The Adventure of Champions: Sinnoh

"Ok! Will do!" Danny said, running inside and straight to the registration desk. After a few moments, he was in his dressing room. He was already dressed, so he had a few minutes to mentally prepare himself. "Ok, we've practiced and trained hard. We can do it," he said, mostly to himself but Buddy was also there listening. The Pokemon cuddles close to its master to comfort him. "Oh," Danny exclaimed, reaching for Tess's Pokeball. He released the small, yellow Pokemon. "Hey Tess, I want you to watch the contest with my friends, ok?" he told her. Tess hesitated for a moment but then agreed. "Great, they should be down that hall in the big room. If you can't find them, come back here." Tess nodded with a smile and a squeak of consent and ran off.

Standing with his friends, Travis quietly took in his surroundings. He vaguely remembered watching a contest years ago, and how everything seemed so fancy and over the top. But he couldn't recall if it was only the contestants that dressed up. Even so, the atmosphere was beginning to make him uncomfortable and a small part of him wanted to hurry up and get this over with.

"I'm all ready." The girl said as she walked closer to the curtain with her Lucario. "It's our turn near the beginning, so let's get ready now."

Danny stood up and returned Buddy to his ball. "Good luck," he told his Pokemon. He made his way to the waiting room where the other contestants were. There was a screen where the stage could be seen. The MC was just stepping out to announce the judges and start the show.

Meanwhile, Tess spotted Travis, Valencia, and James through the legs of the crowd and ran over to them. "Pi!" she called out so they would notice her.

"The performances are beginning!" The girl gasped as she stepped out of the way for a man with a Drifblim to step past. "Wow, there's some intimidating competition." She spoke to her Lucario as she watched the man wait eagerly behind the curtain, ready to step onto the stage as the first contestant.

Danny rapped his fingers on his legs as he watched the first contestant emerge onstage. They released a large balloon-like Pokemon and began their performance. "I had no idea they would be this good at the first contest," Danny muttered to himself.

"Well, just because it's your first doesn't mean it's everybody else's." The girl said, walking up to Danny. "I plan on wiping the floor with them anyway." She spoke in a joking way, although realized after she spoke that it may have come off the wrong way.

"Oh... that's true. I guess I hadn't thought about that," Danny said to the girl. For some reason, she intimidated him quite a bit. That's probably just the anxiety at work, he thought, glancing back at the screen. The first performance had just finished up.

"I'm going now. I might see you later." The girl spoke as she ran off to the stage.

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"Our next Coordinator comes from Oreburgh City! Say hello to Carly!" The MC cheered as the girl ran onto the stage with her Lucario.

"Let's do this!" Carly called as Lucario jumped to the center of the stage. "Use Sword Dance." She commanded, followed by her Pokémon performing a graceful dance with punches and kicks skillfully weaved throughout. "Bone Rush!" She added. Lucario forged a long, green, glistening bone between his paws which he twirled like a baton and added into his dance. "Again!" Carly cheered, giving Lucario the cue to create another bone from his paws and juggle them while continuing the intricate dance.

"Finish this with Metal Claw." Carly concluded. Lucario threw both bones into the air and create shimmering silver claws from his paws. He jumped into the air and slashed ruthlessly at the bones. Unable to withstand the attack, the bones shattered and rained gently onto the stage with Lucario landing softly in the midst of it.

"Wow, that was impressive," Valencia commented, with a smile on her face.

That girl is great too... I'm getting way more nervous now, Danny thought, chewing on his bottom lip while his fingers were rapping more and more rapidly on his leg.

Both Carly and Lucario gave the audience a bow before hurrying offstage. "You did great!" She congratulated as the two took a seat on a bench near the television.

Danny considered congratulating the girl on her performance, but she was even more intimidating after that fierce performance, so he decided against it. After a couple more performances, it was Danny's turn. He took a deep breath and stepped out on the stage. He began to smile. This is what I've been waiting for for years. No need to be scared, Danny thought. "Now it's time to shine!" Danny shouted, throwing Buddy's Pokeball in the air, releasing his partner. The Grass Pokemon waved his leaf at the audience and winked cutely. "Let's start off with out new move, Energy Ball!" Buddy closed his eyes and concentrated as a shiny green ball of energy began collecting in front of him. "Now juggle it and use Poisonpowder!" Using the leaf on his head, Buddy tossed the Energy Ball while simultaneously using Poisonpowder. This caused the ball to sparkle with even more colors. "Now time to finish this up!" Danny called out. Buddy nodded and summoned spinning leaves that spiraled up toward the orb of energy. The leaves swirling around the Energy Ball caused power to leak out, creating rings of green and purple that spread over the stage and sprinkled down.

James was in awe at the performances; he'd never thought about using the abilities the Pokemon had in an aesthetic manner. As he thought about that, he smiled after his friend finished with his first, and impressive, appeal.

"Aww," Valencia squeed, "What an adorable performance."