Set in the original region of Arciel, Legends Rising is a route-inspired, but not strictly route-based, Pokemon roleplay. Pick a faction, pick a class, and strike out into the wild to take on the League, master Contest coordination, research the mysteries of Pokemon and Arciel, and much, much more. Will you be a classic trainer? A criminal? A farmer? Choose your destiny on Legends Rising.
It is early evening, just after sunset, the twilight glow not quite having faded from the sky. The open air theater is dark aside from that faint ambiance, and filled with the din of an audience chatting among themselves as they wait. Then a spotlight brightens the stage, and the audience goes quiet.
A brief musical fanfare plays, and the stage begins to fill with glittering pink mist and large sparkling bubbles from somewhere behind the curtain. The spotlight tilts up to just above the top of the curtain, where a young lady stands on a beam. She steps off, but before she can hit the stage, the curtain is parted by a large pair of black wings, the Pidgeot who owns them whipping up a fierce whirlwind that lifts the girl back into the air, higher than she was before. The mist and bubbles on stage are sucked up and swirled around her by the wind as well, and one by one the bubbles are flung out in various directions to quickly pop into firework-like displays of sparkles. The girl spins slowly within the whirlwind, perfectly at ease suspended like this. The wind dissipates, and as she falls again a Blaziken jumps from offstage to catch her, landing safely before fluidly twirling her to her feet. They strike a pose together, and the crowd cheers.
"Good evening, everybody!" she calls. "I'm Serafeyna, and I'll be your Master of Ceremonies for this showcase!" There are a few louder whoops in the crowd from Sera's fans before everyone starts to quiet again.
"First, let's meet our three judges for the evening! First up, a noble lady from Johto, it's Yukiko Charbonneau! Then we have not one but two highly renowned breeders, Miss Elayne Laurent and Miss Maeve McRoy! Let's give them all a big hand, folks!"
The crowd cheers for the judges for a few moments before Sera goes on. "Our wonderful judges have just given me the theme of tonight's Showcase. And what will our competitors be striving to embody tonight?
"In celebration of the spring, the theme of the evening is 'Rainbow'! Let's see what our wonderful performers have come up with, shall we? Up first..."
Prizes
First Place: - A special one-of-a-kind Rainbow Ribbon, yet to be sprited, on your profile Awards - 5 OOC Gems - 500 Pen - 15 Rare Candies - 12 Move Slots to be divided among 6 Pokemon (2 each), whether you used 6 or not.
Second Place: - 3 OOC Gems - 400 Pen - 10 Rare Candies - 6 Move Slots to be divided among 3 Pokemon (2 each), regardless of how many 'mon you used.
Third Place: - 2 OOC Gems - 250 Pen - 5 Rare Candies - 4 Move Slots to be divided among 2 Pokemon (2 each).
First off, everyone give a big thanks to floramei , Elayne , and Keiran for judging, and coming up with this lovely theme!
Said theme, "Rainbow", could be anything from colorful attacks, outfits, Pokemon on stage, songs about rainbows, or anything else you can imagine to interpret it! Just make sure the judges can see what you're going for. Too understated and it might get lost; too over the top and you risk coming off as cheesy! Do your best to strike the perfect balance.
Rules for the Showcase and criteria for judging can be found in the Guidebook. However, if you would like some more practical examples of what's expected, check out the spoiler tag at the end of this post! It isn't made for the same theme, of course, but will give you an idea of the level of detail you want.
You may participate with as many characters as you want, even if you are judging. However, only one character per member can place, and judges cannot place. OOC Gems can be won up on up to 3 characters per member max.
Notes: You can dress up your Pokemon, but don't have to. Also, don't worry about the safety of the stage, beyond like, probably don't use Earthquake or Fissure. But you can flood it, set it on fire, drop heavy rocks on it, or whatever and assume it will magically fine by the end of your routine. Isn't technology and suspension of disbelief amazing? Final note, feel free to control Sera enough to introduce your characters, if you want, but you don't have to either.
This showcase will run until Sunday, May 24 at 11:59pm site time. That gives you nearly three weeks to find a song and write something up! Ideally, our judges can then try to get their scores in by the end of the month.
{Showcase Example} "First up," Sera announces, "it's Liam Odhrán!" The audience obligatorily claps for a few moments. Backstage, Liam breathes in deep. He takes one last moment to make sure his costume is all straightened. The silver star clips in his hair. The matching star clasps that hold his glittering galactic-looking cape on his shoulders. His white formal suit trimmed with silver, and a silver star belt buckle. It isn't the costume-iest costume, but it should work, he hopes.
As Sera leaves the stage, it fades to black, and a guitar riff starts to play. "Some!" As Liam sings the first word, the spotlight flashes onto him alone at center stage. "Say I have no direction." An Abra teleports in front of him. He lunges to grab her-- "That I'm a lightspeed distraction." --but she teleports to his other side. "But that's a knee-jerk reaction." He reaches out again, this time catching her and pulling her onto his hip.
"Still!" He twirls with her and tosses her into the air, where she levitates. "This is the final frontier!" He pulls out 3 more Pokeballs. "Everything is so clear." He tosses them all, releasing a Musharna, a Servine, and an Alolan Sandshrew. "To my destiny I steer." Everyone dances into place on the stage.
Abra begins using Psychic to lift him slowly off the stage. "This life in the stars is all I've ever known!" Soft pink mist fills the air and glitters courtesy of Musharna, and Sandshrew uses Swift to scatter stars around Liam as he rises. "Stars and stardust--" Servine uses Leaf Tornado, whipping the stars around before the leaves begin to shatter them into dust. "--and infinite space is my only home!" Musharna uses Moonlight to create a false moon shining above and behind Liam.
"But the moment that I hit the stage!" Liam drops, his cape trailing above him. He hits the floor at the word 'stage', at which point the floor immediately becomes a purple glowing Psychic Terrain. "Thousands of voices are calling my name!" Behind Liam, Sandshrew uses Aqua Tail to create a wave, which collides with Abra's Signal Beam to explode into a burst of refracting colors. "And I know in my heart it's been worth it all of the while." The water rains down around him a moment.
"And as my albums fly off the shelves--" Liam struts down toward front stage to reach out toward some of the folks on the front row as he passes by them. "--handing out autographed pics of myself." As he does, Sandshrew uses Swift again, and Abra uses Psychic to pull the stars into a line that follows Liam. Each time he passes someone, a star shoots off from the line over their head before dissipating. "This life I chose isn't easy but sure is one heck of a ride."
Liam turned and rushed back to center stage, turning back toward the audience and dropping to his knees. "At the moment that I hit the stage!" The Pokemon all dance around to take places around Liam again. "I hear the universe calling my name!" He gets to his feet. "And I know deep down in my heart I have nothing to fear."
Liam pulls down his bun, letting his hair flow free-- "And as the solar wind blows through my hair!" --as Sandshrew and Servine use Powder Snow and Leaf Tornado to whip winds around him, making his hair whip wildly as well. "Knowing I have so much more left to share." Abra lifts him with Psychic again, and he "flies" up in a circle around the air above the stage. "A wandering spirit who's tearing its way through the cold atmosphere."
He moves up toward the false moon from before and reaches out just in time for it to disappear. "I flyyy like a comet…" Abra moves him through the air over the stage as he sings wistfully, his glittering cape trailing behind again. "Soar like a comet..." He is dropped and lands again, this time just as the Psychic Terrain disappears. "Crash like a comet…"
Behind Liam, Sandshrew rolls into an Ice Ball, and from either side Musharna and Abra launch Signal Beam and Psybeam at it, reflecting off into many spokes of multicolored light behind Liam. And behind Sandshrew, Servine uses one last Leaf Tornado to spin the winds around the stage again, whipping at Liam's hair and cape. "I'm just a comet."
As the effects dissipate and the crowd cheers, Liam smiles and waves before he and his Pokemon exit the stage. His heart is racing, as are his thoughts at all the things he hopes went well and the things he thinks should have been better. But what will the judges think? Only time will tell.
Elise’s hands trembled ever so slightly as she waited… wait for the moment for the master of ceremonies to exit the stage and then— The note dropped. I'm coming out Twirling onto stage, she released all six Pokemon in a flash of light. I'm coming “Out!” What looked initially like a long white fitted dress spread out with her legs into a pants suit. The accents of a rainbow up her legs had been carefully folded closed but were now open and reflecting as she stepped forward onto the stage throwing her arms upwards. The inner lining of her white shoulder scarf was a rainbow. “I'm coming out.”
As the trumpets started up, her Pokemon started to move.
A Mr. Mime twirled about with a Hattrem in tow precariously holding her tassels rather than her hands off to one corner of the stage. As they got there, the Hattrem immediately shot up a Life Dew that shined in the air only to be thrown higher with a well placed Psychic. They shined high in the air before falling back as soft spurts.
A Ribombee and Sylveon holding hand-in-ribbon jogged out to the other side. As they got there, the Sylveon ‘threw’ the Ribombee up with her ribbons and the Ribombee did a somersault in the air before releasing a blast of pink Fairy Wind out against the Life Dew’s remnants sending them scattering out onto the crowd.
As Elise tight rope walked forward, it became clear a Tsareena was following in her steps. As Elise walked, she threw out a Sweet Scent whose pink hue filled the area with a lush smell. Behind her was a much shyer looking Morpeko who Sparked just a little with yellow light.
“I want the world to know / Got to let it show / I'm coming out / I want the world to know / I got to let it show.” Elise clicked her now very apparently rainbow heels to each stanza. The Tsareena twirled out from behind her and released a Magical Leaf upwards that was blown higher by a Silver Wind from the Ribombee, making the petals shine brighter and reflecting their multicolor property. As they dropped down again, they would be shattered by an Icy Wind from the Mr. Mime this time! Falling in tiny sparkly crystals, they would fall down and mix with a growing Misty Terrain provided by the Mr. Mime.
“There's a new me coming out / And I just had to live / And I want to give / I'm completely positive / I think this time around / I am gonna do it / Like you never do it / Like you never knew it / Oh, I'll make it through,” Elise sang onwards keeping her foot tapping but letting her Pokemon do the dancing. From behind her, the Morpeko seemed to peak out now and again uncertainly, the sparks in her cheeks illuminating the background more than anything.
“The time has come for me / To break out of the shell / I have to shout / That I'm coming out!” The Tsareena stepped forward and Stomped her foot to the beat. The Sylveon Copycat the move increasing the step to the beat. As the Mr. Mime set up what appeared to be Reflects and Light Screens up out on the stage, the Hattrem twirled about, grabbed the Morpeko with her tassels again and threw her out into the crowd with an almost Brutal Swing. The Morpeko flew, threw her arms out wildly for a moment, but safely landed on the Light Screen. Looking back and around, she seemed to hesitate— before immediately using Flatter making her expression as cute as possible and a couple small hand gestures to really sell it.
“I'm coming out / I want the world to know / Got to let it show / I'm coming out /I want the world to know / I got to let it show / I'm coming out / I want the world to know / Got to let it show / I'm coming out /I want the world to know /I got to let it show…” The Morpeko immediately used Power Trip to glow with Dark Energy that was accented by a well-timed Silver Wind from the Ribombee. Using a Quick Attack, she ran up over the Light Screen and Reflects.
“I've got to show the world / All that I want to be / And all my abilities / There's so much more to me / Somehow, I have to make them / Just understand / I got it well in hand / And, oh, how I've planned / I'm spreadin' love / There's no need to fear!” She climbed higher and higher! Meanwhile the Hattrem shined green with an Aromatherapy. The Ribombee and Tsareena each used Sweet Scent. As she got to the top, the Morpeko threw out her arms and then shined with Fighting power before smashing her small paws down on the screens causing them to shatter all at once. A blow of Magical Leaves helped break them into even smaller pieces.
“And I just feel so glad / Every time I hear / I'm coming out / I want the world to know / Got to let it show / I'm coming out / I want the world to know / I got to let it show!” As she fell, however, the Morpeko was hit with a bright pink Heal Pulse that made her shine bright right before she was caught by Elise! Both threw their arms upwards and gave a peace sign.
Tense wouldn’t even begin to describe what Koa was feeling right now. He paced back and forth backstage and ran his hands through his hair. Why did he sign up for this? He thought it would be a fun way to actually display his writing capabilities and even rehearsed these scenes with his Pokemon several times. He did his best to calm himself down since he was up shortly. The team he had picked out was all ready to go. Toki was dressed up in a cool blue traveler’s outfit that consisted of an eastern style robe and a satchel while the others were ready to do the stagehand business before their time to jump into the story came.
In Koa’s hands was a small script, and he was dressed finely for the occasion. A clean grey dress shirt and black slacks gave him the appearance of a professional, but deep down he was still incredibly nervous. He looked at the script and relaxed his grip a bit, showing the indents he had made on the pages. He sighed heavily and stepped out to the crowd and the spotlight.
This was going to be no dramatic dance or song number. Just...a simple story. “I am Koa Leilani, and I am proud to present a short tale to you all today. Journey to the Rainbow Bridge.” With that he gave a short bow as Toki ran up to his place upon the stage with simple cutouts displaying his current environment. He began to slowly walk along the makeshift set “We start our tale with a young Mienfoo traveler by the name of Toki. He had set out from his humble home in search of grand adventure. The search for the legendary Rainbow Bridge, a mysterious place of ever-changing location said to lead those who find it to their heart’s desire.”
Toki had a confident look and stride as he walked on ahead, but after a time started to seem tired. Weary. Koa continued “It was a long, harrowing journey, full of dangers and uncertainties. Most of all, it was lonely…”
Purple gusts of wind flew by due to a Twister from Kupuna offstage. It was a light use of the ability, made to emphasize a visual display of rough winds as the stage props changed to look like a rough mountain path. “Across high mountains he traveled...traversing dangerous cliff sides and rough terrain, Toki walked on his own.”
A little prop campfire lowered onto the stage as Toki sat down and contemplated the world. The lights dimmed to simulate nighttime. “The loneliness made the quiet nights all the more silent. Toki felt that if he brought anyone with him on this journey, he would only be wasting their time...if he could not find the Rainbow Bridge, then he did not want to disappoint them with a fruitless journey.”
The next ‘day’ Toki descended the mountain into an ominous forest. Strange, pinkish energy waved about the stage via Confuse Ray, sending Toki into a dizzy haze as he stumbled throughout the forest “The forest had a mind of its own, and Toki got lost no matter which direction he went. A dangerous situation indeed…but suddenly, a stranger approached the poor lost Mienfoo.”
A Natu hopped onto the stage and ‘spoke’ with a polite voice “My friend, I could not help but notice your struggles. Please, clear your mind and follow me, I shall bring you to safety.” Koa spoke. The duo managed to leave the forest together. “The Natu introduced himself as Janus, and Toki told him his story. Moved by his determination, Janus insisted on joining Toki in his quest despite his protests. Now, with a new companion, they continue their quest. Green forests gave way to the cold, icy blue north. Surrounded by ice, snow, and water, they brave fierce snowstorms.”
Chilling storms courtesy of Icy Wind blew from off stage as the two feigned to struggle against the breeze. Without someone to guide their path, how would they find safety? Suddenly, a Popplio jumped to the stage and with a bubbly, excited ‘voice’ called out “Hey! I’m Azura. I noticed you two needed help and I know a warm cave nearby! Come on!”
“The duo followed their new friend to a cave and started a fire. It was there when Toki started to voice his concerns…”
In a soft, melancholy voice, Toki spoke “I’m searching for the Rainbow Bridge so I can bring my friends to a place where their dreams can come true. But I’m starting to think it’s all just a myth. I don’t know what I’m doing or...if this is even worth it.”
Azura spoke up “But it’s a wonderful goal! You’re doing this to make people happy! It..sounds like you’re not really happy yourself though. We should look for it together. If you want to help others, let them help you too.”
“As Azura said these things, there was a spark of warmth in Toki’s heart. Color started to return to his world with each friendship made.” Koa narrated as the spotlights grew brighter. The landscape went from menacing to beautiful as the colors were more emphasized. “The budding party made their way past the tundra and found relief in the grassy plains ahead.”
Fluttering leafs from Razor Leaf descended down to set the scene as they walked along the beautiful, verdant path. A Drampa floated in with a Fomantis on her back. The Drampa spoke “Why hello, young ones. How nice it is to see a group of young travelers. My young friend and I are on something of a quest ourselves. May we come with you?”
Toki stepped forward “We are looking for the Rainbow Bridge. Do you know of it?”
The Drampa laughed “Oh, I know of it. It is what we are searching for as well, though it seems our search is soon to be over.”
Shocked, Toki looked up “What do you mean? Is it nearby? Do you know where it is?” He asked.
The Fomantis and the Drampa looked at each other and laughed together “It is closer than you might think, young ones. Together we will find it.”
“Thus the party grew larger. The days pass, and with the company, the world starts to seem more vibrant and beautiful. Conversations made the nights less lonely, and they all shared their dreams and aspirations. Toki began to have a thought. Even if he never found the Bridge, this journey led him to these wonderful companions he otherwise would have never met.”
“Soon, the group would hear the sound of someone crying, and rushed to see what was wrong. They would come across a small Alcremie, lost and afraid.”
Toki walked up and offered a hand “What’s the matter…? Are you lost?”
The Alcremie stood up with his help and looked away bashfully “I-I was trying to find the Rainbow Bridge. I don’t have anyone, so I thought finding it would...bring me to some friends…”
“The Alcremie’s words made Toki realize something. The legend of the Rainbow Bridge had a hidden meaning. The companionships he forged made the world brighter, more colorful than ever. There was a wondrous beauty to waking up every day alongside his precious friends. The Rainbow Bridge...was the personal path one’s heart took to find true companionship. A physical journey, or a mental one. A world all alone can seem colorless and sad...but together, even the darkest of times has that ray of hope. The promise that tomorrow will be brighter.”
Toki hugged the Alcremie. “Come with us. Our paths are connected. You don’t have to be alone anymore.”
“Overjoyed, the Alcremie joined them, and in the open plains below, the group had an idea. Through many sleepless nights they built a town on the crossroads. The verdant pastures, the azure streams, the golden sunlight, and the various hues of the flowers let them know that this place was waiting for the right people. And they named the town…”
The curtains rose up, revealing a vibrant display of color. The purples and pinks of Twister and Confusion Ray. The green leafs from Razor Leaf. The icy blue colors of Icy wind. The Alcremie used Aromatherapy, adding brighter hues to the makeshift rainbow. All of the abilities intertwined as a sweet scent drifted in the breeze. The moves were held together by the force of the others, signifying the bond the adventurers had made and were all in the shape of a rainbow. The Alcremie used Decorate to give each of the party a charm of a different color, all the colors of a rainbow.
“...Rainbow Bridge.” Koa and all of his Pokemon gathered around center stage and bowed. Koa thought his legs were going to give out and that his heart was going to stop, but he stood there confidently with a big smile. He was...proud. He was able to perform to this crowd...whether they enjoyed it or not...he was not sure. But he took a step and he was proud of it.
After a round of well-deserved applause to Koa and his team, the stage went completely dark as Sera filled time by introducing the next act while Josh and his Pokémon team were setting up for it. Four white projector screens dropped down from the ceiling - three facing the crowd, one facing the stage. Anyone in the front few rows of the crowd could hear rustling and rumbling from stage objects being moved around. As that started, a timer on the four screens began counting down from seven minutes, in its center a rainbow-colored fractal with the word "Colors" superimposed. While the song did not reference all the colors of the rainbow, Josh felt it was close enough that at least one of the judges would be impressed. The dance routine alone had been enough to impress arcade-goers back in Goldenrod.
He went over the cues with his Pokémon one last time, most of them based off colors in the song's lyrics. Once a single minute remained on the clock, all of Josh's Pokémon took their places: Saber, Aslan, and Ixion stage left; Resheph, Illumina, and Nitro stage right. Once the final minute had expired, four grey receptors appeared at the top of the screen, the song label disappearing. Once the music started, the video's perspective started diving into the fractal - a simple mathematical construct yielding endless beauty. The stage was still dark despite the piano trance melody starting.
"Feeling blue / I'm thinking of you / Oh, I was a fool / To let you walk away (walk away)" sounded a female voice as two spotlights lit up Josh's position on the stage, in time with the music's bass kick. The colors of his mostly-rainbow tie-dye shirt and shorts seemed to jump onto the stage itself, though indigo and violet were notably absent. Rainbow-colored arrows began to scroll from the bottom of the display to the top, the words - PERFORMANCE MODE - appearing at the bottom. He stayed mostly in place, using his feet to press one of four corresponding panels on a raised platform hidden from audience view thanks to the magic of perspective.
"Tears in my eyes today / Make my world the color of blue" Pairs of spotlights illuminated Josh's Pokémon one at a time, also in time with the music, with exception of Illumina. Bright flashes came from stage right, in time with the dance's first intense section. The stage looked like a rave party, except with music that was more mellow trance than full-on rave.
The lights on Josh's Pokémon dimmed halfway, giving the trainer focus as his feet tapped the hidden panels exactly matching the prominent melody. It was a quick one, too, as the on-screen routine indicated. It included the occasional turn where Josh wasn't directly facing forward, and even the occasional jump to hit two at once. Anyone not familiar with machine dance would think his feet moving with inhuman speed, which was exactly what he was banking on.
Josh fell a little behind the choreographed moves of the scrolling chart, but for the most part kept his balance. He would catch up on the break, anyway. At least one of the judges would certainly pick up on him falling slightly off beat, he felt, but he didn't let it bother him; he couldn't. Not until after his two minutes on stage were over. Once his own spotlight faded to half-intensity, he had a much easier section of the routine to catch his breath.
"Red with a twist" Aslan spewed a steady stream of Embers high above stage, arcing behind a nervous-looking Ixion. "Orange of fire" Ixion, likewise, launched a steady stream of Embers from her tail, her slightly hotter flames glowing orange underneath Aslan's red. "Green of tourmaline" From stage right, an Energy Ball grew from Nitro's horns, the Skiddo rearing and launching it in an arc below the two sets of Embers. "Yellow mellow hello, hello" A yellow Electro Ball formed at the top of Saber's fur, the electric quadruped rearing and launching it directly in between the arcs of embers and Energy Balls, forming a four-color rainbow of elemental attacks.
"Paint me a smile / I'm covered and colored with only one / Only one" Illumina began blinking her feelers like a strobe light, in time with the song's synthesized hi-hats, Josh's spotlights growing brighter as his quick moves again became the focus of the performance. He kept up this time, though he did need to outstretch his arms to keep balance. A loud whistle from a blonde in green six rows back was the catalyst for raucous applause, though it was quickly silenced by Contest staff.
"'Cause baby I'm alone / Alone without you / What am I supposed to do?" As Illumina's strobe lights ceased, all the spotlights dimmed to a quarter of their normal brightness except the ones on a depressed-looking Resheph, the Dratini floating around Josh at about waist level. The spotlight's color slowly turned to an ocean blue. When she flew around Josh and looked at the concentrating dancer's face, her frown turned upside down, joining the rest of her teammates.
"I'm alone, alone without you / I'm the color of blue!" This was it. The finale - the most intense, most difficult part of Josh's dance routine. Mentally and physically taking a deep breath, the tapping of his feet sounded like a small stampede of wild Pokémon - a six-second-long burst of ten steps per second. All of the spotlights on Josh's Pokémon started flashing blue while it lasted, Resheph launching herself alongside her own Water Pulse to complete the five-color rainbow. The green-dressed blonde in back initiated another round of raucous applause as Josh's team crowded around him, taking simultaneous bows. Josh himself was doing his best to breathe deep with a racing heart from taking on such an intense routine, especially in front of a large crowd. He eventually bowed, as well A few extra whistles came when the results screen populated, displaying a grade of "AA" as the stage went dark.
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Song: Colors //dj.TAKA Routine choreographed by: hnkul702 (Lv. 15) Pokémon: Saber the Manectric | Aslan the Litleo | Ixion the Ponyta | Nitro the Skiddo | Illumina the Chinchou | Resheph the Dratini
Last Edit: May 17, 2020 19:36:48 GMT by Josh Devlin
Backstage, Riley double checked that everyone looked properly spiffy. Hunter, her Leafeon, wore her signature Flower Crown that enabled her to use some rare and stunning moves, a key component of the performance to come, and a small pink flower ornament at the base of her tail matched it just for aesthetic. Accessories were minimal otherwise, though. Roberta the Pansage wore a red scarf, while Char the Pansear wore a green one, the two complementing one another. Riley's Cryogonal, Amped Toxtricity, and Primarina were left to their natural looks. She didn't want them to look too busy, but they had all been freshly groomed and in Cryogonal's case polished to a gleaming shine. Riley's own outfit was a bit flashy, but she hoped not too busy as well. The Ho-oh themed dress showed a fair amount of skin, but also covered a lot of places that more conventional outfits might leave bare, such as her back. The trailing tail feathers had taken some getting used to, but Riley was sure she had the hang of it now. When she was sure she was ready, she eagerly awaited her turn…
The stage was dark, lit only by the fading evening sky's light, enough to see silhouettes of figures getting into place but no solid details. All at once, the spotlight flashed onto a Primarina standing on his tail center stage as the music track began, ringing out a single word: "Life!"
The Primarina began forming an array of large sparkling bubbles to float around them. Riley stood back to back with him, and stepped out from behind him to face the audience as the song continued. "Wherever you go!" Her Leafeon partner stepped out to Primarina's other side. "Li-i-ife." The Leafeon used a colorful Sparkly Swirl to send all the bubbles spinning and flying out past the edges of the stage before each popped into a bomb of glitter. "See the colors of life!"
Riley and her Leafeon danced to either side of the stage, while Primarina 'danced' by shifting through fluid poses in place center stage. As the lyrics continued, Riley would let out her other Pokemon one by one. "See the colors of life! See the colors of dreams." Pansage and Cryogonal were let out, and Leafeon and Riley crossed paths to switch sides of the stage. "See the colors around! The colors you have found." Toxtricity and Pansear joined the fray.
"Trust in hope, trust in your real friends." Pansage and Pansear danced on either far end of the stage amid glowing musical notes created by their synced Play Nice moves. Meanwhile, Toxtricity and Cryogonal were just vibing, the prior headbanging to the beat and the latter spinning about. Riley and Leafeon danced over to Primarina, twirling about him. "Planet colors alive! You hold it in your hands." Leafeon formed a Sunny Day orb just above herself, Riley taking her hands and not quite touching it to "hold" for a moment before the two in sync threw it up in the air to hover overhead. "Realize you have to open your eyes." Riley danced out into front center stage. "And I've learned everything has always two sides." On the word "two", Pansage threw up a Seed Bomb that exploded in a burst, and on "sides" Pansear threw up a Flame Burst that did the same.
"(You're not alone.)" Precise bolts of lightning lit the stage from Toxtricity's Shock Wave, hitting where Pansage and then Pansear had just been as they danced out of harm's way and closer to the middle of the stage. "Love is the hope to survive!" Leafeon and Riley switched spots to put Leafeon front center stage as she created large energy hearts with Covet. "(You're not alone.)" Cryogonal spun upside down, facing stage left, and shot out a colorful Aurora Beam as they flipped forward to be upright and facing stage right, arcing the beam briefly overhead. Riley's hand moved up and arced with its movement in her dance as she lip synced. "See the colors of life!"
Pansage and Pansear moved back to the far ends of the stage, while the others gathered in a line in the middle. "See the colors of life! (See the colors of life!)" Pansage flung her Vine Whips in front of and behind the others across the stage to Pansear, who caught them in each hand and began spinning them with Pansage to form a "jumprope" for the others, who indeed jumped between the vines. (Or in Cryogonal's case, floated but still bobbed in time with the others.) "See the colors of dreams. (They are wild and free!)" Pansear summoned a lowkey Heat Wave that began spreading fire slowly down the vines. "See the colors around! (See the colors around!)" The flames passed the mid point, surrounding the jumping quintet. "The colors you have found. (See the colors of life!)" Just before the flames reached Pansage, she released the vines, which were flung in the air by Pansear before they disintegrated into nothingness.
"Wherever you go! (Life!)" Primarina took off into the air with an Aqua Jet, doing a few aerial flips on his way to the far side of the stage to take Pansage's place, while Pansage twirled inward toward where the others were dancing. Pansear stayed at his far edge. "Wherever you go. (Li-i-ife.)"
A sparkling pink mist began to spread out from Primarina after he landed, covering the stage steadily. "There's a land, there's a place in your heart." Riley danced about with Leafeon especially, the Pokemon jumping up and running along Riley's arms and flipping over her head and such, while the others did their own dances more to themselves. "Tolerance is the key to make a better start." Pansage produced more colorful energy notes around the dance crew with another Play Nice, and Leafeon's Copycat doubled the effect a bit higher in the air. "I've been waiting for my lessons of life! And I've learned everything has always two sides!" This time, on 'two' Primarina unleashed a pillar of water just behind the dancers, and on 'sides' Pansear's pillar of fire came down in the same spot, evaporating it rapidly. A thin layer of mist covered the air while the thicker pink Misty Terrain still covered the floor, but the Pledges also formed a large arcing rainbow overhead, with one end at each far-side-stage Pokemon.
"You're not alone. Love is the hope to survive! You're not alone." Across these lyrics, Primarina would form more bubbles with Sparkling Aria, and Leafeon would use her Bouncy Bubble to manipulate them, pulling them all around the stage in fancy patterns under the rainbow. After the second 'you're not alone', there was a brief pause where everyone and everything stopped. Even the Sunny Day from the beginning fizzled out around this time.
A distant chorus of voices then counted down. "3… 2… 1…"
Cryogonal froze all the bubbles with an Icy Wind-- "See the colors of life!" --and the frozen bubbles were all shot with a Discharge by Toxtricity, turning them all into glittering snow, and more than that! The charged particles mixed with the extreme cold to create a large aurora effect overhead, just as the rainbow was starting to fade, taking its place.
"See the colors of life! (See the colors of life!)" All seven participants began dancing around on stage. "See the colors of dreams. (They are wild and free!)" Pansear shot up some "fireworks" with Flame Burst. "See the colors around! (See the colors around!)" Pansage followed it up with another Seed Bomb firework. "The colors you have found. (See the colors of life!)" Cryogonal did another arcing Aurora Beam, this time in the opposite direction, to keep the air cold enough to maintain the aurora overhead.
"See! The colors of life! (Baby!) The colors of dreams! The colors of li-i-ife! (Wherever you go!)" The Misty Terrain was beginning to fade, so Primarina renewed it. Toxtricity flashed a few Shock Waves through the air above, and Leafeon sent out colorful Magical Leaves to dance around and between the bolts, through the aurora.
"The colors of life! The colors of dreams! (Wherever you may go!) The colors of li-i-ife!" Pansage and Primarina used their Grass and Water Pledges to fill the stage beneath the mist with a thin swampy layer. Everyone jumped up as Cryogonal spun down with an Aurora Beam to freeze it solid, providing a thin coating of ice that everyone began to skate around.
"Wherever you go! (Life!) See the colors of life. (Li-i-ife.)" While most of the Pokemon simply skated in a circle, Riley and her Leafeon were just as nimble dancers on ice as on land, and took focus for the moment showing off their moves. At one point, Riley did a spin, and Leafeon threw a Sparkly Swirl around her to add to the colorful effects, clear some of the Misty Terrain immediately around Riley, and prolong her spin by several rotations, her long feathery tail lifted by the spin.
"You see the colors of life. (You're not alone!)" Primarina took center stage now as Riley and Leafeon moved out of the way. "The world is one family. (You're not alone.)" Riley's wrist began to glow, and Primarina stood. "Find your way to be free! (You're not alone.)" Riley and Primarina moved through a wave-like motion in unison. "Love is the hope to survive. (You're not alone.) You see the colors of life!" The remaining mist and the general moisture in the air all began getting pulled into one bubble above Primarina's head.
"See the colors of life! (See the colors of life!)" The bubble grew, and as they skated, Pansear began softly pouring out his Heat Wave, which didn't stick long at any point, but made a little flickering fire in his wake and melted some of the ice to add to the bubble. See the colors of dreams. (They are wild and free!)" Leafeon skidded to a stop behind Primarina, and began gathering her own form of energy in the form of a bright light that refracted through the growing orb of water. "See the colors around! (See the colors around!)" Everyone else took places on either side of the two center stage Pokemon, save for Riley who danced in front of Primarina to keep the symmetry of the stage. "The colors you have found. (See the colors of life!)"
By this point, the Oceanic Operetta was nearly as wide as the stage, but Primarina did not let out his final note to complete the move, instead letting it hover and continue to serve as a prism for Leafeon's growing light. "See! The colors of life! (Baby!) The colors of dreams! The colors of li-i-ife! (Wherever you go!)" Finally, Leafeon had gathered enough light, and a massive Solar Blade cut down through the bubble to pop it, exploding into a million sparkles and mini rainbows all around the stage as fragments of light and water mixed.
"The colors of life! The colors of dreams! (Oh ho ho!) The colors of li-i-ife!" Everyone danced into place and struck a pose for the final line. "You see the colors of life!" At that 'life', all went perfectly still, and a moment later the lights faded once again before the audience erupted into applause.
Riley was thrilled. That had gone at least as well as she'd hoped, and maybe better. Now to wait and see what the judges would think.
Post by Elliot Sunderland on May 19, 2020 3:02:59 GMT
The curtains parted on the showcase stage, revealing only blackness behind them. Were it not for the melody of a violin string drifting through the darkness, it'd be easy to think that today's competitor hadn't even shown up. Yet as the violin's high note continued to soar through the air, an unexpected accompaniment made it clear that this performance was just getting started:
A spotlight shone down on a boy and his hoodie-wearing Ralts, the two sitting back to back with banjos in hand. They mimed strumming along to the simple, repetitive chords that started the song, alone in the darkness were it not for each other. Members of the audience not familiar with the musical stylings of Kermit the Frog might have been confused as to what such a muted start had to do with rainbows, but before it could drag on for too long Elliot began to sing.
"Why are there so many songs about rainbows, and what's on the other side?"
He was singing, too. Unlike most of the performers who chose to actually take their songs on stage, he wasn't a professional singer. His voice, while soft and melodic, was also raw and unformed. Perhaps if in his youth had he joined a chorus group or taken proper vocal classes it would have matured into something truly beautiful. As is, some of his notes hit in the wrong places, his singing was a little too quiet, and his voice quivered with the tension of someone who didn't know to breathe from the diaphragm. Nevertheless, there was an almost endearing quality to these imperfections.
As he sung, Echo flung a hand into the air. A shimmering ball of Life Dew drifted from her palm, drifting above the duo before dissipating into mist. The spotlight shining through the mist left a small, fragile rainbow floating over their heads.
"Rainbows are visions. They're only illusions, and rainbows have nothing to hide." Just as easily as the rainbow came, it faded. In its absence, the darkness of the stage stuck out all the more. Despite this, the violins in the backing track continued to soar upwards, and a soft smile spread across Elliot's face. It was a rather bittersweet note, but not one Elliot was content to leave there.
"So we've been told and some chose to believe it. But I know they're wrong, wait and see." The audience would, in fact, get to see! Elliot moved his legs slightly to the side, giving room for another Pokemon to emerge. It was Vivi, the Eevee's fur immaculately groomed and her flower crown full of multicolored blooms. As she pranced onto the scene she stood right in the center of the spotlight, her fur taking on a soft glow. The Glitzy Glow left sparkles shimmering around her, each a different color from the last.
"Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection; the lovers-"
Elliot's Gothorita, Reverb, approached from the darkness. He offered Echo his hand, the Ralts taking it with a smile on her face. In a single, smooth motion he spun her away into the distance, multicolored Magical Leaves trailing in her wake.
"-The dreamers-"
Vivi did a little flip into the air, releasing the energy of her Glitzy Glow and perching on Elliot's shoulder. Sparkles rained down on Elliot as he continued to strum along.
"-and me!"
Who said that every wish would be heard and answered when wished on the morning star?" One of the spotlights descended from the ceiling, revealing that they weren't a spotlight at all! They were a Pokemon! It was Elliot's Starmie, HYAH!, their illuminate ability leaving them as radiant as the real stars in the sky. They swayed back and forth to the beat in an almost hypnotic pattern.
"Somebody thought of that, and someone believed it. Look what it's done so far!" At her cue, Echo twirled back across the stage, leaving afterimages in her wake. Each of these Double Teams was a little bit larger than the rest. The first one was a very small Echo, almost infantile, pretty much tripping over her feet. The next Echo looked just as small in her oversized hoodie, the garment trailing behind her as if it was a flowing dress. Her head was down shyly as she walked, hands captured in mid-twiddle. The third Echo was a head taller and walking rather normally, a contented smile spreading across her face. They stood, frozen in place to capture how far she had come along her journey. With a graceful leap through the air, Echo herself took the fourth position in line; graceful, energetic, and beaming from ear to ear. She pirouetted as she landed, once more drifting to the edge of the stage.
"What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing? And what do we think we might see?" HYAH!'s points spun, a star gathering at each one before shooting off into the distance. Each Swift sailed high above the crowd, dropping stardust over their heads, before looping in the air to return to HYAH!'s side. From there, they popped like little, star-shaped fireworks, Echo's doubles fading beneath their light. The stage that was once so dark was getting brighter and brighter with each Pokemon and technique debuting on it, just as Elliot's song grew more hopeful with each lyric.
"Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection; the lovers-" Again, Echo and Reverb spun towards each other, leaving swirling in the space between them. Vivi turned to face them, her fur taking on a strange glow. With Echo's Magical Leaf and Vivi's Helping Hand, the pile was large and easy to manipulate. Echo and Reverb took hands, leaning away from one another and extending a hand back. The leaves shifted into a similar pair of poses, except instead looking like the silhouettes of a Gardevoir and a Gothitelle.
"-the dreamers-" As they spun away from each other, Vivi hopped into their place. The leaves changed shape once more, first resembling what was probably an Eeveelution of shorts. Yet, which Eeveelution was it supposed to be? Its features were so ambiguous that it could have been any of them! She sat still, dignified and poised, as the "Eevee's" eyes glowed behind her.
"-and me." Elliot turned and looked back towards the leaves, which glowed every color of the rainbow as they swirled around one another. Unlike Echo, Reverb, and Vivi, Elliot didn't have such a clear-cut future that he could see in the starlight. Yet as he looked towards the shimmering ball of uncertainty and leaves, he couldn't help but smile. Maybe that unclear potential was a reward in its own right.
"All of us under its spell . . . we know it's probably magic!" At this line, something incredible happened. A whirl of rainbow-colored energy rose up through the darkness, swaddling around the ball of leaves like a precious egg being protected. The rainbow swirl lit up the entire stage, freeing it from any last bits of darkness.
"Have you been half asleep, and have you heard voice? I've heard them calling my name." Echo, Reverb, Vivi, and HYAH! looked towards the swirl, pensively exchanging glances, before nodding at one another. Hand in hand, they dove into the rainbow, leaving Elliot all by his lonesome.
"Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors? The voice might be one and the same." A new figure rose from the center of the whirlpool; Elliot's Cloyster, Murex. Her Aurora Beam and Whirlpool must have combined together to create this breathtaking visual. Like a pair of sirens on the rocks, Echo and Reverb stood atop her shell. They harmonized with Elliot's voice on these lines, Echo's Lucky Chant taking his imperfections and elevating it into something truly beautiful. As they sang, Vivi and HYAH! emerged at the rim of the rainbow swirl. A combination of their Glitzy Glow and Illuminate highlighted it, their spiraling movement drawing attention to the singing Psychic types that sat between them.
"I've heard it too many times to ignore it. It's something that I'm s'pposed to be." For the first time this showcase, Elliot stood. He gingerly set the banjo down, walking towards the rainbow to take his own place within it. However, before he could, something miraculous happened. Echo's dress swished, Vivi's eyes glowed, and the nexus of leaves rose out from the center of the whirlpool. This time, Echo reached out to touch it, her touch causing the leaves to ignite into a blaze. The lip of the whirlpool ebbed upwards, blocking the burning leaves from the audience's view.
It would be quite the surprise, then, when the flaming leaves burst out from the center of the whirlpool. If the avian shape they took wasn't clear enough, the mixture of vivid orange flame and rainbow-colored psychic force that made up its body would be dead giveaways. The Magical Leaves had shaped into a silhouette of the rainbow legendary itself, Ho-Oh. The whirlpool ebbed away to nothing, leaving the audience free to focus their attention on this tribute to Ho-Oh. "Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection; the lovers, the dreamers, and me." Elliot and his team simply sat back and watched as the Ho-Oh flew above the stage, dropping leaves with each wingbeat as if they were rainbow-colored feathers.
The song started to trail off, and with it the lights onstage turned off one by one. The Ho-Oh made a few loops overhead, then turned to "fly" towards the ceiling. The Mystical Leaves burned all the while, shrinking the Ho-Oh with each second. It was as if Elliot was trying to give the illusion of it flying into the distance.
It twinkled one last time, like a star high in the sky, before fading away.
For a few seconds, the stage was silent and dark. Then the spotlights came back on, revealing Elliot and his team holding hands. They took a deep, long bow for the audience. When he stood back up, tears of happiness gathered at the corners of Elliot's eyes. "Thank you all so much for coming!" he said, adjusting his chest microphone so everyone could hear him. "Please, keep enjoying the rest of tonight's performances!"
Post by Elizabeth Waters on May 21, 2020 7:32:49 GMT
Elizabeth was not what one would call 'showcase material'. The young woman had no experience in singing or dancing of any kind. Really why the ranger had decided to give this event a shot even she wasn't entirely sure, something about the importance of being out of one's comfort zone and gaining new perspective with differing experiences, and so on and so forth.
So for whatever reason, Liz and her team found themselves waiting backstage for their name to be called. Honestly the group was probably in over their heads. Still hopefully they could manage pull off a decent show. Waiting was always the hard part, the anticipation alone could practically give one a heart attack. The ranger was lucky she knew some meditation techniques to keep herself calm. Cheers and applause burst from the crowd as the previous performer completed their routine and then the announcement came and it was time.
Elizabeth sucked in a deep breath and let it out slow. Darkness covered the stage shielding her and her team from the crowd for the moment as they got into position. The chosen song was perhaps a bit dated but it was a classic, well at least to some. From the darkness the gentle strum of a ukulele poured out setting the tone for the rest of the performance.
"Somewhere over the rainbow... way up high..."
Suddenly the sound of rainfall could be heard rippling across the stage. At the very back of the stage, the faint outline of Drago the gyarados could be seen swaying back and forth in time to the music as he unleashed Rain Dance upon the stage. A single spotlight appeared shining on stage left, illuminating Liz standing in the fresh downpour with Raya the lucario at her side sharing an umbrella.
"And the dreams that you dreamed of once in a lullaby..."
The ranger was dressed simply in a standard, white rain coat over a sky-blue tee bearing an image of a ho-oh, flying across her chest with a rainbow trailing behind it. Black jeans and bright red rain boots made up the rest of her outfit. In her hand she held over her head a multicolored umbrella. Both she and the lucario had their heads bowed gazing at the floor appearing quite forlorn.
"Somewhere over the rainbow... blue birds fly..."
Damara the dartrix flitted overhead across the stage twisting in a corkscrew as she flew and spinning the purple energy from Ominous Wind around her body. Not a 'blue bird' per say but the turquoise owl would do in a pinch. She continued to dip, bob and weave, dancing through the rain. Both Liz and Raya turned as one to gaze upward at the dancing owl watching her progress through the air.
"And the dreams that you've dreamed of, dreams really do come true..."
Liz and Raya began walking across the stage in the rain following after Damara. When they'd reached about center stage, Damara suddenly doubled back and blasted them with the Ominous Wind blowing the umbrella out of the ranger's hands and across the stage. The rain caught up in the wind and now the ranger and lucario were running back across the stage chasing the umbrella.
"Someday I'll wish upon a star, wake up where the clouds are far behind me..."
Damara lapped the pair and blasted the umbrella back the other way, forcing Liz and Raya to change direction. The stage appeared in turmoil with the wind and rain fighting against the central pair on stage. The music continued, picking up a little in pace.
"Where trouble melts like lemon drops, high above the chimney tops thats where you'll find me..."
The back and forth of chasing the umbrella continued for a bit when suddenly several Thunderbolts flashed through the rain striking the stage. Drago let out a bellowing roar nearly causing the set to tremble. It looked like Liz and Raya were battling through a full on torrential storm.
"Somewhere over the rainbow... blue birds fly..."
The music began to change and something white flashed briefly passed the drenched and windswept trainer. Moving with great Agility, Violet the galarian rapidash suddenly appeared amidst the raging storm like a gleaming beacon of hope. She galloped to center stage and reared turning to look to Elizabeth and Raya.
"And the dream that you dare to, why, oh why, can't I?"
The ranger and lucario hurried toward her, narrowly being missed by another of Drago's Thunderbolts. Both scrambled onto the rapidash's back and she cantered away, circling the stage, her purple and blue mane and tail streaming behind her. Damara followed after them, swooping and diving to the music.
"Well I see trees of green and red roses too..."
Suddenly a trapdoor opened beneath center stage and a large blossom began rising up from the stage depths. Tansy the venusaur appeared and threw back her head giving a deep 'Saur!' She slammed a heavy foot down on the stage and suddenly massive, tree like vines erupted from the stage courtesy of Frenzy Plant.
"I'll watch them bloom for, me and you, and I'll think to myself"
Tansy closed her eyes and dipped her head as waves of soft green energy poured from her and filled the stage. Grassy Terrain completely transformed the drenched stage into a brilliant pool of life. The rain had slowed from the torrential downpour to more of what you'd find on a spring day.
"What a wonderful world!"
Violet pranced over to Tansy's side tossing her mane and stepping in rhythm with the music. Liz and Raya slid off the rapidash and stood on either side of the venusaur marveling as the 'world' around them continued to change. Damara came and landed on the large flower to preen herself. Tansy then whipped up a blast of Petal Blizzard filling the whole stage with blossoms.
"Well I see skies of blue and I see clouds of white and the brightness of day..."
The bloom on Tansy's back now began to glow and a fiery energy like the sun poured out and rose up above them. The rain now faded completely and the brightness of Sunny Day washed over all on stage. The feel of the stage changed with the brightness of the sun and Liz shed her rain coat and kicked off her rain boots. She looked from Raya to Violet then back to Tansy, Damara and even Drago who was still lurking at the back of the stage.
"I like the dark and I think to myself, What a wonderful world!"
The entire stage was transformed from that terrible storm into a beautiful garden teaming with life. Now everyone began to sway to the music and Liz and Raya clapped their hands over their heads matching the song's rhythm. The simple 'dance' wasn't anything fancy, Violet continued to prance in place tossing her mane every so often while Damara was lazily flying circles over them, still swooping up and down in graceful arcs, all in time with the ukulele.
"Somewhere over the rainbow... blue birds fly..."
Now Raya created a ball of blue energy between her hands, holding the Aura Sphere until it grew to a massive size. She gave the ball a heave and tossed it straight upward above them. Tansy's bloom had also been gathering energy and a burst of Solar Beam shot out from the blossom striking the Aura Sphere with precision. This caused the brilliant blue ball to burst and send a shower of shimmering blue and green sparks down around them.
"And the dream that you dare to, why, oh why, can't I?"
Finally from stage right Kirsi the frosmoth appeared darting high above them all. The moth flitted to center stage, directly above Tansy then released an Aurora Beam just as she dropped down toward stage left. She then circled around, the Aurora Beam following her until she'd completed a full, rainbowish circle that encompassed the group from behind.
Liz and Raya now drew together and clasped arms across one another's shoulders over Tansy's head as Damara landed on Liz's right shoulder and Kirsi on Raya's left. Violet reared up on her hind legs still positioned to Liz's right and Drago leaned in dropping his face down to Raya's left. The music slowly faded and the air still shimmered with the burst from Aura Sphere and Solar Beam plus the Aurora rainbow still glimmered brightly behind them all.
"Well... that was probably the most terrifying thing we've ever done... but we did it, excellent job guys."
The psychic ranger's thoughts connected with all her team present and her pride in them could easily be felt in that mental bond. They all grinned and gave modest bows as the audience applauded and they were dismissed from the stage. Now to see what the judges thought, though Liz wasn't expecting much, after all performing wasn't her thing and most of the performance had been... messy. Still they'd done it and now had a new experience to look back on, and well, it was actually kind of fun.
[attr="class","curragepost"] Calliope was not okay. Her palms were sweating, knees weak, arms heavy. She felt dizzy. There were too many people here. Too many eyes. And all the entries had been so good! Elise was as flawless as ever, and how was she supposed to follow up something like Elliot's flying Ho-oh motif!? She couldn't do this… She shouldn't do this! In fact, she hadn't told any of her girls, just in case exactly this happened and she chickened out. So the only person she'd disappoint was Elliot, and maybe a little bit herself. That was fine! She could live with that! She could just--
"Brio?" Pudding's small voice pulled her out of her panic enough to momentarily ground her in the moment again, and she saw the concerned way her Poikemon were looking at her. … Right. If she quit now, it wasn't just two humans she'd disappoint, but six Pokemon who had worked so hard to get ready. Could she really do that to them…? Callie bit her lip, then forced herself through some deep breathing exercises. Okay… Okay, this was just like she and Elliot had talked about, right? Just one little stand-alone performance, just to see how bad it would really be, and if she didn't like it she never had to do anything like it ever again. No pressure to continue, no contractual obligation, just… Breathe in deeeeeeeep… breathe out…
With the stage cleared from the previous performance, the night was growing ever darker, having faded from sunset to dusk now. A small silhouette wobbled out onto stage in the dark as a soft piano track began to play. Rather than flash on, a spotlight faded in on the figure, a lone Brionne. She continued to come forward on the stage as the piano continued, until finally stopping and beginning to lip sync along as the lyrics began. Backstage, out of sight, Callie herself provided said lyrics.
"It's another day to fight the fray, my heart is soaring… To find the way toward the stage won't come easily… Troubled waves, spirits decay, their words are daunting…" At this, a massive Purrloin raced out on stage on all fours and began to circle the Brionne with a Dark Pulse, and the Brionne cowered a moment before filling with resolve. "But they cannot create what I will be…!" She used an Aqua Jet to dart out just before the Dark Pulse could cocoon fully around her, and landed a little further toward the front of the stage just as the dark cocoon imploded in on itself and burst into dark 'sparkles'.
"They laugh at me, throw taunts at me." The stage began to darken all over as bright ghosts and pumpkin faces appeared all around. "One look at me, and they misjudge what they see." The Trick-or-Treat illusions closed in, but the Brionne rejected them all, blowing them away with an Icy Wind that glittered against the darkness. "But I can only decide what I will be…!"
Four more Pokemon stepped out on stage: the Gourgeist responsible for the Trick-or-Treat, a Ninetales, a Swirlix, and a Pikachu. All the Pokemon except Brionne were decorated in some kind of ribbons or lace or bows, a different single color of the rainbow to each Pokemon, but Pikachu was decorated most in a full pink dress.
"I'll be your sky, and your fire." As the Pokemon spread out, Brionne continued to emphasize 'her' words with her flippers as she lip synced, while Ninetales arced a Flamethrower over the stage and from the opposite end the Purrloin used Copycat to produce her own Flamethrower, arcing up to meet Ninetales' in the middle. "And I will go much higher. I'll stand up to the lightning!" Pikachu spun about and formed an Electro Ball on her tail, flinging it toward Brionne, but Brionne Aqua Jetted up out of the way just as it hit the stage below. "It's time to turn the tide." She had Aqua Jetted to just below the center of the Flamethrower, and now shot a Water Gun up to split off to either side and extinguish the flames, forming a rainbow over the stage in their place. "At least I will try."
Brionne lighted back down to the stage, her frills flaring and slowing her fall slightly. "I will be Legendary! I will shine in your eyes." Purrloin filled the air behind Brionne with Dark Pulse, and Brionne slowly let out a swirling Icy Wind to fill the black canvas with 'stars'. "And you'll see that I'm worthy to be in your spotlight." Gourgeist used Moonblast to create a brightly glowing false moon, a small rainbow halo around it, and lifted it up in the blackness to serve as Brionne's spotlight before it burst into more glittering stars.
"Spooootliiiight…" The Pokemon hadn't done a whole lot so far, and this performance was probably feeling a bit slow and amateurish, but Callie knew this front half had been a warm-up, and was now panicking about the 'real' performance starting. But it was too late to back out now. The piano faded away, and she sang "Step in the liiiight…" as she did indeed step out from backstage, wearing a long rainbow dress and with her hair worn down for a change. Meanwhile, a much more upbeat track began to play.
For a moment, she almost froze just imagining the size of the crowd she couldn't actually see due to the stage lights, but she forced herself to look to her Pokemon instead. Right. Focus on them! This was just like practice. She was just having fun with her friends! Right? No??? Well she was gonna pretend it was anyway!!!
"I can face the rain, get through the pain, my soul is burning!" The Ninetales and Purrloin used Flamethrowers again, this time colliding in a much quicker burst of fire behind Callie as she came forward on the stage. "I was once afraid, hid in the shade, changing what's me." Gourgeist's shadow extended behind Callie and flared up into a giant monstrous form that she cowered from. "I was falling under, scared of the thunder, from their taunting." Pikachu's Thundershock came down in small bolts around her as the shadow continued to loom. "But they should not affect who I will be!" At that, she rose, and Brionne leapt over with a pink pulse of Disarming Voice to dispel the shadow before leaping into Callie's arms.
She spun about with her. "I'm not afraid, I'm proud of my name." Swirlix and Pikachu danced around with a pair of Play Nice attacks to create colorful energy music notes. Seeing this, Ninetales engulfed and covered them all with a Fire Spin. "I'm not the same, I can drown their spiteful flames!" Callie spun around, and Brionne let out Water Gun from her place in her arms, not only extinguishing the fire tornado but replacing it with multiple rings of rainbow around Callie and the three nearby Pokemon.
"I'll aim to win, not wallow within the lie… that I've been!" Callie was actually feeling less nervous by this point, focusing fully on having fun and keeping her dance steps. She danced around the stage, seeming to 'befriend' each of her other Pokemon as she passed and they followed her.
"I'll be your sky, and your fire!" Fire Spin tried to engulf her and Brionne again, but this time they jumped out of the way, standing triumphantly in front of the fire tornado. "And I will go much higher!" Callie tossed Brionne into the air, and the Pokemon did a flip before coming back down to be caught and spun with again. "I'll stand up to the lightning!" Two more Electro Balls were shot in close succession, hitting the stage just where Callie's feet had been on 'light' and 'ning' as she danced out of the way. "It's time to turn the tide."
Ninetales fanned out his tails toward the audience and judges like a peacock, and used Extrasensory, creating a rippling psychic aurora of energy around each tail tip one by one. "I will be Legendary! I will shine in your eyes." The rippling masses of energy were sent flying forward, but Callie and Brionne danced out of the way of each one, just in time for each one to dissipate into a brief glitter that accentuated her movements. "And you'll see that I'm worthy to be in your spotlight!" Swirlix used a blinding Dazzling Gleam with Purrloin's help to make it twice as bright, and in the moment it took for everyone to be able to see again Brionne had jumped down out of Callie's arms.
All six Pokemon danced about with Callie as a few beats pounded out. "Step in the liiiight." Gourgeist raised another Moonblast overhead to shine down on them. "Oh I will step into the spotlight…!" Pikachu used Thundershock on the moon, and it erupted into gold and silver sparks and sparkles. Everyone shifted a bit sharply on a sharp drum beat before continuing to dance fluidly.
"Step in the light… In your spotlight." Gourgeist used Confuse Ray, with Purrloin copying it, and a rainbow of colorful orbs swirled around the stage. "Step into the spotlight… Oh I will!" This was it, Callie. The big finale! Don't blow it!
"I'll be your sky and your fire!" Fire Spin started to wrap around her again. "And I will go much higher!" But this time, Swirlix used Fairy Wind inside the tornadic fire to create a more traditional if colorful tornado that blew the fire away and lifted Callie up into the air. "I'll stand up to the lightning!" Pikachu and Purrloin used Electro Ball, and the golden orbs zipped by Callie close enough for their static to briefly flare out her hair without quite touching or harming her. "It's time to turn the tide!" Just as the Fairy Wind faded and Callie started to fall back down, Brionne Aqua Jetted up beneath her, and she and Callie grabbed hold of each other as the pair was propelled to the rafter above the stage, landing on it.
From here, the stage lights were less bright for a moment, and she got a brief glimpse of the crowd. Her heart nearly stopped, but she told herself she couldn't stop this close to the end, and only barely faltered. "I--I am not ordinary!" Ninetales and Purrloin shot Flamethrowers at each other below, creating a raging line of fire. "I will be only me." Swirlix and Pikachu danced around in front with more Play Nice attacks, and Gourgeist added Confuse Ray's colorful orbs to the energy music notes. "And you'll see that I'm worthy to be!" Callie held Brionne tight as the Pokemon Aqua Jetted back down toward the stage, right into the fire. This time the water fully coated herself and Callie, whose hair was too thick to fully soak with such brief exposure but who'd definitely come out of this looking rather wet.
"In your spotli-i-ight!" Just as they entered the flames, coated by water enough to be protected, Brionne released the Aqua Jet and spewed out her best Water Gun to slow the end of their fall and extinguish the line of flames down either side. This formed a rainbow in the center where they had collided as well as one on either side where the flamethrowers had been. Under the rainbows, Callie's Pokemon let the colorful notes and orbs burst all at once, and the party and trainer struck a finishing pose together.
The crowd erupted in applause, and Callie was suddenly grounded once again, pulled off her performance high. Holy crap she actually made it through, but now it really sank in and she squeaked as she heard how big this crowd must really be. Brionne had to poke her with a flipper to unfreeze her, and Callie reflexively bowed to the crowd before scooping up her Swirlix and darting off stage to go hide and cool down.
Levy had practiced a lot for this, but even her heartbeat was quite prominent in her ears. It was one thing to be on a small stage with the other Pixie girls, but this was different. This wasn't a routine that they had worked on together, she wasn't going on stage with her friends. This was her own original routine that she had planned out from start to finish. If she didn't do as well as she was hoping, then it was all on her. The music, the dancing, this was all her.
And this was also a big milestone for Levy's own personal growth. The nerves that she usually got thinking about the spotlight being solely on her were more muted than usual. Blue eyes closed, Levy taking in a deep breath. She wasn't about to go on the largest stage she had been on in her life. This was just her living room, and she was just about to show off for Elliot. Yes, that was a much happier train of thought.
"And now, Levy Santos everyone!" Serafeyna declared, a brief pause before the stage darkened. It was show time.
Spotlights sparked on, lighting up a trail to the front of the stage. At the very end was a figure that was hidden behind an open rainbow colored umbrella. All that could be seen of the girl was her denim covered legs, and the very top of her head. Then the music started, and she began stepping forward to the beat, umbrella spinning slowly one way, then the other with each step.
"I'm unwritten, can't read my mind. I'm undefined." Levy's voice came forth as she sang smoothly while she continued her walk to the front of the stage. "I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand. Ending unplanned." Now the umbrella stopped spinning, and then shut to finally reveal the girl, and the two young Pokemon that were sitting on her shoulders. Blue hair done up in a simple ponytail, a lock loose on either side to frame her face. Her midriff was being shown off by her rainbow tie dyed halter top. There was a scarf tied around her waist, it was a medium shade of blue, but faded to first purple and then pink. Scarves with the same color were tied around the Togetic's neck and over half of the Dedenne's head. A singular ear exposed. Both of them hopped down, all three posed the same way with their arms out and palms facing upwards.
"Staring at the blank page before you. Open up the dirty window." Arms parted as if inviting the audience into an embrace. The trio of feet tapping the beat to the music. "Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find."
"Reaching for something in the distance, so close you can almost taste it. Release your inhibitions." Her free hand that had been reaching up toward the ceiling came back down to her chest with a forced pause of the music. Levy grinned knowingly, opening the umbrella again and holding it over her shoulder. Her Pokemon had worked their way behind her as they danced, and now Decibel could let off her Thundershock which acted like a clap of thunder, Harmony summoned up a Fairy Wind which began to tousle Levy's hair and blow against their scarves. But from off stage, the Alomomola that was hidden summoned up clouds, and just like that, it gently began to rain because of the Rain Dance.
Then the music started up again.
"Feel the rain on your skin! No one else can feel it for you, only you can let it in!" Levy sang, holding the umbrella up high and twirling it as she brought it down. She treated it like a cane as she spun it around by the handle, dipping and twirling it as she flipped it back and forth between her hands.
"No one else, no one else can speak the words on your lips." Levy couldn't help it, she blew the audience a kiss, Harmony and Decibel Charming as well to accentuate the lyrics.
"Drench yourself in words unspoken. Live your life with arms wide open." The umbrella was snapped closed, Levy not caring how wet she may have gotten as she spun on the spot, arms wide open as a wave from Tacet's Water Sport aided by Harmony's Life Dew flooded the front of the stage.
"Today is where you book begins, the rest is still unwritten." A smiling Levy pointed the umbrella to the audience as she caught her breath. "I break tradition. Sometimes my tries are outside the lines. Oh yeah."
"We've been conditioned to not make mistakes. But I can't live that way!" Her enthusiasm behind the words was clear as she used her foot to kick up a bunch of water, Decibel helping with a Tail Whip and sweeping up the water with it. Another Fairy Wind from Harmony picking up the water and making it shimmer and glitter in the spotlights.
"Staring at the blank page before you, open up the dirty window. Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find." Decibel let off another Thundershock, hitting the spotlights with it and brightening them. Some of them even sparking a little with the extra jolt.
"Reaching for something in the distance, so close you can almost taste it! Release your inhibitions!" This time the umbrella snapped open for the last time, Harmony hidden behind Levy as he whipped up the strongest Fairy Wind he could manage. And then Levy let go, the wind taking the umbrella leaving with it and now Levy was totally unprotected under the renewed downpour.
"Feel the rain on your skin! No one else can feel it for you. Only you can let it in." Pokemon and trainer both stood with their arms open wide with their faces upwards to let the rain patter gently onto their faces as they spun slowly.
"No one else, no one else can speak the words on your lips." Levy winked as her fingers tapped her lips, her arms swinging joyously side to side, snapping with the beat now that she was freed from her umbrella. Her Pokemon mimicking her arm motions though they were just out of sync.
"Drench yourself in words unspoken, live your life with arms wide open. Today is where your book begins. Feel the rain on your skin, no one else can feel it for you. Only you can let it in. No one else, no one else can speak the words on your lips." The trio was now getting assaulted by wave after wave of water as they circled each other. They kicked and splashed as Levy sang, her headset bouncing with the movements. "Drench yourself in words unspoken. Live your life with arms wide open. Today is where your book begins. The rest is still unwritten." The Pokemon were picked up, and Levy gave them all a good spin, bending down as she did so they slid towards the audience and splashing water that at the angle really caught the lights.
And now Levy let her voice trail off, letting the song do the rest of the singing for her. Her scarf was untied from her waist, Harmony and Decibel removing theirs as well. And what one may have thought was just one layer, had actually been two and the scarves were double their length now that they were freed.
They weren't as long as Levy would have liked, but they would still work for their purpose. Feet began tapping to the beat, Levy and her mons held one of the ends like a ribbon, and with one hand on their hips they began weaving the scarves through the air to the beat of the song and their feet. The scarves looped through the air under their guidance in small spirals and loops, gradually growing into bigger and bigger arcs, bodies dipping forward and leaning backwards. Forwards again, letting only the very tip dip into the water that was then trailed through the air.
Hands above their heads they swirled the ribbon over their bodies as they circled each other, growing closer and closer until Harmony was giving his scarf to Levy. And now the girl was dancing with just her Dedenne, Levy waving the scarves through the air on either side of her while Harmony added some Life Dew mist behind them that really sparkled and caught the light to shimmer a blue green. The dance grew more vigorous, the Dedenne and trainer moving the scarves faster and faster, spinning about each other in an intricate dance while the pink Fairy Wind shimmered about them, whipping up water into a fine multicolored mist that they danced through. The duo parted, only to leap towards each other, the wind really touseling the scarves and making them ripple.
The borrowed scarf was tossed upwards, Harmony easily flying from the rear of the stage to grab it and land beside Decibel.
"The rest is still unwritten." Levy finally started singing again, her voice growing softer as the song faded away. The movements of the scarves that they arched through the air grew slower as the song drew to an end.
"The rest is still unwritten." She finished, breathing deeply as they struck their final pose. Tacet finally bursting forth from the back with an Aqua Jet, the waves the move creating bursting to the sides to frame the trio as they struck a pose. Legs parted, arms in front of them with both hands holding one end of the scarves before letting the fabric unfold fully to show off the swirled design of the blue, purple and pink dyed fabric.
Last Edit: May 25, 2020 15:55:44 GMT by Levy Santos
Post by Sidney Ridley on May 24, 2020 15:43:09 GMT
Sidney knew they had no chance to place in a showcase. They knew this going in and was sure of this the more performances went by. But they had already steeled themselves to their convictions— or at least steeled the persona they needed for these convictions. It was going to be fun. They were sure of it.
The drums rumbled in an excitable opening. Sid walked out onto the stage with their hands in the orange pockets of a familiar orange track suit. As they turned around to face the crowd, head still down, a particular headband of Konaha origin reflected briefly before the electric guitar started and they looked up with a flash of a smile suddenly extending both arms and enlarging six Pokeballs: three in each hand.
They tossed them right up and out as the song started. We are Fighting Dreamers < reaching for the top!> The music played out over the speakers with the familiar mix of Common and Kantonian thrown in. Sid wasn’t about to sing the lyrics, too busy focused on making sure their Pokemon were alright.
As the flash of Pokeball light broke, a red Skiddo and a Honedge took front and center. Fighting Dreamers, <not concerned for our look> Fighting Dreamers, <doing what we believe in> Oli Oli Oli Oh-! Just go my way! Sid ran up to lunging jump onto the back of the red Skiddo and grasp the hilt of the Honedge before all three went running in a wide circle around the stage. The Skiddo’s hooves shined a bright gold as he formed a Bulldoze that began to scale up the stage with a rockier terrain.
Right here, right now (Bang!) <Fire it out like a bullet shot!> Right here, right now (Burn!) <We'll hack and slash through Get the fire!> Right here, right now (Bang!) Fire it out like a bullet shot! Right here, right now (Burn!) The Honedge shined a steely white color as he used an Iron Defense— that quickly exploded into a rainbow trail as it was hit by a Psybeam from one of the other Pokemon: a beautiful Galarian Ponyta that started to run alongside the Skiddo right after. Sid hoisted the sword over their head showing off the trailing psychic rainbow after effect.
<Fighting along the way to open the inaccessible map; Where that place leads to? The colorful crow came in defiance-tore it and escaped> The running group was about to make their second lap when a bright fiery bird leapt forth stopping them in his tracks. He burned with the energy of a fiery Bulk Up and immediately engulphed himself in flames to accentuate the look. Flexing in front of them, he then took a stance as if ready to battle them.
<Now open up the eyes of your heart and see the reality before you (Yeah!) There is nothing to part, lets go!> Sid looked one way, then the other before raising the Honedge that flew from their hands in a Sword Dance that shined bright metallic colors with another Psybeam from the Ponyta. The Blaziken leapt up and formed a Blaze Kick, circling forward and just barely missing actually colliding with the blade. Instead, another Psybeam would land and make it shine once again.
Twirling over Sid and landing on the other side, the Blaziken squinted— and then the chorus went on again. We are Fighting Dreamers, <reaching for the top> Fighting Dreamers, <not concerned for our look> Fighting Dreamers, <doing what we believe in> Immediately, the Blaziken flexed again and dropped to do ten pushups in rapid succession. The Honedge gave another Iron Defense before dropping into Sid’s hand again.
Oli Oli Oli Oh-! Just go my way! Sid swung the sword forward again, and they group ran in a circle again with the Blaziken now in tow. The shine of the red Skiddo’s hooves had ended but was replaced by a green shine of Synthesis. It reflected off the Galarian Ponyta who released a Fairy Wind behind him to give a pink and green trailing effect. <Right here, right now (Bang!) Fire it out like a bullet shot! Right here, right now (Burn!)> At burn, the Blaziken stomped a little harder and his fiery feet seemed to cause the stage to glow? Ah no, that was an Espeon standing in their way now using Morning Sun. The party was once again forced to stop as she stood ready to battle them.
<The sound of the creeping silent shadow puzzle me / The realization of the great way elevates the devastation / With the sharp blade the future will open itself up! (Yeah!) / There is no security either, anywhere, what to do!?> Sid held the sword forward in challenge. The Ponyta lowered her small horn. The Blaziken shined red with a Focus Energy. The Espeon faltered looking sideways to the Sirfetch’d waiting in the wing. He lowered his leek lance and then gave a battle cry! The Blaziken flexed in response!
The Honedge used a Shadow Sneak, however, to stretch out and knock the lance from his hand! Only for it to slam on the floor harder than expected and surprise literally all of them at once. There was a pause- We are Fighting Dreamers, <reaching for the top> Fighting Dreamers, <not concerned for our look> And then everyone swapped a look and then immediately laughed.
Fighting Dreamers, <doing what we believe in> Oli Oli Oli Oh-! Just go my way! The Farfetch’d leapt into the air! Only to be met by the Blaziken! The two birds collided, one using a Brick Break, the other using a Blaze Kick. Mixing with the Fighting energy, the Fiery energy spread out and shined bright orange, yellow, then gold with another Morning Sun added in!
Right here, right now (Bang!) < Fire it out like a bullet shot!> Right here, right now (Burn!) <We'll hack and slash through Get the fire!> Right here, right now (Bang!) <Fire it out like a bullet shot!> Right here, right now (Burn!) <We'll hack and slash through Get the fire!> The Blaziken kept on with Blaze Kick while the Sirfetch’d used Detect and a series of Brick Breaks to avoid the brunt of the damage.
Meanwhile, Sid had continued riding the red Skiddo and swinging about the Honedge while the Ponyta and Espeon turned to one another. Each started to form a Psybeam and began to launch it at one another. Turning back around to see this, Sid turned the Skiddo around and went running for it only to throw the Honedge up forward. The sword landed right between the two attacks using another Iron Defense to glow silver. We are Fighting Dreamers, <reaching for the top> Fighting Dreamers, <not concerned for our look> Fighting Dreamers, doing what we believe in Oli Oli Oli Oh-! Like a prism exposed to light, the Honedge shined with the multicolored light of the Psybeams… and then seemed to brighten even more?? Sid and their Pokemon once again paused as the light grew and grew!
We are Fighting Dreamers, <reaching for the top> / Fighting Dreamers, <not concerned for our look> / Fighting Dreamers, doing what we believe in / Oli Oli Oli Oh-! Just go my way! In an explosion of light, one sword became two and a Doublade spun out. The Blaziken immediately dropped what he was doing to start clapping his hands and flexing happily. The Sirfetch’d did the same giving a deep knightly bow to the blades.
The Doublade wasn’t done, however, and sent himself flying back to Sid who reached up just fast enough to grab both blades. Go my way!… <Don’t forget your first impulse ever> Go my way!…<Let’s keep your adventurous ever> Go my way!… <Don’t forget your first impulse ever / Let’s keep your adventurous ever> The Ponyta immediately released a Fairy Wind to sparkle up around the two blades. The Skiddo stomped his feet and a Vine Whip that shined green. The Blaziken brightened the flames on his arms in a fiery red! The Sirfecth’d summoned fighting energy and posed in a Brick Break. The Espeon used another Morning Sun, and color flooded the area again.
As the song faded out and the crowd cheered, Sid grinned wildly.
Notes: Words in < > use their Japanese/Kantonian wording vs Common, this is just a translation for readability.
The fading glow of twilight was the perfect ambiance for this performance, Rui thought… even if she could still barely believe that she was performing. That was more of her sister Kasumi’s thing, but Rui had been talked into it by her grandmother, so here she was with five of her Pokémon—Clarence the Phantump, Raijin the Pikachu, Kama the Scyther, Onibi the Litwick, and Anahita the Blissey—waiting for her name to be called. Rui herself wore a deep blue kimono with a rainbow that wrapped around from the left hem to the right side of the kimono until it faded at the left shoulder. The light blue of the rainbow itself faded into the prevalent darker blue. A similar rainbow pattern wrapped around the bottom of each sleeve’s furi, and every rainbow was overlaid with soft pink, blue, and green blossoms. A gold obi with pink at the top was wrapped around her waist, and she wore simple white tabi under a pair of zori with red straps that also had flowers. Her hair was tied back into a simple bun with a red floral hair clip adorning the style above her left ear. Clarence, Raijin, Kama, and Anahita all wore haori the same shade of blue as Rui’s kimono, and each had a rainbow twisted hachimaki tied around their forehead. Onibi was the only one not dressed up; he’d be backstage for this performance, taking care of a few special effects.
Serafeyna introduced Rui’s performance, The Bon Odori, much more enthusiastically than Rui felt she deserved. Rui turned to her Pokémon and nodded, and then Clarence and Raijin followed her onstage; Anahita stayed in the wing with Onibi, and Kama flew to the other wing of the stage to wait for her part. Rui could feel her legs tremble as she walked to the center of the stage; Clarence floated past her so he was on her left, and Raijin took the space to her right, each giving her enough room to play her part. She glanced behind and above her to make sure the projection screen was in place, then took a deep breath to steady herself and held her closed sensu horizontally to her chest with her right hand while her left hand, palm facing up, supported the closed fan from below. Clarence and Raijin coped these arm movements despite not having fans of their own.
As the music began, the screen behind Rui lit up, revealing an image of a traditional Bon Odori turret with paper lanterns hanging around it. From backstage, Onibi quickly puffed out a few Will-O-Wisps so that the blueish-white flames hovered in the air, mimicking those lanterns. Rui and her Pokémon stayed still for the song’s introductory drumbeats, allowing the audience to take in the scene. When the other instruments joined the percussion, Rui began to push the fan open with her right thumb as she swept it out and away from her chest. At the same time, she used her flat left hand to pull the bottom edge of the fan toward her chest, revealing the soft rainbow and flowers painted on the fan’s surface to the audience. Again, the two Pokémon at her side mimicked her arm movements, though their gestures were grander to make up for their shorter limbs and lack of fans.
In the last two measures of the song’s intro, she turned her right palm upward so she held the fan flat in her hand, then rose it back to chest height and held it vertically so that she could tap the flat palm of her left hand against it with the claps in the song itself. Clarence and Raijin, meanwhile, were free to properly clap to the beat. The scene on the screen faded a bit to reveal the second purpose of the projection: to show the song’s lyrics in their native language and the translation, both in thick red fonts with black outlines. (Unlike many of the other performers, Rui chose not to sing.)
Ha~ When fireworks start to fly (Do-n do-n pa-n pan, dondo pa-n pan)
Rui moved her left hand to grasp her right kimono sleeve as she turned her right palm up and held the fan flat. She and her Pokémon each took one step to the right and swung their right hands, Rui still keeping her fan flat, down and to the left across their bodies, their heads following the movement. Onibi fired off a few Embers into the air above them, where the tiny flames burst in time with the claps and sizzled down like miniature fireworks. Most of them stayed near Rui and Raijin for Clarence’s sake; fortunately, plenty of practice had taught the Phantump that the Embers wouldn’t actually hurt him, so he was able to continue the dance without incident. The three took three steps to the right, raising their right arms, still following the movement with their heads. Rui slowly turned the fan over as she did this so she held it flat at eye level.
Ha~ Ah~ Cheers will fill the sky (Do-n do-n pa-n pan, dondo pa-n pan)
They extended their left arms, and Rui moved her fan so it rested under her left elbow as they all took a step to the left. Raijin’s cheeks began to crackle with electricity. They raised their right hands high, and Raijin shot an Electro Ball into the air, where it burst to add to the pyrotechnic show Onibi had created. Rui grasped her right kimono sleeve and held her left hand close to the center of her chest.
Ha~ When the spirits are high (Do-n do-n pa-n pan, dondo pa-n pan)
They took eight large steps in time with the music so that they turned completely around clockwise. Rui flipped her fan from front-facing to back-facing alternatively with each step. The two Pokémon waved their chest-level arms left to right with each flip of Rui’s fan, and Clarence used that momentum to scatter some Leech Seeds onto the stage in front of them once they were facing the audience again. They didn’t sprout, though; they simply sat there, inert, waiting.
Ha~ Ah~ The more people can buy (Do-n do-n pa-n pan, dondo pa-n pan)
With their right feet first, Rui and her Pokémon took four on-beat steps forward, spreading their arms wide in a graceful arc. Raijin quickly tossed out a handful of coins, which glittered under the Will-O-Wisps and bursting Embers above, before the three took four steps back to where they had been, arcing their arms again.
It's a festival, hooray! (Dondo panpa dondo panpa)
They turned to the left and extended their right arms and placed the palms of their left hands on their right elbows; Rui held her fan flat with her palm up. On the “panpas,” Rui flexed her knees in a slight bow and waved the fan up and down, as if beckoning to someone. Raijin was able to achieve a similar effect by squatting a bit. Clarence, lacking any kind of legs, had to float down to the floor, and as he beckoned, colorful balls of light formed around his hand: a controlled Confuse Ray.
All Kanto says hooray! (Do-n do-n pan)
The three turned to the right and repeated the previous line’s move, this time beckoning to the beat of “Do-n do-n pan.” Again, balls of light appeared around Clarence’s hand.
Now we turn around and dondo pa-n pan
Still facing right, they turned clockwise in three steps so that they faced the audience again, slowly raising their right arms while pulling their left hands, palms facing down, to their stomachs and pointed their closed fingers down and to the right. Clarence used this movement to direct his Confuse Ray to swirl around them and float above them. They ended the turn with their right hands held out so their arms were diagonally parallel. On “dondo,” they raised their hands to chest level and held them out enough so Rui could leave room for her open fan; they clapped on “pa-n” and “pan,” causing the Confuse Ray to burst into multicolored sparkles.
Rui flexed her knees again, and all three of them leaned forward slightly, took one step forward with their right feet, and swept their arms down and to the side, tracing the shape of a mountain within the still-falling sparkles. (The gesture was specially meant to evoke Kanto’s Mt. Moon, but Rui wouldn’t blame anyone for not realizing that.) They stepped back, straightened up, and brought their hands back up to clap on “pa-n pan” again.
A brief instrumental followed, during which the dancers stepped forward with their right feet and waved their hands up and to the right, completed the step with their left feet and waved to the left, moved back with their right feet and moved their hands down and to the right, and finally ended back in their starting position with their hands waved down and to the left.
Ha~ When there is rain in the sky (Do-n do-n pa-n pan, dondo pa-n pan)
With her thumb on one side of the end stick and her flat fingers on the other, Rui raised the fan overhead, prompting Kama to fly up from backstage. Rui slowly brought the fan down to her side, twisting it back and forth in a tight spiral, while the rest of her Pokémon, including Kama, mimicked this move. A dark cloud began to form above the dancers, snuffing out the flames that had hovered in the air thus far.
Ha~ Ah~ Climb up the turret and spy (Do-n do-n pa-n pan, dondo pa-n pan)
Before the rain could fall, though, Anahita came in from the right, taking a step on every beat to make up for her shorter strides. Rui lifted her fan overhead and slightly to the left and held her left hand, palm up, below it. Anahita, like the others, copied this as she joined the line of dancers, causing a Light Screen to shimmer into being above them to protect them from the rain. Kama landed on the left side of the dancers at around the same time that Anahita took her place. Rui tapped her fan against her open left palm and moved both arms down and to the right in an imitation of the rain that now pattered above them.
Oh! It's a festival, hooray! (Dondo panpa dondo panpa)
When the fan was just past halfway down her body, Rui flexed her knees once more, grasped her right kimono sleeve with her left hand, and bent her right elbow to bring the fan flat in front of her chest. She took two steps forward on each “dondo” and flapped her fan up and down on the “panpas.” Behind her, the image on the screen began to fade to white, though the lyrics continued displaying.
This is it! It's made in Kanto!
Rui straightened up and dropped her left hand while turning her right hand to hold the fan vertically to the left. Then, still facing forward, she swept her right hand up in an arc from left to right. Once she was at the top of the arc, Onibi used Sunny Day from offstage, summoning a miniature sun in front of the center of the screen. Though the ball was more orange than red, the idea was to evoke the image of the Kanto flag. The light shining through the wet glass-like substance caused small rainbows to appear at the dancers’ feet. At the end of her arc, Rui twisted her upward-facing wrist so her fan waved back and forth on “Kanto.”
Now we turn around and dondo pa-n pan
The dancers turned clockwise in four large steps, turning their wrists so they faced down and holding their left hands, palms down, at stomach level. They bent their right elbows to bring their hands closer to their bodies, then raised their right hands in another arc as they turned. With this movement, Anahita manipulated the Light Screen so the rainbows slid to the floor in front of the dancers and shone on the Leech Seeds and Pay Day coins, the latter sparkling with the effect. Once the dancers were facing forward again, they raised their hands to clap on “pa-n pan.”
The sunlight reflecting on the Leech Seeds caused them to shudder and then sprout. Green stalks with large leaves at the end grew upward, some of them carrying coins on their surprisingly sturdy leaves. The miniature sun began to rise after that, saving the dancers from its heat, and the image of the Bon Odori turret appeared on the screen again. The dancers slowly spread out their arms as if presenting these sprouts, Rui keeping her fan flat, put their left feet forward, and bowed slightly on the second syllable of “Odori.” Then, they straightened up, completed the step with their right feet, and clapped on “pa-n pan.” These claps prompted Clarence to summon a Magical Leaf. They waved their hands to the left at head level, stepping back with their left feet, then did the same on the right side before leaning forward slightly on “do-n” and clapping on “pa-n pan” again; as they did this, the colorful leaves of Clarence's technique swirled around them.
At the sound of the drums, Rui held her fan up in front of her chest so the audience could see the pattern on it, much like she had when she had first opened the fan. Then, the instruments kicked back in, and Rui crossed her right foot behind her left and swept her arms out in something akin to a curtsy. On the song’s penultimate beat, she bowed and lowered her head, and on the final beat, she snapped her fan closed. The miniature sun, now a good distance in the air, burst, creating a shower of embers around the dancers that dissipated before they could do any harm. The image on the screen disappeared, the Magical Leaves fluttered to the ground, and the stage was left in darkness.
The lights came back on after a few seconds, prompting Rui to stand up straight and bow in the proper Kantonian way. Her Pokémon copied her movements before they all filed off the stage, Rui fighting to keep her steps proper and even instead of rushing out of sight like she really wanted to.
Clarence the Phantump, Raijin the Pikachu, Kama the Scyther, Onibi the Litwick, and Anahita the Blissey
Last Edit: May 24, 2020 21:24:33 GMT by Rui Sasaki
[attr="class","fadednjadedbanner"]I don't think I wanna be saved. My song has not been sung...
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Liam squinted into the mirror backstage, making sure everything was perfect. He brushed his bangs into perfect place for about the twelfth time, and resisted the urge to tighten his bun again. He wore a metallic shimmering suit, with colors much like his eyes, ranging all manners of blue and green, almost indigo in the darkest shadows, almost pale yellow when the light hit the right flecks. Under the deeply-V'd jacket he wore a deep purple turtleneck for a little extra color and contrast. His shoes were a more traditionally iridescent silver, not too shiny and bright, but a little more eye-catching than most shoes at least. When he was satisfied his hair and outfit were fine, he turned to his Pokemon.
Cosette, his Kadabra partner, wore the cutest breeze rainbow dress, slit in back to fall over her tail. His Lurantis wore a glittering emerald green scarf, but was otherwise left to her natural beauty, and his Serperior with a glittering long golden scarf was given similar treatment. A light dusting of a Pokemon-safe pearlescent powder had been sprinkled over his Alolan Sandslash's icy spikes to help them look a touch more prismatic than usual. His Musharna actually wore a little black suit jacket fitted to his body type, with large iridescently rainbow flecks on it similar to a Shiny Minior's core. Finally, there was Spirit, a borrowed Alolan Marowak courtesy of a nice guy Liam had met only recently, but thank his lucky stars, the guy had still agreed to help. Fire would be an essential part of this performance! Anyway, Spirit wore nothing, but he was already Shiny and had a bone lit on fire, so Liam was pretty sure he was eye-catching enough. Still, he did spend a good minute reconsidering if he should add some small accessory before ultimately deciding this was fine, and waiting for his turn on stage.
By this point dusk was fading. There was no main spotlight on yet, only the small lights that lined the front of the stage to softly illuminate as music began and Liam slowly strode forward to center stage. He began to sing. "Stars fall at my feet…" Above and behind, barely past the curtain, Musharna used Swift around him, the spray of stars sticking into the ground. Liam feigned trying to take a step and being stuck. "Keep me grounded as I reach… Higher than I see." He writhed slowly to his knees, and reached up, clawing at the air in slow certain motions. "Is there something there for me?"
The Swift stars dissipated, and Liam stood. "Pulling back the reins, letting go again…" He made broad motions as if casting off chains or some heavy burden. "I'm not afraid... I'm not."
There was a beat, and all six Pokemon came forward on the stage. "All my life, one page at a time." Kadabra and Musharna shot Psybeams at each other to collide and burst out behind Liam. "I'll show you my, my true colors."
Serperior and Lurantis used Leaf Tornado and Petal Blizzard to create a whirlwind of leaves and petals. "No, no, no, no, I won't apologize, for the fire in my eyes." Marowak danced forward and leapt about, twirling his bone to catch bits and pieces of the debris in the wind on fire without quite creating a full firestorm. "Let me show you my, my true colors." Sandslash used Powder Snow to push the whirlwind outward, glistening snow and embers and plant life dissipating out over the judges and first few rows of audience. "It ain't your rainbow!"
The Pokemon shifted around on stage, focus coming to Liam and Kadabra. She offered him her hand, and he reached out for it. "A promise with a lie…" Just before he could take it, she Teleported out of the way, leaving him to stumble forward. "Is broken by design."
He looked down and around and finally up to where Kadabra had reappeared well on his other side. "And what we thought we knew…" A violet energy emanated from Musharna and began to cover the floor and lower curtains of the stage, rippling and roiling in a manner that could only be described as 'weird'. "..has been swallowed by the truth." The Psychic Terrain rippled under each footstep as the party moved about.
"It's time to light the flame!" Marowak caused the fires on his bone to flare up brightly before unleashing a teal Flamethrower up into the air. "Right before it rains!" Sandslash used Aqua Tail, aiming up in the air to collide with the Flamethrower and create a faint rainbow overhead. "I'm not afraid... I'm not!" Liam looked up to the rainbow, but looked unimpressed, almost disdainful.
"All my life, one page at a time!" He motioned orders for the Pokemon. Kadabra and Musharna Psybeamed at each other again to collide in a colorful burst. "I'll show you my, my true colors!"
Marowak summoned two great blades of energy, which he proceeded to spin about as he danced, empowering himself with the Swords Dance. "No, no, no, no." Sandslash used Metal Claw, his claws becoming silvery as he clashed them together in a sharpening motion similar to the swords' movements. "I won't apologize…" Finally, Lurantis and Serperior formed even larger energy blades, both green, and the Leaf Blades were spun about to mimic the Swords Dance as well. "for the fire in my eyes." Marowak stepped forward now.
"Let me show you my, my true colors!" He shot a Flame Burst into the air, and the light of its fireworks helped drown out the rainbow, while the others used Leaf Tornado, Petal Blizzard, and Icy Wind again to blow away what remained of the mist and get rid of the rainbow completely. "It ain't your rainbow!"
The music slowed a bit. "Something… tells me…" Sandslash formed an Ice Ball. "I know nothing at all." Kadabra used Signal Beam on the Ice Ball, but the ball only continued to grow, and the beam refracted off it in all directions around the stage.
"I've escaped my capture…" Musharna tried a Psybeam on the Ice Ball, but the result was the same, save somewhat different colors of light refracting from a different angle. The ball continued to grow. "And I have no master!" Another Signal Beam and another Psybeam followed, in time with the music, creating a light show. "And somehow... it's like I've waited-"
Finally, Sandslash threw the giant ball in the air. All my life!" Lurantis leaped up and used X-Scissor to shatter it into a giant flurry of snow overhead, which began to fall down slowly. "One page at a time!" Serperior used Leaf Tornado once again, and this time Marowak jumped in the eye of it. "I'll show you my, my true colors!"
'No, no, no, no, I won't apologize for the fire in my eyes!" Every leaf was set ablaze as Marowak spun about with Flame Wheel, his rotations moving with and strengthening the tornado. It wasn't the kind of fire tornado a Fire Spin could create, far less dense than that, but still a large mass of embers swirling about. The snow began falling into the firestorm. "Let me show you my, my true colors!" Much of the snow was melted into mist, creating a prismatic effect around the tornado, but some sturdier crystals were swept up in the wind between the flames as well, making the wind sparkle.
"It ain't your rainBOOOOOooooow!" Liam belted out. Musharna shot an array of Swift stars into the tornado as well, adding to the light show. "It ain't your rainbow…" A backtrack echoed 'bow bow bow' and 'colors, colors, colors'. Meanwhile, Sandslash fired off an Aqua Tail at the storm, extinguishing many but not all of the flames and creating a number of rippling rainbow effects that were pulled along with the storm. "It ain't your rainbow."
Lest the storm die down too much, Lurantis renewed it with another Petal Blizzard. "Oh-oh, oh! Oh-oh!" Kadabra teleported around to gather Sandslash and Musharna and bring them inside the eye of the storm. The Sandslash, though somewhat obscured from the audience in here, huddled up, and the Psychics used their Signal Beam and Psybeam attacks on his icy back to refract and send beams of light show flying out all over the tornado. "It ain't your rainboooo-ow."
Finally, Serperior, Lurantis, and Marowak used Leaf Tornado, Petal Blizzard, and Flame Wheel together in the opposite direction of the storm to bring it grinding to an explosively fiery halt, the remainder of its contents showering down around Liam and his party as the backtrack echoed a final 'colors, colors, colors....' and they struck a finishing pose.
The crowd cheered, and Liam beamed brightly. Perhaps it wasn't as loud of cheering as some others got-- and if it wasn't, it may be due to his subverting the theme a bit, he suspected-- but that could also just be his imagination at work. Besides, ultimately it was the judges, not the crowd, that mattered, and even if he didn't win he'd had an absolute blast!
[attr="class","fadednjadedtag"] @[Showcase] 1518 Words
Last Edit: May 25, 2020 0:21:10 GMT by Liam Odhrán
"Weren't all those performances stunning!?" Sera asks the audience, prompting another round of cheers and applause for all the contestants. "The judges have conferred, though, so now it's time to check out the scores! Let's count them down, folks!" She begins reading off each score from the lowest on up.
JOSH
Elayne Laurent
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
3/10
3/10
3/10
2/5
Yukiko Charbonneau
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
4/10
6/10
5/10
1/5
Maeve McRoy
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
5/10
7/10
5/10
2/5
TOTAL SCORE: 46
Rewards: 1 OOC Gem, 100 Pen, 3 Rare Candy, 2 Move Slots for 1 Pokemon, 1 Level for each participating Pokemon, +3 Performance skill
LEVY
Elayne Laurent
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
7/10
8/10
7/10
4/5
Yukiko Charbonneau
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
7/10
5/10
8/10
2/5
Maeve McRoy
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
6/10
6/10
5/10
3/5
TOTAL SCORE: 68
Rewards: 1 OOC Gem, 100 Pen, 3 Rare Candy, 2 Move Slots for 1 Pokemon, 1 Level for each participating Pokemon, 2 additional levels to allot, +5 Performance skill
RUI
Elayne Laurent
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
5/10
5/10
5/10
3/5
Yukiko Charbonneau
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
4/10
8/10
9/10
5/5
Maeve McRoy
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
7/10
8/10
8/10
3/5
TOTAL SCORE: 70
Rewards: 1 OOC Gem, 100 Pen, 3 Rare Candy, 2 Move Slots for 1 Pokemon, 1 Level for each participating Pokemon, 4 additional levels to allot, +5 Performance skill
SIDNEY
Elayne Laurent
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
7/10
7/10
7/10
3/5
Yukiko Charbonneau
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
6/10
9/10
10/10
2/5
Maeve McRoy
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
4/10
6/10
7/10
4/5
TOTAL SCORE: 72
Rewards: 1 OOC Gem, 100 Pen, 3 Rare Candy, 2 Move Slots for 1 Pokemon, 1 Level for each participating Pokemon, 1 additional level to allot, +4 Performance skill
ELIZABETH
Elayne Laurent
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
8/10
7/10
7/10
4/5
Yukiko Charbonneau
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
7/10
4/10
7/10
3/5
Maeve McRoy
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
7/10
7/10
9/10
4/5
TOTAL SCORE: 74
Rewards: 1 OOC Gem, 100 Pen, 3 Rare Candy, 2 Move Slots for 1 Pokemon, 1 Level for each participating Pokemon, 1 additional level to allot, +5 Performance skill
KOA
Elayne Laurent
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
7/10
8/10
7/10
4/5
Yukiko Charbonneau
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
6/10
9/10
5/10
3/5
Maeve McRoy
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
7/10
9/10
7/10
4/5
TOTAL SCORE: 76
Rewards: 1 OOC Gem, 100 Pen, 3 Rare Candy, 2 Move Slots for 1 Pokemon, 1 Level for each participating Pokemon, 1 additional level to allot, +5 Performance skill
ELLIOT
Elayne Laurent
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
9/10
9/10
8/10
5/5
Yukiko Charbonneau
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
6/10
8/10
5/10
2/5
Maeve McRoy
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
8/10
6/10
7/10
5/5
TOTAL SCORE: 78
Rewards: 2 OOC Gems, 250 Pen, 5 Rare Candy, 4 Move Slots for 2 Pokemon (2 each), 1 Level for each participating Pokemon, 2 additional levels to allot, +5 Performance skill
ELISE
Elayne Laurent
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
8/10
9/10
9/10
5/5
Yukiko Charbonneau
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
8/10
8/10
7/10
3/5
Maeve McRoy
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
8/10
6/10
8/10
4/5
TOTAL SCORE: 83
Rewards: 3 OOC Gem, 400 Pen, 10 Rare Candy, 6 Move Slots for 3 Pokemon (2 each), 1 Level for each participating Pokemon, +3 Performance skill
CALLIOPE
Elayne Laurent
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
9/10
9/10
9/10
5/5
Yukiko Charbonneau
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
6/10
8/10
10/10
3/5
Maeve McRoy
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
8/10
7/10
8/10
3/5
TOTAL SCORE: 85
Rewards: 1 OOC Gem, 100 Pen, 3 Rare Candy, 2 Move Slots for 1 Pokemon, 1 Level for each participating Pokemon, 3 additional levels to allot, +5 Performance skill
LIAM
Elayne Laurent
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
8/10
9/10
10/10
5/5
Yukiko Charbonneau
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
9/10
7/10
10/10
4/5
Maeve McRoy
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
8/10
6/10
7/10
4/5
TOTAL SCORE: 87
Rewards: 1 OOC Gem, 100 Pen, 3 Rare Candy, 2 Move Slots for 1 Pokemon, 1 Level for each participating Pokemon, 1 additional level to allot, +5 Performance skill
RILEY
Elayne Laurent
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
9/10
9/10
10/10
5/5
Yukiko Charbonneau
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
10/10
7/10
8/10
4/5
Maeve McRoy
Theme
Originality
Coordination
Taste
8/10
6/10
8/10
3/5
TOTAL SCORE: 87
Rewards: 5 OOC Gems, 1000 Pen, 15 Rare Candy, 12 Move Slots for 6 Pokemon (2 each), +3 Fame 1 Level for each participating Pokemon, 3 additional levels to allot, +5 Performance skill
NOTES ON IC VS OOC
OOCly, the winners are Elliot (3rd), Elise (2nd), and Riley (1st)! Calliope and Liam scored higher than Elliot and Elise, but SG can only place for prizes once.
ICly, I'd like to say (given it's my characters; had others had this issue they would've been DM'd to ask their preferences as well!) Calliope tied Elise for Second Place, and Liam did not place. :3 Thank you!