same time protect them from Sylveon's Swift.
"Fairy Wind, Sylveon, take your dance up into the air!"
"Piplup, push all the bubbles together and then freeze them all at once with Ice Beam!"
"Sylveon, jump over that Whirlpool and use Protect to stop the Ice Beam!"
Piplup narrowed the water twister and funneled the bubbles into a narrow column, while Sylveon whipped up a swirl of glitter and used it to add a third dimension to her Double Team dance, perfectly timing a jump to cast a shimmering green Protect beneath the bubbles just as Piplup fired his Ice Beam and deflecting it back into the ground.
"Alright, then," Dawn said excitedly, "grand finale, Piplup, freeze it all and then Drill Peck!"
Piplup took a deep breath and fired off the strongest Ice Beam thus far, freezing the entire Whirlpool and all the bubbles inside of it.
"Sylveon, use Swift to break it before Piplup can, but watch your aim!" Serena yelled.
Piplup leapt up into the air, his beak glowing and spinning like a drill, while all of Sylveon's illusory copies used the Fairy Wind to get above the frozen whirlpool, raining Swift stars down on it. The hail of attacks connected at the same time and the whirlpool shattered, showering the entire battlefield with a fine, powdery snow, which sparkled as it fell down.
Piplup and Sylveon landed opposite each other, and at that moment, Nikolaos yelled, "Time! The match is over!"
The stadium erupted in applause for both Serena and Dawn, who looked at each other from across the field.
"That was amazing!" Dawn said with a big smile.
Serena nodded. "It was! That was so much fun!"
"And for the last time today, we'll take it to the judges!" Nikolaos said. "As this is the final, each judge will give their reasoning before giving their final verdict! Without further ado, Nurse Joy!"
Serena and Dawn both walked to the middle of the field to listen to the judges' comments.
"This was a very difficult final to judge," Nurse Joy said. "Both Artisans had a clear plan going in and stuck with it, and both have shown a fantastic degree of control over their moves. However, much of the fight was held to seize control of Piplup's moves, which I believe shows slightly more initiative on Dawn's side. My vote, therefore, goes to the green side!"
With that her table lit up green and the audience applauded.
Serena felt more nervous than she'd done all day. Misty was the next one to judge, and Dawn had been using a Water-type, which Misty had already admitted to have a bias towards.
"Gym Leader Misty?" Nikolaos said.
"I agree with Nurse Joy that it was a hard battle to call," Misty said. "I also agree that Piplup seemed to have an edge on the initiative, but the control Sylveon exhibited in her moves, especially the accuracy of the Swift while also maintaining both Double Team and Fairy Wind, broke the tie for me. My vote goes to the red side, Serena!"
Her table lit up red and Serena was again surprised that Misty had voted in her favor, even though she'd been doing that all day long. Had she been wrong about her, or was Misty simply professional enough to separate her personal biases from her job as a judge? In either case, Serena felt like she owed Misty an apology for the Location Round.
"How exciting, we seem to have differing calls from the judges!" Nikolaos said. "That alone should attest how close this battle was, and now it falls to me to break the tie. Well, then, I won't hold the suspense any longer. Most of my opinion has already been voiced by my colleagues. I was very impressed by the creativity with which the moves of both Pokémon were used, and I was engrossed in the battle for dominance. On technicalities, I can find very little to fault either Artisan, and so I must go with my gut feeling…and that is that Piplup's fighting spirit resonated with me just a bit more than Sylveon's, giving the edge, and the victory, to the green side, Dawn!"
Serena sighed. No matter how good the fight had been, losing still stung — but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been last time. She hadn't been trounced and had been fighting her own fight from start to finish, and all three judges had said it was close.
"Congratulations, Dawn," Serena said, smiling despite the loss. "You too, Piplup. You both did really well."
"So did you!" Dawn said. "I honestly wasn't sure who won that, when the time was up. This was the most fun I've had in ages!"
She looked at Sylveon. "And your moves were great! Your control really is great. We're pretty good ourselves, but I don't think we're quite at the same level."
("Thank you!") Sylveon said. ("It was a lot of fun to dance with you. I hope we can do it again sometime!")
"Oh, count on it," Dawn said with a nod.
"The award ceremony will be held in two minutes on the field!" Nikolaos announced. "Will the medalists and their Pokémon please gather there now!"
Shortly afterward, the medalists and their Pokémon stood lined up at the side of the field, being called forward one by one to receive their medals.
When Nikolaos put the silver medals around the necks of Serena and her Pokémon, she couldn't help but smile. With that silver, she only needed three more bronze medals to guarantee a spot in the Grand Expo, and there were still seven Expositions to go. She was going to make it there for sure.
After posing for some pictures with the other medalists, Dawn said, "Come on, let's go and find Ash. I wonder what he thought about our battle…and who he thinks should have won."
Serena hadn't even considered that yet. Even though Dawn had won according to the judges, what would Ash think? Now that Dawn had mentioned it, it suddenly felt like the Exposition wasn't over yet at all, and Serena eagerly followed Dawn into the entrance hall, where Ash was already waiting for them.
"Serena, Dawn! You were both great, all day long!" he said.
"So Ash, who did you think won that round?" Dawn asked.
Pikachu gave her a look and Dawn grinned at him.
"In all honesty? I would've given it to Serena," Ash said. "For exactly the reason Misty said as well: the control. Even that last Swift was aimed in such a way that it would never hit Piplup, and Sylveon had to guess his trajectory because he was behind the frozen Whirlpool."
Piplup angrily chattered something at him, and Ash held up his hands apologetically.
"Relax, I never said you didn't do well," he said. "Your power really was something to behold. Freezing a Whirlpool like that takes a lot of skill, too. You do deserve that medal, you know, it's just that I'd have voted for Serena if I'd been a judge."
Serena felt a rush of heat through her entire body. It didn't matter one bit to her that she'd lost the final, because Ash would've voted for her! Who needed a gold medal, anyway?
"It's because you helped her train, isn't it?" Dawn said with a mock sigh.
("You're the one who asked,") Pikachu said.
"Well, yeah, because I wanted to know! But I guess I'll need to work a bit harder for next time, then, because this judge is a tough one."
"If it makes you feel better, I cheered for you in all your other matches," Ash said.
"That helps," Dawn conceded. Her stomach growled and she smiled sheepishly. "Wow, all that performing sure works up an appetite. Hey, I know! Let's go and get a shower at the Pokémon Center and then go out for dinner downtown. I'm leaving for Saffron City tomorrow, so might as well end my stay in Cerulean City with a big dinner, right?" she said.
"Sounds like fun," Ash said. "Serena?"
Serena nodded immediately, still far too happy that Ash had really been on her side to think about much else. She did know she was hungry, but it felt far away all the same.
"Yeah, let's do it," she said.
And with that, they left the stadium, with Serena feeling like she'd won something far more important than a medal that day.
Okay, that was pretty difficult to write, but I think I did a decent job. It's kind of ironic that Swift, a move that never misses in the game, is being praised for its accuracy here, but I'm going by anime logic more than game logic, so whatever. I want to give Pancham a Showoff Round on-page as well, but these things are really hard to write and I've got a lot of Expositions still to go, so rest assured he'll get his chance.