[X] My Assistant

[Toogee]

As her name rang through the hall, Pan knelt down to Lima to quickly straighten out her ballerina skirt.

“It’s time to show them our stuff!” she said to the excited cleffa, giving her a high-five. Pan gave a thumbs up to Douken as she took position.

Call Me- Blondie, with altered lyrics to go with the contest.

0:00-0:16: As the music began, Pan started walking on stage. Lima stayed behind the curtain to watch, her head clearly visible to the audience and judges. There was even a camera recording the contest! As she waited for her cue, Pan looked on at the audience; it was huge! If Lima wanted the attention, she was going to get it.

When the electric guitar played the cue, Pan revealed to the world that inside this rough ‘n’ tumble explorer was a magnificent singer. Her high soprano voice told everyone she was a contender. Her body swayed with the music as she sang the lyrics to one of her favorite songs.

Color me your color, baby
Color me your car
Color me your color, darling
I know who you are Pan pointed a finger across the audience
Come up off your color chart
I know where you're comin' from
Call me, on the line
Call me, call me any, anytime
Call me, my love
You can call me any day or night
Call me

0:50-0:56: As the 10th and 11th lines were being sung, Lima moved onto the stage, waddling towards Pan. The young woman lifted the cleffa onto the chest-high table for everyone to see. Using her Copycat-Sing combo, Lima imitated Pan’s style in her own child-like voice.

Cleffa Fa Fa Cleffa, Fafa
Cleffa Fa Fa Fa Lima put both her hands over her mouth and released a Sweet Kiss towards the camera.
Cle Fa Fa Fafafa Fa
Fa Cleffa Lef Fafa
Lefafa Fa, Fa Fa Fa Fa
Cleffa Fa Le Fafafaaaaaaa

Call me (Cleffa!) on the line
Call me, call me any, anytime
Call me (Cleffa!) oh my love
When you're ready we can share the wine
Call me

1:33-1:39: Pan moved towards the table, leaning against it while facing Lima. The cleffa went to scrounge through a box of props on the table.

Ooo-oo-oo-oo-oo, she speaks the languages of love
Ooo-oo-oo-oo-oo, amore, chiamami, Fafafa Lima emerged wearing a Mario hat and mustache. She went back to the box to get the next set of props.
Ooo-oo-oo-oo-oo, appelle-moi mon cherie, Leffa-fa The cleffa returned wearing a beret
Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, any way
Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, any day-ay

2:10-2:44: Pan grabbed Lima by both hands and quickly swung her into the air. The cleffa was spinning like a helicopter, her hands and legs acting as rotors. At the peak of her rise, Lima started shooting out streams of Magical Leaves over the stage. The cleffa fell into Pan’s arms while the leaves circled Pan in a spiral. Lima then commanded the leaves to shoot past Pan and into the sky above, raining down harmlessly over the audience. The young woman set the cleffa on her right shoulder to finish up the song.

Call me (Cleffa!) my love
Call me, call me any, anytime
Call me (Cleffa!) for a ride
Call me, call me for some overtime
Call me (Cleffa!) my love
Call me, call me in a sweet design
Call me (Cleffa!), call me for your lover's lover's alibi This line involved Pan and Lima singing to each other, with Pan playfully poking at the cleffa’s belly. Lima smiled but quickly recovered for the next verse.
Call me (Cleffa!) on the line
Call me, call me any, anytime
Call me (Cleffa!)
Oh, call me, oo-hoo-hah
Call me!

The song finished with Pan and Lima facing the audience, their thumbs and pinkies against their ear and mouth, respectively. This represented the receiver and mouthpiece of a telephone.

Pan and Lima both took their bows amidst ecstatic applause. The cleffa took her time leaving, waving and blowing kisses at the audience and judges. Pan picked up Lima and headed off the stage to prevent further delay of the events.

Like Lima, Pan was beaming; she felt really good about her performance. Even if they didn’t get to the second round, the audience was thrilled with the song. Even better, Lima was all smiles; she was a star!

“So, what did you think?” Pan turned to Douken, still smiling from her awesome performance.

[Living Arrow]

Troy slowed his applause as the first entrant left the stage and bent closer to Joy.

“She had a good voice… the girl, too.” He remarked, filing his score for the results draw. “Decent use of attacks, too. But was it Cute for a top score? That last bit was more Beautiful than Cute.”

“Combining Sing and Copycat then using a costume change was Smart.” She replied, filing her own score. “But ultimately any baby Pokemon is going to come out with a Cute Appeal no matter what they do.”

“You have a point…” Troy mused, re-adjusting himself on his judge’s throne as Gillian called on the next Co-ordinator: An old woman and her Jynx. Troy grimaced. He had never and would never give a thing like Jynx more than a 6 – didn’t people know this?!

More Co-Ordinators came and went, none standing out overly much. It went largely without incident (except for a cracked Exeggcute) and before they knew it, the twelfth entrant was priming himself backstage, waiting for the Announcer to call him forward.

“And now from across the pond on our sister island, Fidona, give it up for Douken!” Gillian threw her arm wide, the audience captivated by her presentation – whooping with excitement to see who the next Co-ordinator was and how he would make use of his Pokemon on stage.

[Douken Sota]

"You did very well," Douken commented, smiling. "However, I think i did heard some people around say that you were trying to do stand out more than your Cleffa. I mean, don't get me wrong, you have a wonderful singing voice, its just, I think there is a reason why they call it a Pokemon Contest." He let off a nervous chuckle at the end of it, scratching the back of his head, as he waited for the Lottery to select him.

With his name declared, he smiled to Pan and said, "Well, look's like I'm next. See ya in a bit!" With that said, he ran to the stage.

With it now Douken's turn, he took the the stage, waving to the crowd. "I hope everyone is enjoying these performances, for the night isn't over yet! If you doubt me, just watch! Seel, center stage!"

Unlike his usual throw into the air, Douken took to a ground slide approach, rolling the Pokeball on the floor until it opened up, the Pokeball jumping into the air as snow flowed out of the ball's mouth, some of it taking shape of the Sea Lion Pokemon, Seel.

"Now then, Seel, let's use Aqua Ring!" Douken called out as the Pokeball flew back into his hand. With the command, she took the moisture around her, along with the snow provided from the Seal, and formed it around her to make a large ring, spinning around her.

"Now, freeze it with Icy Wind!" Looking at the ring of water that hovered around her, Seel opened her mouth, breathing a frozen flurry on the water to solidify it into a frozen halo. Douken stood by her side, waiting for it to freeze enough to grab it so it wouldn't hit the floor and shatter.

With it in hand, he placed it on his shoulder and looked at the crowd. "Now, I shall need a favor from the crowd. I need all of you to help set a rhythm for my Seel here. Don't worry, all you have to do is follow along. Now Seel, set your rhythm using Encore." With this, she lifted herself up and began to give a steady clap with her fins, Douken clapping along with her. "C'mon, everyone!" They continued this until they got the crowd into it, clapping along with the sea lion. "Alright, alright. Just keep it up! Now Seel, time to see how well you can balance," he said as he took the ice ring from his shoulder and tossed it into the air, just enough for Seel to catch it on her nose. With the rhythm filling the stage, Seel began to flip the ring on her nose, catching it again to flip it in the pattern of the clapping.

"Now, to finish things off, Seel!" After a few flips, she pushed it high into the air, the ring flipping as if it was a coin. "Icicle Spear!" There, Seel opened her mouth once more, this time to have a blue, cold ball form in front of her. From there, five spears flew out, four of them taking a square shape as the fifth stayed in the center. The center one flew through the hoop, shattering on the roof as the others hit a section of the halo, causing the ice to shatter and ice dust sparkle down.

With one final bow, Douken called out, "Thank you, everyone!" before petting the Seel's horn, soon to head back to the others as the next contestant waited behind the curtain.

Heading back to where Pan stood, he grinned and asked, "So, did you enjoy that?"

[Toogee]

“Right, it was other people that said that,” Pan replied with a smirk. She had a feeling it was more Douken’s opinion being expressed. As for her role in the appeal, perhaps there was some basis to it. Pan wanted her performance to resemble Darryn’s to better figure out what he was up to in Furoh. She wasn’t sure if she succeeded; that would be up to the judges to decide…

“Hey, break a leg,” Pan said as Douken came up on stage. She watched Douken command his seel to make an icy ring. Pan and others in the back started clapping along with the audience as the seel started flipping the ring upon her nose. After the performance, Pan was the first to congratulate Douken.

“That was great!” Pan replied to Douken, kneeling down and rubbing the seel’s horn in approval. “Frankly, that act was begging for some hoola hoop action, but I’m sure you’ll get lots of points regardless.”

With the appeals over, the coordinators waited nervously for the scores to come in. Though Pan was doing this for fun, she couldn’t help feeling a little anxious about the results. She wondered how Lima would take the news.

What Pan didn’t know was that the cleffa had wandered a few feet away, at the refreshment table. She was coping quite well with her two éclairs.

[Douken Sota]

Douken gave a nervous chuckle when it came down to the "hula hoop" comment. "Its not like we didn't try it out," he replied as Seel grinned at the horn rub with her tongue out. "Some of the main problems was how fragile and heavy the ring got when it began freezing. If I wasn't next to her, the ring would of fell and shattered. If she tried hula hooping it around her neck while freezing it, it would pass through her as well as have a hard time focusing. In all, the better option for right now was to do flips with most of it with a nice coat of ice around it."

As other contestants passed by, Douken watched the screen, watching the performances go one by one, also keeping an eye on judge's expressions. Most of them seemed pretty even, especially the judge that had one line to add at the end of every performance: "Remarkable." Looks like none of them are really going to hint who was going on next.

With the appeals done with and the votes began to tally up, Douken let off a stretch. "Certainly some interesting performances, wouldn't you say?" he grinned. "Now, we wait to see who goes on, right?"

[Toogee]

“Yeah, there were some good performances,” Pan replied. “I just hope that cracked exeggcute is OK…” The gasps of the audience witnessing the performer stepping on the egg pokemon were still fresh in her mind. It was a reminder of what could go wrong without proper preparation. Still, it was a little funny when said performer fell into the audience, who proceeded to pass him around before bringing him back on stage. Pan wasn’t sure if it was planned or unplanned, but it certainly was the highlight of her evening so far.

As the votes were tallied, Pan addressed Douken’s second question.

“That’s right. Anyone who makes it past the appeals round with 35 or more points gets to challenge the hall leader. I bet it’s a tough decision- Lima!”

The cleffa came back to her human, her front and skirt covered in chocolate and whipped cream. Pan quickly grabbed some napkins and started wiping the mess off of Lima.

“No more food for you,” Pan said to her cleffa, a stern tone in her voice. “I swear you could out-eat a snorlax!”

Lima simply gave a shrug and giggled. Her stomach knew no bounds. The cleffa wondered if this food was in every contest hall. If that were the case, Lima could get use to life as a coordinator.

[Living Arrow]

Troy handed his score sheets over to Gillian as she came by the judges’ desk, collating the results and calculating who, if any, of the Co-Ordinators backstage would meet him for a Ribbon Battle. The buzz of the excitement from the crowd went unnoticed by the Hall Leader as Gillian gave him the nod, indicating that at least one of the entrants had scored at least thirty-five points in the Appeals Round and so would be making their way on stage any minute.

He rose fluidly, producing a scream from the audience as he moved up to the battle stage and moved to the storage box where his Pokeballs lay. Rolling them around in his hands as he picked them, Troy thought back to the most recent entrant who had managed to take a Ribbon from him.

“Darryn…” He whispered to himself, oblivious of the hundreds of onlookers.


“And now!” Gillian took centre stage, the crowd roaring into a frenzy and the screen behind her began to flicker to life to show the scores. “What we’ve all been waiting for! Your Ribbon Battle finalists!”

The screen split down the centre, two images flickering to life on both sides. The left side showed two faces – the first a young man with messy hair poking out from under a grey cowboy hat and the second a teen girl with a bob of black hair and wide smile. And on the right…

[35]

[35]

“Woooow! Would you look at that! Two finalists getting through by the skin of their teeth!” Gillian crooned. “So, without any hesitation, let’s welcome back our friend from Fidona – Douken Sota!”

Troy groaned to himself. The kid with the audience participation actually got into the final round. What was the world coming to?! One of the others would have had to have given the kid a 10 after the low score Troy had donated...

*He’s not cut from the right cloth to get much further… let’s see how he deals with these guys…*

Troy slipped two Pokeballs from his storage counter and armed himself on the Leader’s side of the Battle Stage.

“Marowak, Skarmory! Time to face the music!”

[Douken Sota]

The room was filled with suspense when they awaited the results of who would come on stage. He had no idea how experienced any of these people are, but it was obvious that they had more on their belt than this trainer, who never even thought he would be in the spot he was now. So, as he awaited for the results, he took off his glasses and began to wipe them off with a napkin as Pan cleaned up her Cleffa. "Well, I think right now, it would be a Munchlax," Douken commented to her as the announcer began speaking again, revealing the winners of appeals. Curious on who was going on, Douken placed his glasses back on his face and looked.

The screen then flickered from the camera display to the monitor's display, showing the two images of the winners with matching scores, and to Douken's surprise, it was the two newcomers, Pan and himself! "We made it!" Douken couldn't help but call out at the results before the announcer called him out to battle first. "Wish me luck," he told her as he ran out to the stage, though in all honestly, he would of prepared to gone second (just to see what his style was like).

Running back on stage, he was greeting by the cheering of the crowd as he saw Troy standing at the end of a dance floor, which had the markings of a battle arena. So I guess this is where we battle then, he thought as he walked down to the other side. he turned to face his opponent and gave him the tip of his hat before saying, "May I tell you it shall be an honor facing you tonight. However, do not expect me to hold back!"

With each side ready, Douken removed two Pokeballs from his belt, each being held inside a capsule, and held one in each hand, showing the one on the left had a Black Smoke Seal and the right had Fire. "And now, my companions, to the stage!" Douken called out, doing the same floor roll as Seel, but when the ball erupted, it let out a wall of black smoke, a red dot glowing out of the smoke. With that set, Douken tossed the other ball in the air, having it burst open as it past through, a fiery figure breaking the smoke and sliding on the floor, the Seal's effect dissipating as a Growlithe was revealed in the flames, and a Duskull from the smoke. All that was left now was the call to begin, and to see what he had.

[Toogee]

Pan looked up upon hearing Douken cheer: their faces appeared on the big screen. They had indeed beaten all comers and made it to the second round. Pan and Douken were now contending for their first ribbon. Not bad for their first time.

“Look Lima! We did it!”

The cleffa looked up at the screen and started dancing in Pan’s arms. She loved the applause, unaware that she was sharing it with Douken. As she held onto Lima, Pan shouted “Good Luck” to her friend as he accepted the challenge.

Her attention turned to the hall leader. At first, Troy didn’t seem eager to battle Douken, but he summoned his pokemon with a snazzy phrase nonetheless. He was keeping an upbeat attitude no matter what, something Pan tried to do all the time (well, most times).

“Hm, maybe that’s why he likes Troy…” Pan thought to herself.

Still, she wouldn’t get to know Troy from backstage. For now, Pan would have to stand back and watch the show…

[Living Arrow]

*A Ghost and a Fire type. Not bad choices but what can they do in a Ribbon Battle? Is he even a Co-Ordinator or just a lucky one-timer? I guess we'll see...*

"It takes more than a flashy appeal to win a Ribbon in my Hall." Troy frowned across the arena. "But it might be best to wait and see how you attack... Marowak! Sandstorm! Skarmory, get inside the vortex and use Iron Defence!"

Troy's Bone Keeper held firm, swirling her Thick Club up into a frenzy, and produced a roaring cyclone of sand from her fists that ripped around her own body and into the Skarmory who had just taken flight. Trapped inside the vortex, a glittering white light emitted from the Armor Bird, cutting through the storm like sunlight through a protective canopy of trees. With a downwards swing of her club, Marowak scattered the storm to whirl throughout the battlefield, revealing a sparkling bird high over the field to dazzle the audience. In all, it apeared as though a hurricane had ended to give way to a shining moon - a sight that the audience went wild for.

Instantly, points dropped off Douken's score.

"With Sandstorm on the field, we'll see how long your Pokemon will hold out. If you thought battling in a Hall would be easier than in a Gym - you're wrong. And when you consider that I was the Gym Leader of Arasam for three years, you'll know it'll be twice as hard to beat me!" Troy taunted Douken, waiting for the Challenger to make his own first move.

[Douken Sota]

The small bit of advise only gave him a bit of a grin. "That's what I want to hear! Gives me a chance to get ready! Growlithe, Flame Wheel! Duskull, Trick Room!"

AS Growlithe began to charge at the sandstorm, fire forming in his mouth, Duskull put her arms forth, producing a blue hue in her hands before it spread across the field, a grid lighting up all that touched it before fading and the area around them began to warp. Sure, it also had Growlithe seem like he slowed down, but it slowed down anything fast moving anyways.

With the Room set, Growlithe jumped and began to curl up, as if going for a Rollout, as the flames slowly curled around his body, almost like the swirl of a Poliwhirl's belly, before becoming a ball of fire rolling into the sand tornado. From the inside, it ran upon the sandy walls, a blazing trail on the outside being seen as he curled his way up, until he flew from the top and spun at the Scarmory. As he spun, the flames on his body could be seen dancing around him, almost like he was a shuriken with ten points.

[Toogee]

Due to server issues, the last two posts were deleted. Luckily, I went through my history and recovered them here:

*Trick Room!? I haven't seen that since back in the Gym! To use it in a Contest Battle... This is very odd, indeed.*

Troy's eyes flickered to the scoreboard where his own score began to drop. While the Growlithe's performance was indeed, very Cool, it wasn't very smart of the Duskull to use Trick Room with a slower opponent like Marowak on the field. In fact, that gave Marowak an advantage over the Fire-type. Then again, Marowak and Skarmory had never battled within a Trick Room... And now, that Growlithe was on the offensive...

"Skarmory, take the hit and use Iron Defence again! Marowak, Bonemerang on the Growlithe!"

Douken's Growlithe rocketed into Skarmory, fire meeting steel in a terrifying burst of sparks that instantly began to shne and sparkle as the Armor Bird began performing its stat-boosting move. Both sides lost points, Skarmory coming out of the collision with more injuries despite the reduced damage. The Growlithe rebounded and flipped through the air with surprsingly aerial control but could not dodge in mid-air as Marowak's Thick Club swirled through the glitter, capturing the sparks into a blazing trail as it thudded upwards into the fire-type's side, whirled in an arc through the air, and struck him again on the way back.

The points table turned again and once more, Troy had the upper hand. Even as the Sandstorm took its toll on the other side of the field, the Hall Leader had to remove himself from the battle to analyse his next options.

*Can't get too complacent - that Ghost is still around and they can be extremely tricky to beat when they start using all of their sneaky tactics. Just look at Darryn's latest Ribbon Battle... That was a close one!*

Douken's eyes didn't bother to look at the scoreboard. To him, it was if it wasn't there. His eyes was focused on the combat. Any second to look at the score could make him lose precious timing for techniques, and may tip the battle in his favor.

he took a second to comprehend how the speeds could look to the field to see if he could throw him off with the speed changes. Duskull was naturally slow, so she seem to benefit from this, however, a Marowak doesn't have the best speed ever, either, just second slowest on the field. The fastest was Scarmory, so he (or she) would suffer the most.

As the moves began to collide together, he began to add in extra details from the match. Sandstorm is tricky, since it will pick at my team as he stays safe, as well as using a Ground type to cover for the Steel's weakness of Fire. Just got to put everything in place right!

As the puppy fell to earth, he broke from the fire ball as the flames slowly moved away from him as his paws slid on the dance floor. "You alright, boy?" The Growlithe, though in pain from the combo hit he took, gave out a confident bark. "Alright. Now then, Ember, wide range. Give no room for escape. Duskull, Confuse Ray. Give him cover!"

With the command set Growlithe opened his mouth wide, fire forming inside to be ready to blast at the Armor Bird. Duskull, meanwhile, began to stare at Marowak as her eye glowed blue, psychic waves being sent to the Bone Keeper's mind, confusing him with sites of friends and enemies everywhere, unsure who was who. With the Waves going, Growlithe fired waves of volleys, to try and go with the beat of the mind-penetrating waves.

[Living Arrow]

“Skarmory, use Swift wide range, too! Marowak, use… Marowak?!”

Troy gasped as his club-wielding Pokemon staggered around blindly, completely lost to the Confuse Ray. She tottered precariously, always millimetre from toppling completely, swinging her club around limply. Then, seeming to have focused on something to the right of her, Marowak swung out hard, only to make contact with nothing and end up hitting herself in the face.

“Marowak, focus!”

*Darryn’s tactic in Petropolis can’t work here… I guess we’ll have to wait for that confusion to wear off…*

“Skarmory, do it!”

Star-shaped rays flew out from the Armor Bird’s mouth in a spray that shot down the incoming Ember and releasing the energy as powdery red-gold sparks that the audience gasped and applauded for. It seemed that this Douken fellow was all about the hard battle – the way someone would expect to see a Gym battle conducted. It did not seem, however, that his battle style had a true concept of a Contest’s points scheme nailed down. Sure, his Pokemon looked good, but how did they make Troy’s Pokemon look?

Normally, Troy would go for the hard battle and aim for a technical KO within the time limit but it would be far easier for him to hold out and decimate the challenger’s points.

“Skarmory, use Fly and keep out of reach of the opponent’s moves! Marowak… Marowak! Stop fighting yourself and use Bonemerang on the Growlithe!”

[Douken Sota]

It seems the Marowak is nice and dazed, he thought as the two long range moves created a fireworks-like show in the center of the arena. Now if I can just hold out for... His thoughts were interrupted as he looked at the board. The short time limit clicked down slowly, but what surprised him was the difference in points, and how far down he was behind! How were all of those points were lost?! He knew a good looking move would reduce points, but it never did click that a nice counter would have the same effect.

With Scarmory out of range for any of his attacks, the only other option was the Marowak. "Growlithe, charge in for Bite. Duskull, assist with Night Shade!" When Growlithe began to charge, Duskull's eye glowed, projecting two balls of smoke on each side of the charging puppy, soon to take form to seem there was three. With Marowak dazed as is, her throw missed the real one, causing the one on his right to vanish. With the Bone Keeper wide open, the illusion went ahead to pass right through her before Growlithe jumped and chomped down on her arm.

It was then a sharp blow hit the back of the pup's head. The bone, acting like a boomerang, went to come back to the owner's hand, to be intercepted by Growlithe's head. His body grew limp before sliding down to the floor, out cold. "Growlithe!" He couldn't fight anymore, seeing how it took only three super effective blows to take him down. The only positive that came from this was a temporary disarmament for the Marowak, since the bone bounced away from her.

After returning Growlithe back into his Pokeball, he only had one thought. Two on one and points low... this isn't looking good...

This post has been edited by Douken Sota: Jul 8 2010, 10:55 PM

[Living Arrow]

"One minute remaining!" Gillian hollered into the microphone, the crowd going wild with her commentary. "With only seconds to go, can our challenger turn the scoreboard around with their dazzling moves, or will Troy win the day!?"

*Uh, Troy will win the day?* He said to himself, rolling his eyes sarcastically.

Marowak stumbled backwards, the Night Shade crackling into her chest like needles made of shadow. She slid to a halt, searching around frantically for her club to resume battle. Finding nothing, she regained her footing (albeit shakily) and clapped her hands together. A glowing white light immediately shone between her palms and, as she drew them apart, a staff made of bone began to appear. While her recovery took a few points from Douken, Marowak's readiness to battle faltered. Troy chewed his lip - she clearly knew as well as he did that she would have nothing to use against a Ghost type that could dodge her Ground type attacks with ease.

"Marowak, Growl!"

Finally, Troy's Bone Keeper managed to attack properly and she let out a fearsome Growl whch made the foe Duskull falter slightly. Even so, the Ghost type was on the offensive once more, a blast of black light crackling out to claim Marowak again. With a wail, the Ground type hit the deck and fell limp.

"Skarmory, take it out with Fly!" From the air, the Armor Bird sped like a bullet and struck the Duskull with an outstretched wing. An eerie scream left the Duskull as she sailed through the air but by the time the Requiem Pokemon had righted herself, the buzzer for the end of the match sounded and the scoreboard was illuminated for all to see.

"AND OUR WINNER IS OUR HALL LEADER, TROY!" Gillian announced, the crowd whooping and cheering for both sides. With the cameras rolling and Gillian informing viewers of sponsors and the upcoming ad-break, Troy quickly crossed the field to shake Douken's hand.

"That was a great battle, Douken." He said with a smile and a small nod of his head. "But your style isn't generally what's needed for Contests. Really, you should go in for Gym Battles with your strategies and the guts of your Pokemon - I know our local Leader would be pleased to have a challenger sometime soon. Excuse me, but I'll have to prep for the next match - it was a pleasure!"

[Douken Sota]

"Thanks," he replied, returning the handshake. "Still, I never expected myself to get this far with little training I had for this stuff. Maybe I will just stick to the Gyms after all." With that, Duskull drifted off to his side and he patted her head. "You did wonderful, Duskull. You deserve some rest." With her returned to her Pokeball, the Trick room field began to disperse, the area around them returning to normal. "Anyways, don't let Pan throw you off," he told him. "She said she wanted to talk to you later about a certain someone, so maybe we will catch up later."

With those final words, he began to walk off stage as a camera zoomed into him as he went to the back room to grab a bottle of water, where the other contestants were at. After a quick swig of the drink, he head back to Pan before removing his hat, wiping his brow. "Man, a Double Battle alone is a lot harder than having a partner. Got to keep your eyes everywhere at once.

"Anyways, you go get ready. He is definitely a tough opponent." Placing his hat in his lap, he took the time to get a quick catch of his breath. "Man, those five minutes felt a lot longer, and yet shorter at the same time."

[Toogee]

Douken’s battle was over in a matter of minutes (as dictated by contest rules). It looked like he was taking his loss in stride. It was a good attitude to take considering he still had a gym match to attend.

“Hey, you did good out there,” Pan remarked. “Just make sure your pokemon know that. Gotta keep up their confidence before the big day tomorrow.”

When her name was called up, Pan gave thumbs up to Douken and walked up on stage. Lima followed behind her, waving at the applauding audience. While the cleffa’s confidence was high, Pan wasn’t so sure of her strategy. She was more focused on performing neat combos than on putting together moves in their proper categories (fire moves were cool, right?).

Relax, it’s just fun match-up. It’s not like we’re out to get all the ribbons. If we lose, we’ll just buy a bunch of ribbons at a store. That’ll show ‘em!

With that thought in her head, she smiled back at the audience as she waited for her opponent to reemerge.

[Living Arrow]

“And now for our second Ribbon Battle of the day! Please welcome, from Celadon City, Pan back to the stage!”

Troy took a long swig of water and loosened the muscles in his neck as he made his way back to the Leader box. His opponent, the girl who had Appealed with the cute Cleffa, looked confident enough on her own side of the stage but yet again she didn’t carry the sort of swagger or grace of a true Co-Ordinator. That, however, did not mean she should be taken lightly.

*Let’s see how my latest Pokemon does with this… he may be new but he’s got a load of dazzling moves that’ll take the audience’s breath away. Of course, we’ll go with an old favourite as support…*

“Steelix, Mawwie! Time to face the music!”

In a flash of electric seals the duo emerged, Mawwie immediately leaping atop the great Iron Snake's head which reared high over the stage.

[Toogee]

Pan watched as Troy took his position. He was wearing a black sleeveless shirt with some unknown logo upon it, a pair of red pants, and some gelled-up hairstyle (Pan thought it was messy. She would never understand the fashion world). He unleashed his pair of pokemon: a mawile and a steelix. With two steel types on the field, Turnip didn’t have a type advantage to work with. This could be the venusaur’s toughest fight yet.

“Fenrir, Turnip! Let’s give these guys a show!”

Her growlithe emerged amidst the flames of his seal, while a floral arrangement of seals unveiled the venusaur. Turnip had a brief look of the flowers around him and then turned to Pan in disbelief.

“What? They make you look nice!” Pan replied. The venusaur turned back to face the opponents.

Rather than suck up to the hall leader about having a good match, Pan decided to start her inquiry of Troy. If nothing else, maybe she’ll catch him off guard.

“How’s Daz doing?” she said with a smile.

[Living Arrow]

"Da-?" Troy blinked. How did she...? Unless she was... Surely not... But then again... She was from Celadon, too.

"I take it you're Darryn's 'old friend' that he talked about last time I saw him, then?" Troy asked raising an eyebrow across the field. "Funny he didn't mention you were a Co-Ordinator, too. Unless, of course, you aren't."

"Busted!" Pan laughed from across the stage, waiting as Gillian got the crowd worked up and the timer reset. "But I thought it was about time to work out why he's on this route now - he was going to be a Trainer when he left Celadon."

"And he was a Trainer when I met him, too." Troy smiled as he ran a hand through his hair with mock vanity. "But see how I changed that around. You should pick up a copy of Co-Ordinators Weekly - he's front cover with his second Ribbon, y'know?"

"A magasine cover again?! Wow, I knew he loved the media but twice!?"

"What can I say - my man's a diva."

"And so's my opponent."

"With cause."

"We'll see."

Troy grinned openly - he loved banter and this girl was a firecracker worth setting light to. As for Co-Ordinating, he was about to find out, but afterwards he'd have to grab her and take her out on the town for a drink or five. With five minutes on the clock and the timely blaring of the buzzer, Troy was immediately on the offensive.

"Steelix, Rock Polish! Mawwie, Flash Cannon on the Venusaur!"

In a whirling spin of his segments, Troy's Steelix began to shine like enormous diamonds, glitter rising up through his body to meld with the Mawile as her jaws were directed forwards and opened wide, releasing a streaming wave of silvery light directly at the the grass type.