Chapter Fifty-Seven: Heating Up and Chilling Out

For a moment, the entire arena was silent — and then it erupted into cheering, which was so loud that Nikolaos barely managed to get over the noise to tell the audience to start voting. Serena smiled happily and waved at the crowd, as did her Pokémon, and though it didn't come as a surprise, seeing the unbroken sea of green lights all around her made her feel like she'd already won the Exposition, even though it had only just begun.

"Clearly, the audience wants Serena to move on!" Nikolaos said, still barely audible over the cheering. "And now, let's see what our judges think! Nurse Joy?"

He'd barely finished speaking when the table lit up green.

"No hesitation there! Next, our Gym Leader, Blaine!"

Blaine, a stern-looking man with receding gray hair, intently stared at Serena for a moment, and she did her best to answer the glare even though it made her a bit nervous. Then, a small smile appeared on Blaine's face, and his table lit up green.

"And that just leaves me," Nikolaos said, but Serena had already relaxed again. She was sure Nikolaos would vote in her favor, and once he'd done so she finally pulled her Pokémon into a hug and left the field.

"You all did so well! I'm so proud of you," she said as they made their way backstage.

("I've never been this glad I evolved,") Pangoro said. ("I would never have been able to do this as a Pancham.")

Serena didn't get a chance to reply, because she was basically tackled by Dawn the moment she stepped backstage.

"Serena! That was so cool!" Dawn said, grinning from ear to ear. She turned to Pangoro and said, "You really built a whole volcano out there! That's insane!"

("It was nice, yeah,") Piplup said, trying to sound disinterested.

"Yeah, definitely nothing more than 'nice'," Dawn said with a smirk. "You totally weren't saying 'that's way too cool' on repeat, not at all."

("I wasn't!") Piplup insisted, and Pangoro grinned.

("Thanks! It was easy, you know, no trouble at all,") he said with a wink, and Piplup shot him an angry glare.

"And you two did great as well, by the way," Dawn said to Sylveon and Delphox, who smiled broadly in agreement.

"Those effects really looked spectacular, almost like it was real lava."

"It…sort of was," Serena said sheepishly. "Pangoro and Delphox could control it, of course, but it really was molten stone, although it cooled down much faster than real lava would."

Dawn looked shocked for a moment, but then she shook her head in amusement. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that someone who has traveled with Ash for any amount of time wouldn't think twice about using actual lava in a show. Well, great show, in any case! Let's see if I can outdo it…although frankly, I doubt it'll be in this round."

Dawn raised her hand in greeting and headed back to her other Pokémon, while Serena made her way back to Mismagius, who immediately hugged Pangoro when they came back.

("You did so well! And you looked so confident doing it, too!") she said, and Pangoro grinned sheepishly.

("Thanks,") he said, much softer than he'd usually do. ("I was pretty cool, right?")

Mismagius nuzzled him and said, ("Yeah, you were.")

Serena smiled, only half-listening to the conversation between her Pokémon. Hopefully, her appeal had shown to everyone that she and Pangoro had patched up their problems from Fuchsia City and were still a force to be reckoned with.

She focused her attention on the screen to keep an eye on her competitors. When it was Dawn's turn, she sat up a bit straighter, and she could see her Pokémon were interested as well. She used Piplup, Quilava, and Mamoswine in her appeal, and like Serena went for a hot-springs-inspired act, though without the volcanic eruption, instead using Quilava's flames to heat up the spring created by Mamoswine's Ancient Power and Piplup's Whirlpool, using Ice Beam and Ice Fang to keep the water temperature cool enough for Dawn to be in it. It was very well done, and the audience agreed, but when Pangoro said, ("We were cooler,") Serena couldn't help but agree.

A couple of performances after Dawn's, Serena felt a wave of discomfort when she saw that Erin was there as well. She'd brought her Sylveon, like before, as well as a Camerupt, but she seemed to have no other Pokémon with her. Erin went with a fully volcano-themed appeal, having Camerupt use Eruption and Earthquake, while Sylveon used mostly Double Team and Disarming Voice to play both victim and rescuer. It wasn't as complex an act as Serena's or Dawn's, but still enough to get her through to the next round, and when Serena studied the ranking afterward, she saw that if she were to face Erin again, it would happen in the finals.

Before that, though, she'd have to beat Dawn in the semifinal, and before that was another match, against a man called Jason.

"Okay, Delphox, do you think you can take this one?" Serena asked.

Delphox nodded. ("Of course,") she said.

Normally, Serena would probably have wanted to use Delphox a bit later, but she wanted to give all her Pokémon a chance at competing, and given the overall very fire-themed field, flashy fire moves would likely struggle to grab attention in the later rounds, especially since Serena was almost certain Dawn and Erin would win their matches and she'd be facing them. The round of eight was the safest place to have a less-than-ideal matchup.

When Delphox and Serena came out onto the field, however, she winced when she saw the Pokémon Jason would be using. He had chosen his Swampert, whose moves could probably easily cancel out Delphox's. Even so, she wasn't about to give up just yet.

"Artisans ready?" Nikolaos asked, and both Serena and Jason confirmed that they were.

"Begin!"

"Earth Power, Swampert!"

"Open with your fire dance, feel the tremors!"

Swampert began to stomp on the floor, causing eruptions of golden energy to burst from it, while Delphox danced between them, tracing Mystical Fire in the air with her branch.

"Douse those flames! Muddy Water!"

Swampert slammed the ground with his hands, and from the Earth Power cracks, brown water shot up to meet the trails of fire Delphox was creating.

"Turn up the heat, then catch the steam!"

Delphox didn't stop dancing, instead closing her eyes for a split second. Just before the water hit her flames, they blazed much brighter, and when the Muddy Water touched them it flash-vaporized into steam. At the same instant, Delphox raised her paw and a purple, Psyshock-based lightning enveloped the bands of steam.

"Make a ribbon, and add some Hidden Power!"

Delphox flicked up her branch and the crackling steam rose up into the air, while at the same time creating a Hidden Power orb to add to it.

"Break that ribbon, Swampert, make it rain rocks! Rock Slide!"

Swampert roared and spread his arms wide, summoning a large number of floating rocks, which he threw high into the air, aiming at Delphox's ribbon, which now looked a bit like a snake with its Hidden Power 'head', which gave Serena an idea.

"Avoid them, Delphox, and go for broke! Fire Dragon!"

Delphox moved her wand like a conductor's baton to move her serpent of steam and Hidden Power, then used her mouth to shoot up a Fire Blast which perfectly intercepted the snake's head. The top tendril bent back and extended over the entire body, the two middle ones went about half way and then curved down like arms, and the bottom two tendrils narrowed and shortened into barbels, but increased in intensity due to the density of the flames.

Combined with Swampert's Rock Slide, it now looked like Delphox's construct was a dragon raining down rocks onto the battlefield, and Jason seemed to be too stumped to give any additional orders.

Swampert's expression wasn't much different, and just a moment later, Nikolaos called, "Time!"

Delphox dissipated the dragon with a flourish of her wand, and the crowd began to cheer.

Jason sighed and shook his head when Serena walked over to shake his hand. "You've got this in the bag," he said. "I had nothing on that."

"Thanks," Serena said. "I really had to think on my feet when I saw you were using Swampert."

They turned to the judges to hear the verdict, and to Serena's joy she got all three of the votes.

"Thank you, Delphox. You did really well! You pulled that dragon off better than I could have imagined," Serena said as they walked back to the waiting area.

("It wasn't easy,") Delphox said. ("And I hate doing Fire Blasts with my mouth. Tastes like ash. Not the kind you like,") she added with a wink.

Serena rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Well, thanks for making the sacrifice, anyway," she said.

("Serena! Delphox! That was so cool!") Pangoro said when they'd rejoined the others, enthusiastically high-fiving them both.

("I can't believe that dragon didn't get hit by the rocks,") Mismagius said.

Delphox smiled. ("It's all thanks to the practice we did for the location round. I can control my fire so much better now because I had to be able to do it all without looking. Being part Psychic-type has never been so useful.")

"Well, you've more than earned your rest," Serena said.

She turned to Pangoro. "Dawn's probably going to be up next, but it's pretty likely Erin will make the finals. So…do you want to battle Dawn and be guaranteed a match, or do you want to leave it up to Sylveon, trusting that she can beat Dawn and face Erin again?" she asked.

She looked at Sylveon and gave her a small smile. "Assuming you would be okay with that, of course. I can imagine you wanting a rematch with Dawn, too."

Sylveon returned her smile and said, ("Pangoro can choose. I like to perform, but…well, this is more important to him than it is to me.")

("Thanks,") Pangoro said quietly, and Sylveon smiled at him as well.

He sat in silence for a moment, and Serena wondered what was going through his mind. She honestly had no idea what he would decide.

("Okay,") Pangoro said eventually. ("I think…I should take the next match, and Sylveon can take the final.")

He grimaced. ("I…want to face Erin again, I really do, but I don't think this is the moment yet. And against Dawn, no matter what, it'll be spectacular in a good way.")

Serena smiled and put her hand on his massive arm. "I think that's a very mature decision, you know," she said.

("I know, it feels weird,") Pangoro said with a small smile.

"Then let's watch Dawn's match and see if she's actually going to be our opponent," Serena said, and they turned back to the monitor, where the current round was just ending.

Dawn used Quilava in her round, apparently having drawn the same conclusion as Serena had, while her opponent went with a Rapidash. Despite Rapidash's speed and grace, Quilava's use of Smokescreen and Swift, combined with well-timed Flame Wheels, gave Dawn a unanimous victory.

Serena felt a rush of excitement. Last time she'd faced off against Dawn she'd lost, but she'd become much more skilled in the meantime. Surely this time, things would be different.

Clearly, she wasn't the only one who was excited for the rematch, because a few moments later, Dawn came over to Serena and said, "We finally get to compete again! Who are you gonna use? I'm going with Mamoswine." She was nearly bouncing up and down with excitement.

"I'll be using Pangoro," Serena said, and Pangoro gave a confident nod.

"Ooh, that's going to be awesome! We're going to beat you again, though," Dawn said.

"Pangoro and I won't go down so easily, either," Serena replied.

Dawn grinned and held out her hand. "Then let's make this a great round."

Serena grasped Dawn's hand and nodded. "Yeah!"

Dawn went back to her Pokémon, and Serena and Pangoro quickly discussed their plan before they were called back to the battle court.

("Good luck!") Sylveon said.

("Show them what you've learned,") Delphox added.

("Be you,") Mismagius said, far more quietly than she usually would.

("I will,") Pangoro replied, just as solemnly. Then he put on his sunglasses, looked at Serena, and said, ("Let's do this!")

A few moments later, Serena and Dawn stood opposite each other once again. Serena didn't even listen to Nikolaos's introduction, and she could see Dawn wasn't, either. As soon as Nikolaos yelled, "Begin!" they leapt into action.

"Begin with Ancient Power, Mamoswine!"

"Stone Edge, Pangoro!"

Mamoswine tossed his head and called up a rain of glowing silver rocks, while Pangoro stomped the ground and launched himself, landing on top of another pillar he'd called up just before launching himself.

"Dark Pulse!"

Pangoro clapped his paws together and summoned a swirling vortex of Dark Pulse rings, which he used to hijack Mamoswine's Ancient Power, which he then juggled as he himself made a flip off his Stone Edge pillar.

"Hidden Power, then Ice Fang!"

Mamoswine roared and called up two Hidden Power orbs, which he placed on the tips of his tusks and then froze over, before launching both frozen orbs into the air, through the still circling Dark Pulse Ancient Power rocks. The Hidden Power orbs detonated, and the shards of ice surrounding them pierced and disintegrated the Ancient Power rocks, causing a shower of sparkles to rain down onto the battle court.

"Stone Edge and Drain Punch!"

Pangoro stomped the ground again, but he threw repeated Drain Punches to punch off blocks from the pillar, which glowed green as they arced into the air, well away from Mamoswine and in the direction of Pangoro's own end of the field.

"Stack them with Dark Pulse!"

Pangoro now used one paw to keep the glowing green rocks swirling with Dark Pulse rings, while he finished launching the blocks of his Stone Edge pillar with a final, massive Drain Punch.

"Dig, Mamoswine!"

Mamoswine swung his massive tusks, and disappeared underneath the field with surprising speed.

Serena didn't know exactly what Dawn's plan was, but she had no time to worry about it.

"Stone Edge and Aerial Ace, right from above!"

"Ancient Hidden Ice Fang!"

Pangoro stomped the ground one more time, launching himself into the air with a Stone Edge pillar, his arms already glowing white. When he reached the apex of his jump he made a flip.

Just when he began to fall, however, Mamoswine's attacks erupted from where he'd dug himself in, two pillars of swirling orbs of shattered silver-gray stone, white Hidden Power, and bright blue ice from Ice Fang, followed almost immediately afterward by Mamoswine himself, who impaled the orbs on his tusks as he launched himself upward, just as Pangoro cut his pillar of glowing green rocks with Aerial Ace.

Mamoswine landed with a thud, with the orbs still on his tusks, just as Pangoro swung his arms out wide and the bisected stones next to him shattered like glass.

"Time!"

While I've ended chapters on Location Rounds before, I don't think I've ever ended it before the judging of a Showoff Round before. Now, full disclosure, I've already decided who's won this round, but as a blatant attempt to increase my comment count: who did you think won that round, and why?

While you think on that, let me just say that it's both really difficult, and really fun to write these things. I've said it before, but these Expositions are extremely visual in nature, so I'm forced to describe things as clearly as possible to get my readers to see what I'm going for. It also forces me to stretch the utility of these moves to the breaking point, but fortunately the Contests and Showcases in the show itself set some precedent for that kind of thing. In any case, that's it for now, and see you in the next one!