Ask to Join A Journey in Alola!

[todoroki]

After a series of contestants, it was finally Ansel's turn to go. He bounced up with excitement, and ran into the stage when they called his name.

"Alright, Elpida, Thymos, come on out!" As they burst out of their Pokéballs, seals of stars and confetti burst out of the Torracat's, while the Vigoroth had hearts and smoke around him. "Oh, so that's what those ones do." Ansel muttered to himself. A coordinator backstage yelled something about the seals being identical to hers.

"Okay, Elpida, Flame Charge to the other side!" The Fire Cat Pokémon rushed to the other side, flames forming around her. As she continued running, Ansel shouted a command to the Vigoroth. "Thymos, charge up the Shadow Ball!"

The normal-type charged a Gengar-purple sphere between his claws, roaring with excitement. "Elpida, u-turn around and run towards it! Er, not the m- you know what I mean." Elpida's flames decreased as she turned, before flaring up even more than before. At the half-way point, Thymos let go of the Shadow Ball, flying towards Elpida. The torracat's flames burst open the shadow ball, being surrounded by shadow energy, with flicks of it flying backwards along with flickers of flames. She didn't stop running towards the Vigoroth.

"Now, Thymos Pr-" Ansel stopped before finishing his command, as the Vigoroth tossed Elpida upwards.

"It seems that Vigoroth has used a counter to throw Torracat in the air! What a risky combination!" Kona announced, the audience thrilled in excitement.

Ansel and Elpida were both thrown off by Thymos' sudden change. Elpida was especially angry, worried about the fall from the counter. She froze in the air, Overheating towards Thymos. That's when Thymos finally put up his shield, flames avoiding a translucent blue shield around him.

"It's like a simulation of a real Pokémon battle! Thrilling!" Kona narrated.

Elpida stopped the Overheat, her special energy draining, and put up a Double Team. Four, six, eight, ten Torracat surrounded Thymos. Thymos looked around in anger and confusion, and let out a Thunderbolt, zapping all the targets. All of them except two faded away, Elpida undamaged. The audience gasped in worry.

"It seems one of these is a Substitute, and one is the real Torracat!" There was a tense moment, before Elpida sprang towards Thymos, who put up one last counter, holding her up in his arms.

"Stop!" Ansel yelled. He knew if things continued much longer, it wouldn't end well for his Pokémon or his standing. Vigoroth froze, holding Elpida in his arms. A round of applause came.

"A remarkably unpredictable performance! It all seems so well planned and intricately crafted," Kona commented, "Let's hear what the judges have to say!"

"Demonstrating the ferity of a wild Vigoroth and the anger of untamed Torracat's, truly spectacular!"

"While the transitions certainly could use some work, this is an intriguing first performance from you!"

"Am I the only one who genuinely thought for a moment these Pokémon were acting all on their own? Greatly unique, well done!"

Ansel let out a sigh of relief, then snickered to himself. Suckers.

"The competition is fierce today, now let's head on to our next coordinator..."

Ansel stepped backstage. It'd probably be a good idea to keep Elpida and Thymos separate, though their chemistry as performers was great. He had to just wait and see if he'd make it into the next round.

 

[Godjacob]

Duke watched as Daniel and Ansel put on absolutely spectacular performances with their Pokemon as he applauded when appropriate and was clearly in aww. And given the reaction of the crowd, both of them had knocked it out of the park; though they had not been the only ones as the competition here was stiff to have said the least. This made it no guarantee that they'd advance on.

But Duke had faith that they were stand outs even among a talented group, and both he and Charizard who had to watch from the outside monitors offered their support the entire way.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

After all of the appeals were over, there was a ten-minute break, while the judges made their decision. Daniel took the time to redo his hair, and give Lopunny and Machoke some pokebeans, as he waited for the result.

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, the eight lucky coordinators moving onto round two are on screen now!"

Daniel was yanked right out of his stupor, as he heard the words, 'on screen now'. This was it.

He glanced up. One, two three spots were taken. And then his profile appeared.

"I made it!" he sighed happily, "Finally, I'm actually going to have a shot at my dream..."

Kemen, meanwhile, was ecstatic. "Mi amor, you made it!" he cried, "You're definitely winning now!"

 

[todoroki]

Ansel looked around desperately between the eight people for his face, like a Where's Walrein puzzle- and there he was. He couldn't believe it, how could a disobedient Vigoroth secure him his spot? He burst with joy, not really feeling much guilt for the others that didn't make it. They just weren't as talented, it seemed. He spotted Daniel's face in the eight, and got kind of excited on the idea of battling him.

 

[Godjacob]

Duke saw the faces of the people who advanced and felt great relief that Daniel had progressed. Same with Ansel, as Duke figured now both of them had more of a chance to showcase their talents.

Though if they were to meet...that'd be an exciting and spectacular Contest Battle. Duke was sure of that much as he smiled happy they made it through.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"And the winner of the first quarter-final battle...It's Daniel!"

The matchups for the quarter-finals had put Daniel up against a former performer-turned-coordinator, named Pam. She'd used her panpour and pansage against Mightyena and Plusle, and it had been a fairly quick battle, thanks to her losing all of her points before the timer went off.

"One more battle, and we'll finally be onto the finals," he said aloud, "And my last ribbon!"

 

[todoroki]

Ansel bounced up with glee as he beat yet another trainer. "I win! I win! You lose!" He gloated childishly at the trainer, who had aggravated him after almost knocking out Parigoria. Parigoria and Thymos had also proved to have great synergy, and this time he felt a little more in control. The trainer returned her Bounsweet and Rapidash to their Pokéballs. He ran out of the ring excited to have finally made it to the semi-finals. What would his dad say? Eh, who cared, he was on top of the world right now.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"Good job out there, you two," Daniel said happily, scratching Plusle's ears, "Plusle, I might need you for the semi-finals, but Mightyena, you can take it easy, for now."

He produced a pokebean from a his bag. "Here. A reward!" he said as he fed the wolven pokemon a blue patterned pokebean.

The coordinator was dragged out of his content state, when he heard Ansel making fun of the coordinator who'd just lost to him. In contests, it was important to show respect for the opponent, win or lose, and making fun of them just for losing was absolutely disgusting, in his book.

He decided to keep to himself, and be the bigger man, as he brushed Plusle's fur.

 

[todoroki]

Ansel came backstage, chanting his own name in excitement, Thymos happily dancing alongside him. He was gonna make it into the semi-finals, hell, maybe even the finals. Maybe he would have a shot at the grand festival. Of course, he'd need to steal a couple ribbons and cheat himself in, but he could have a chance.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Daniel shook his head as he heard Ansel enter the backstage lounge, putting Lopunny's work vest back on her. The rabbit pokemon didn't seem too happy at the sight of the vigoroth either, wanting to concentrate solely on her performance, and her work.

"What a showboater," Daniel sighed, as he tried to decide who to use in the semi-finals. Plusle and Honchkrow, or Plusle and Lopunny…?

 

[Godjacob]

Duke watched as he saw both Daniel & Ansel advance to the semi-finals after spectacular performances. Ansel was a bit...too happy over his victory as he seemed to rub it in his opponent's face. Though Duke could not fault his excitement, he hoped that he would learn to take victory with grace in the future.

Either way, this next match was bound to be one to remember and Duke seemed eager to see it unfold.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

@gamora

"And now that our quarter-finals are over, it's time to move on to the semi-finals! First off, we'll have Daniel vs Ansel, and then Sophie vs Hannah!"

The blood left Daniel's face, as he heard who he was facing. Ansel. If he lost to that annoying kid, he'd never hear the end of it. So he absolutely couldn't lose today...

 

[todoroki]

Ansel ran over to Daniel, cheering with excitement. "We get to fight against each other dude! Ha, oh man I'm going to crush you. Woo!" Ansel hoisted Thymos up in his arms who seemed to have been holding some other coordinator's bow prop in his mouth.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Daniel folded his arms, hmpfing indignantly. "I would say something childish about how you're the one who's going to end up being crushed, but lucky for you, I'm better than that," he said through gritted teeth, "I'm not in the business of being disrespectful to my fellow coordinators."

Lopunny eyed the vigoroth with a stony glare. Nobody crossed her master and got away with it, so she wanted to make that thing pay, badly...

 

[todoroki]

"Heh, alright, whatever gets you m-" Ansel stoped as Thymos was flailing out of his arms trying to play with Lopunny's ears. "Thymos, dude, chill." The Vigoroth flailed his head upside down. This one did not stop going easily. Maybe he wouldn't be ideal to use. "Where is everyone anyway? Think we got some time before the contest starts."

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"The other coordinators will probably have left already. The others will be in the audience, I think," Daniel answered, "Or at least, I know my boyfriend will be. He reserved a booth seat."

Lopunny hissed at the creature, fingers twitching. She was this close to dizzy-punching Thymos to oblivion, but she couldn't ruin the contest for Daniel.

 

[todoroki]

"Oh, alrgiht. About that, uh.." Ansel scratched his neck. "How did you, uh, know you, uh, wanted a boyfriend?"

Ansel's tone has changed, but Thymos still was acting just the same, he squirmed himself out of Ansel's arms and jumped up, brushing his paws through Lopunny's ears. At first, he was quite gentle, but when he tried to climb up on top of them, Lopunny might get a little more aggravated.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "That's kind of a personal question, don'tcha think?" he began, "I dunno, I've just never liked girls, and I only ever noticed guys. And then I met him, and the rest is history."

Lopunny, meanwhile, had decided that enough was enough. She wasn't going to stand here, and let a vigoroth assault her, so she threw a dizzy punch in the creature's direction.

"Lop, Lopunny (Touch me again, and I'll violate my Hippocratic Oath)," she snarled.

 

[todoroki]

Ansel couldn't picture that. He had certainly liked girls before, it'd be weird to like guys and not them, right? Ansel couldn't really say much more than a simple "huh", so he didn't. Thymos frowned angrily, about to charge up a Shadow Ball, which of course would do nothing anyway. Ansel had to step in and stop him, hoisting him up in his arms.

"Thymos, dude, can you like, chill for five seconds?" The Vigoroth seemed to have trouble understanding the question, yelling. "Roth roth!" (She started it!)

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Lopunny was having none of his excuses. "Lop, lopunny! Lopunny! (What kind of girl do you think I am?! You did this to yourself, I'll have you know. What, did you think I was just going to stand there and let you do whatever you wanted with me, you perv?!)"

Daniel rolled up to Lopunny. "I'd appreciate it if you kept your vigoroth under control, thank you very much."

 

[todoroki]

"Aw, he's just bein' friendly. Isn't that right Thymos?" The Vigoroth cooed, still holding the torn up bow in his paws, passing it to Ansel. "Aw, you got me a present?" He noogied the head of the Wild Monkey Pokémon, who made a weird sort of purr-growl. "Anyway, it was your Lopunny that attacked him. Thas' all I'm saying."

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"It was your vigoroth who made unwanted advances on her, and refused to back away when she very clearly wasn't interested," Daniel said coldly, "Lopunny was just protecting herself. Don't you dare try to victim-blame."

Lopunny, who was on the verge of losing it, turned her back to Ansel and the vigoroth, hatred burning in her eyes.

 

[todoroki]

"Unwanted advances? He didn't try to have sex with her, he tried to brush her fur. The lil dummie just wants a friend." Vigoroth was whimpering at the insults, reaching out his arm towards Lopunny. "It was Lopunny that punched Thymos for no good reason." Ansel's anger was building. He so couldn't wait to beat this guy.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"He still touched her without permission, and refused to back off, even when she clearly didn't want him on her. He refused to respect her wishes, and was only thinking about himself. That's bad enough, in my honest opinion."

Daniel turned himself around, not wanting to deal with the situation anymore. "I've had enough. If you keep talking, I think I'm going to lose it."

 

[todoroki]

"Then lose it." Ansel flipped him off and turned around. Wait, that insult didn't work if he didn't keep talking- eh, he'd roll with it, it was too late to keep going. Jesus, what a drama king. He sent out Anesi and started cleaning her up, getting ready for the contest. He was going to win the contest if it was the last thing he did. He decided he needed a break and headed out into the audience. This was turning out a lot less fun than he had wanted it to be.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Daniel returned Lopunny to her pokeball, rolling back into the changing rooms. He didn't know why he even bothered with that kid, when he was determined to keep running riot, and being rude. And the worst part was, he was never even a little bit sorry for what he'd done, and always tried to paint himself as the victim...

He muttered to himself, as he applied fresh seals to his pokeballs. At least he could take some comfort in the fact that winning today would wipe the stupid smug grin off his face.

 

[Cryronn the Mudkip]

Daymon And Reyna watched along with Terian, Duke, Nova And Glacier. After a few amazing performances, Daymon grinned. “Rival battle, coming up! You better crush this for me Daniel or I will seriously break something.” He said, his grin a bit twisted before Reyna gave him a sisterly smack on the back of the head.

 

[Imperfect World]

(I'm unsure what to say, because it won't have any importance whatsoever.)

Teiran pet Brionne as she waited for whomever to win. She wouldn't say she was bored, just bored of waiting for either Daniel or Ansel to get onstage, even if they had just gone up.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"And now, for our first semi-final battle, it's Daniel vs Ansel!"

Daniel rolled over to his side of the field, two pokeballs in hand. He threw them up high, and colourful shooting stars popped out, followed by Plusle and Honchkrow. For a moment, the presenter gushed about how beautiful Daniel's shiny honchkrow was, but she soon calmed down, and got back to the battle.

"Anyway, in the blue corner, it's Daniel, Plusle, and Honchkrow!"

 

[Godjacob]

Duke stood up and gave a cheer to Daniel as he made his entrance, this battle between him and Ansel had been one the Pokemon Protector had looked forward to.

Charizard, who observed from outside on the monitors, watched the coming battle with interest even as it held its protest sign for being excluded from the stadium.

 

[todoroki]

"Alright, Anesi, Paragoria, beat the Heliolisk out of em'!" Out of two Pokéballs, a Togedemaru squealed with excitement and a Braviary stayed silent with anticipation.

"This is the first match we're looking at without Ansel's signature Vigoroth! It'll be exciting to see what these two have to offer!" The audience was in awe with the adorableness of the Togedemaru.

"In the Red Corner, Ansel, Anesi, and Paragoria!"

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"Five minutes on the clock! And begin!"

Daniel wasted no time in making the first move. "Plusle, Honchkrow, let's show them the meaning of Fatal Attraction!"

Fatal Attraction was a combination developed especially for contest battles. It looked incredible, delivered a debilitating status effect, and did damage, so it was a strong way to start.

Plusle used attract, conjuring up waves of shimmering pink hearts, before Honchkrow used payback on the hearts, turning them bright purple, and giving them a slight glow, as they flew toward the targets.

 

[todoroki]

"Anesi, hop on Pari's back, Pari, Fly!" The Braviary flew up into the air, his leg getting hit a smudge by the attack, making him struggle to balance. Ansel sweated profusely, unsure what to do. "Anesi, Charge Beam on Honchkrow!"

The Roly-Poly Pokémon emitted electricity towards the Dark/Flying type, charging up her own Special Attack. Pari regained himself and gracefully swooped down, the Togedemaru balling up and landing adorably.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

The combination this time didn't seem to have done much, but it was better than nothing. A small chunk of Ansel's points were taken away, while Daniel's counter remained intact.

The coordinator didn't panic at all when the charge beam came towards Honchkrow. Thanks to Plusle's lightningrod ability, the charge beam was absorbed by the tiny pokemon, with no harm done, once again, resulting in a drop in Ansel's points.

"Now, Plusle, use swift on Anesi! Honchkrow, take care of the braviary with psychic!"

 

[todoroki]

Paragoria dropped to the ground after the Psychic. Clearly, he was out of practice. Anesi on the other hand, continued tanking all the hits, the Swift doing next to nothing.

"Braviary, Roost, Anesi, Discharge!" Ansel commanded. Bravairy took a breather, a feather or two dropping at his side. Yellow electricity formed around the Togedemaru, then zapped towards not only Plusle and Honchkrow, but Paragoria as well. Still, the Roost made Paragoria take much less damage than he would have.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Once again, Plusle's lightningrod ability came into play, completely absorbing the discharge. For making that mistake again, Ansel's points dropped once more, leaving nearly half of his points gone, at the two-and-a-half minute mark, while Daniel's stayed intact, at least, until he had his breviary use roost, thus rendering one of the disabled coordinator's moves ineffective. A small chunk of Daniel's points was shaved off for it. It wasn't much, but he couldn't afford to let himself lose more points, and put himself equal to, or behind, Ansel.

"Now, Plusle, Honchkrow, let's go into our shooting star combination!"

Honchkrow used sky attack, making himself glow with a soft white light, while Plusle used swift. The stars followed Honchkrow, tailing him, as he flew towards the opposing pokemon.

 

[SaiyanDakon]

Glacier watched the battle intensely and a small grin began to form. "Heh...Daniel. Win this one. For Unova. For Kemen." He muttered under his breath then crossed his arms.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

After a tight bout, the battle finally drew to a close, with Daniel being declared the winner, and then, after an even tighter bout, the coordinator finally received his final win. His final ribbon, and with it, the opportunity to achieve his dream.

"Now, our inspirational coordinator might just pull off a big win at the grand festival!" the presenter announced, as the coordinator held up his ribbon, "We look forward to seeing you there, Daniel!"

Kemen went teary-eyed at the display. "Mi amor...You've finaly done it!"

 

[Cryronn the Mudkip]

Daymon grinned, and cheered along with the audience. “Hehe!!! Yeah!!!” He laughed, Reyna doing the same.
They walked out into the hall and this time, Reyna made the sign because, you know... Nova. She’s younger. She needs to have things censored. “Oi! Everyone get over here!” Daymon yelled, Marshtomp eating the rest of his popcorn behind him.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Daniel changed back into his streetwear in a hurry, letting Lopunny push him out front, to meet everyone else. Kemen greeted him with a flurry of kisses, lifting him out of the wheelchair so he could carry him bridal style.

"You were incredible, mi amor! Oh, it'll only be a little longer before you'll not just be my bride, but my top coordinator bride, too!"

Daniel's face flushed, aa he buried his face in the crook of his neck. "Do you have to do this in front of our friends?"