Of iPods and Eyeglasses (Private RP)

[Snapdragon]

((Yeah. Private RP. Which means you're not cool enough to play with us. :< But you can bask in the greatness that is Kadence and Chi if you like. :3))

The arena was dead silent. After a long pause, the audience burst to life, screaming and clapping like their hands would fall off. Above the noise, the loudspeakers came to life with the enthusiastic voice of the announcer. "Lucario has fainted! The round goes to Kadence Virelai and Solenne! Kadence, we'll see you in the finals! Let's give it up to Johto's boy wonder, folks! There will be a short five-minute break now as the finalists prepare their Pokemon, so feel free to visit our washrooms or concession stand. Souvenirs will be available in the lobby..."

Contests were rarely quiet affairs. Even during intermissions, the excited babble of the departing crowd and the babble over the loudspeakers remained at a dull roar. Even so, Kadence Virelai had barely heard any of it. A faint beat could be heard pulsating from the headphones he wore as his opponent returned her fallen Lucario. He crossed the battlefield, stopping halfway to give his Kirlia an affectionate pat on the head. "Pretty badass, Solenne. Y'did great." Solenne said nothing in response, just smirked and adjusted the yellow bandana around his neck. Kade chuckled, then continued on to his opponent. She was smiling sadly down at the pokeball that contained her fallen Lucario. "Hey... good match. Your Lucario really gave Solenne a run for his money out there."

The girl looked up and grinned, then extended a hand. Kade shook it and returned her smile. "Yeah... you just wait until next time. Things'll be different, wait and see!"

"Heh... I wouldn't be too sure of that. I look forward to facing you again, either way." With a shrug, Kade motioned for Solenne to follow, then made his way backstage.

Of course, the backstage area of a contest was never half as glamorous as the stage. They did have a monitor that showed matches as they went on, as well as showing the current rankings, and that was more than enough for Kade. It currently showed the remaining two trainers: his face, and some redhaired girl whose name he hadn't caught. He had seen some of her matches, and as far as he could tell, she knew what she was doing. "This oughta be interesting, in the least. C'mere, Solenne." Preparations for the next round were a simple affair. A Full Restore for Solenne, last-minute adjustment of his yellow bandana, as well as the green and red bands around his wrist, and then let the Kirlia do some meditating while he picked out a song to listen to for the upcoming battle.

It seemed as if barely any time had passed before the announcement calling Kadence to the stage broke into his thoughts. "Ready, Solenne?" The Kirlia nodded as the two stood up and made their way to the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here it is! The moment we've been waiting for! Hearthome's contest champion will be decided with this match. In the first corner, give it up for Kadence Virelai!" Obligatory cheers, whistles, waving of signs, and all that jazz. Kade waved to the crowd with typical relaxed ease, casual to the last.

"Ready, Solenne?"

Always, Kade, always. Solenne grinned, then released a tiny blue spark. It drifted out to the battlefield, then seemed to fade from view. Solenne likewise vanished from view, just seconds before the dying little spark exploded into a dazzling swirl of ethereal blue flame. Solenne teleported into the middle of it, dispelling the Will O' Wisp with a neatly executed turn and finishing in a defensive stance. The crowd may have already seem Solenne battle, but first impressions were never to be underestimated. Style was everything in a contest, after all, and it couldn't hurt to have an edge over the opponent.

Not that Solenne really needed it. Kade knew the importance of a strong pedigree, and it showed in Solenne's case. Just looking at him, it was obvious; long-limbed, lithe, but not fragile. A natural poise that could only come from generations of contest champions. And, of course, the coda beneath his eye and the scarves he wore certainly didn't hinter his cool image. As far as Kadence was concerned... Solenne was born for the stage; he couldn't lose at what he did best.

 

[Sami]

As the boy with the bright blue headphones fell the foe Lucario, a girl sat watching the large screen that was provided in the waiting room for other Contestants. Sitting contently on a chair, her legs were crossed as the foot supsended in air swayed idly. Eyes of jade were locked onto the screen, viewing over the competition. With a blink, the vivid eyes moved to a furry figure next to her. "Think you can handle that, Shiro?" Green orbs looked over the creature, a Zangoose, who stood proud and groomed to perfection. With a fanged grin, Shiro rolled his slitted eyes. Who did Chi think he was, some weakling? He was always up for a good match.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here it is! The moment we've been waiting for! Hearthome's contest champion will be decided with this match. In the first corner, give it up for Kadence Virelai!"

As the announcment blared, Kichi stood up, wedged heels adding height to the normally not so tall Chi. With Shiro following behind her, she left the waiting room, making her way to the stage, ignoring the eyes of many a male. With quite the poker face, she disregarded the stares that her outfit earned her as she only needed to wait a few moments before it was her turn to accompany this Kadence boy on the stage. Shiro leaned idly against the wall, waiting as he anxiously flexed his long, black claws. This was going to be a blast, win or lose. Well...of course, he always strived for the win, but you might as well have some fun when you were out on the stage, right?

"And in our second corner, Hoenn's very own girl, Kichi Junsui! It's time to find out who our next Champion will be here at the Hearthome Stadium and who will take home this lovely ribbon!" The announcer who stood in the middle of the stage held up a large, ornament ribbon, which was zoomed upon and enlarged on the big screen that hung on the wall above the battle stage. The usual cheering and wild on-going of fans for either person screamed to their hearts content, though one could hear the male population of the crowd being escepially roudy upon Chi's entrance.

At first, it seemed as though Chi was walking out onto the stage alone. Perphaps she intended to release from a capsuled Poke'ball? Not likely. The moment she stopped, a white streak shot out from behind her. The Zangoose had his claws extended and crossed, each glowing with a ghostly purple aura. The aura trailed out alongside and behind Shiro as he jumped clean over Kichi's head, spinning as he did so. The purple streaks from his claws creating a swirled effect as he landed on the ground, crouched only momentarily. With the aura drifting lazily downwards, the Zangoose spun on the ball of his foot and uncrossed his claws, breaking apart the rest of the Shadow Claw. As he came to a stop, he lifted a set of claws to the opposite side of his face, giving a puff of air to blow off a final remaining wisp of the shadowy aura. He might not have had fancy-shmancy moves like the little Psychic, but he wasn't about to be shown up by some tutu-wearing little ballerina doll, either. But hey, he did what he could.

"And there you have it folks, it looks like this battle will be between Kadence's Kirlia and Kichi's Zangoose. Both Poke'mon giving fine entries, each using their own skills to enhance their appeal to the crowd! Contestants, you have 10 minutes to battle and show your talent! Remember, if you run out of points, or your Poke'mon faints, then that's the end of the line! And should the time run out, whoever has the most points will be going home with the coveted Hearthome Ribbon!" The announcer gave a brief explanation of the rules as she was now on the sidelines, revving the crowd even more before the battle had even started.

"Contestants, whenever you're ready! You're time starts now!" The announcer lifted her hand as the crowd cheered, boiling over with energy. Not one to waste time, Chi made the first call. "Swords Dance into Razor Wind." Shiro was still close enough where she didn't need to heroically shout out her moves for the entire world to know.

The Zangoose began to move into a both elegant and deadly dance, claws extended as his movements were fluid, a technique practiced to perfection. Claws slicing thin air as he moved, his feet shifted subtly and sparsly during the dance. There were more twirls and movements in his arms rather than river-dancing all about. After a few moments of this, his spin seemed to have led him to go onto one knee. Both claws reaching back as far as their joints would allow, he brought them forward with simultaneously slashes until his claws were nearly touching. It seemed as though nothing had happened as he brought one claw to the ground, poised like a football player, muscles tense and awaiting his opponents move. Razor Wind did take awhile to kick in, you know.

 

[Snapdragon]

If Chi had been calling her moves out quietly, then Kade hadn't been calling them out at all. In fact, he didn't seem to be paying any sort of attention to the battle. He simply stood, eyes closed, head nodding subtly in time to the music. Of course, there was no way he could have overheard Chi's commands with his music as loud as it was. ...Good thing he was fighting with a psychic-type Pokemon, huh? Solenne hadn't moved in the slightest, completely unfazed by Shiro's entrance. A circle of white light had formed itself on the ground where he stood, however, mere seconds after his opponent appeared. Thin rays of light erupted from the ground, weaving themselves around Solenne's form with rapid speed. First white, then red, then gray... it took a moment before the image was complete: a glowing frame of a Zangoose, which raised its claws and smirked before dissolving into tiny little sparks and fading. The crowd let out a small "ooh" at the little display; not very many Pokemon had the ability Trace, so it made for a nice little show before Solenne had even made a move.

Well... now there wasn't much worry about Solenne getting poisoned, but that wasn't really a problem to begin with. Kade... Swords Dance, then Razor Wind. Beats me why she would start off with a special attack, but... hey, how does a Zangoose know Razor Wind, anyway?

Kade smiled at Solenne, responding to the telepathic enquiry with a thought of his own. You're talking to a breeder, pal. That's an egg move, Sol, that's how. Floatzel, Absol... hm, maybe a Nuzleaf. If it was an Absol, expect a Night Slash.

Duly noted. So what's the plan?

Simple. You're gonly gonna have problems if he pulls another Swords Dance, and I know he learns Embargo, Detect, and Taunt... so Taunt him before he does it to you, and slow him down a little, got it? Zangoose's special attack is piddles, so you can just soak up one Razor Wind, right?

Heh, who do yo think you're talking to, Kade? Of course I will.

Kadence raised one arm, pointing towards Shiro, then snapped his fingers. Solenne mimicked Shiro's stance on the ground, though instead of whipping up a Razor Wind, he let out a swift shockwave of electricity. If Zangeese depended on speed and muscle to win, then he'd take away this one's speed with a Thunder Wave. And just in case if he wanted to get tricky, too... Solenne adopted a ballet stance, twirled once, then delicately pirouetted over and planted a kiss on the taller Pokemon's cheek. He batted his eyelashes mockingly, then grinned, planting a single thought into the Zangoose's head. I've faced a lot of Zangeese before, but never one who was trained by a stripper. She must have been the one who taught you how to dance.

It might have seemed a bit foolish for such a delicate Pokemon as a Kirlia to use Taunt, considering that it wouldn't be able to withstand many hits from a Zangoose. Especially if he was getting within smooching distance. But this was Solenne we were talking about. He finished with an audacious wink, then teleported behind the paralyzed Zangoose, smiling at the audience before giving Shiro a swift kick in the tail and teleporting out of clawing range once more. His little antics had earned a good laugh from the audience, which was always a plus. Kadence was probably going to want him to keep his distance for this match; they already knew that Shiro had Shadow Claw, and there were also the threats of Fury Cutter, Pursuit, X-Scissor, or a possible Night Slash. Zangoose was stronger, faster, and tougher than Kirlia, in terms of species, so the odds were stacked against Kadence from the start. Given Solenne's lack of fighting-type moves, he'd just have to be smarter than his opponent. Take away his advantages, and be better at milking the crowd. Make them laugh with the girly act, make the Zangoose seem the fool, then wow them with his skill. So far, so good. Of course, he could feel a breeze starting to pick up, which reminded him...

Kade... Razor Wind's coming.

Oh, fine. If you're worried, Protect.

Still looking utterly unfazed, Solenne raised an arm. A glowing green barrier immediately sprang to life, just as a savage wind tore through the arena, earning gasps from the crowd. Solenne may have been spared damage from the move, but the Protect had distracted him from his opponent, and even a paralyzed Zangoose isn't something to be taken very lightly.

 

[Sami]

As the ripple of electricity came Shiro's way, well now, he was built for speed, so this wasn't much of a problem. Sharp eyes staring at the Thunder Wave as it came closer and closer then...now. With a simple shift of his body, the shockwave passed him by. Of course, that little tutu puff of a Poke'mon wouldn't have realized it missed, since it seemed to be balleting about on over to him. But, why let him know that he missed? Playing someone who thought they had the upper hand was much fun. He was a little suprised that the Kirlia had the guts to come on over, and Shiro almost wanted to Shadow Claw him right then and there. But oh, he was 'supposedly' paralyzed, right? Better play along - eh?

"Stripper?" He muttered to himself as he looked to the Kirlia, bewildered and let out a snort. Did he just call Kichi...a stripper? Shiro resisted the urge to laugh, but never the less, no-one called his trainer a stripper and didn't take his claws to the face! As soon as he felt his Razor Wind he looked up at the Kirlia. A Protect huh? Perfect! Slitted eyes looked back to Chi, who had a smile similar to his on her face.

What an odd boy, but he must've been communicating with his Kirlia though Psychic powers. She had read about that before, it seemed like a rather unique stragety, but to keep his eyes closed? Now now, that was just getting cocky. "Give him a Shadow Claw." Kichi looked to the Zangoose as he nodded, legs briefly moving before he shot forward like an arrow.

The battlestage was illuminated still by the green light of the protect as he darted to the side. With a foot skidding on the ground as he turned, he leapt forward, coming at Solenne's side just as the Protect was starting to fade. One set of claws reeled back and glowing with the haunting aura of the Ghost move, he brought them forward and down. His other set of claws were also fuming the ghostly energy, but he had other plans for them, just in case.

Chi stood looking to the battlefield, her faced having returned to an emotionless canvas. Jade eyes searched over the scene unfolding in front of her as her mind ticked through the countless possibilities, coming up with counters and strategies for every one that posed a threat. Arms hung limply at her sides as she gave no tells about her mood or thoughts.

Shiro on the other hand, wore a wild cross between a smile and a grin. Just before he was about to make contact, his wild smile widened. Eyes were furrowed, but within them shimmered excitement of the thrill that a battle provides.

"I don't usually hit girls, but for you I'll make an exception!"

To the humans, Shiro was merely saying redundant lines of his species name, but to Solenne, it would sound as natural as human speech. His ears were pinned back against his head as the crowd was on the edge of their seats. Time seemed to stand still as the Zangoose and Kirlia were a mere inch apart from one another.

 

[Snapdragon]

Solenne barely had time to think? Hadn't he paralyzed that Zangoose? There was no way he should be able to move that quickly. And it probably wasn't all that smart to waste precious seconds pondering that when Shiro was coming at him with a Shadow Claw. Direct hit. Solenne stood still, a look of surprise slowly stealing across his face, then he staggered back a few paces and collapsed. A gasp arose from the audience as the delicate psychic hit the ground. Even Kade opened his eyes, brows furrowing as Solenne's mental link was abruptly cut short. That was from one hit...? Okay, safe to say that this girl's Zangoose had a level advantage over Solenne. He could tell the audience was raptly focused on Solenne, waiting with baited breath to see if he would get back up, but Kade's eyes were on Chi. ...Wow. Talk about robotic. It was a good thing the judges weren't marking her on her stage presence instead of her Zangoose.

A soft murmur began rippling through the crowd as Solenne stirred. With a soft groan, he pushed himself onto one knee, red eyes locked on Shiro. This guy wasn't kidding around--as much as Sol hated to admit it, he wouldn't be able to withstand too many of those Shadow Claws. His Thunder Wave had failed, too. Solenne may have been quick, but he knew he wouldn't be beating Shiro in a foot race anytime soon. Still... contests weren't about who was faster, were they? It was all about working the crowd, in the end, and even if the odds were against him, Solenne aimed to give them a good show. He raised an arm to the crowd--the fingerless Pokemon's equivalent to a thumbs-up--to let them know that he was okay, which earned him a cheer from Kaden's fans.

And then... strangely enough... Solenne laughed. He rose to his feet with only the slightest hint of a sway, then curtsied to Shiro. Girl...? It wasn't the first time some clueless idiot had made that mistake, and it wasn't gonna be the last. No matter how many times he was mistaken for a girl, it still ticked Sol off... but the stage was no place to go losing his cool, was it? Solenne decided to abandon his usual telepathy and speak in response. The crowd wouldn't understand him any more than they had his opponent, but that didn't matter; with a little luck, Shiro would get the hint once he heard the Kirlia's surprisingly deep voice. "And I don't usually pick on blind Pokemon, but I'll make an exception for you, too. Ready to eat your words, Zangoose?"

Even if Kade was no better at understanding the language of Pokemon than any other person, he couldn't help smiling. That was his Sol, alright; no matter how hard a hit he took, everything was about playing it up for the audience. Hey, Solenne...? This guy's obviously a melee fighter. On the off-chance he's got anything that can hit from a distance, it won't be able to stand up to your special attacks. If this Chi girl's got any sense, she's gonna have him come at you fast, and not let up until you're down.

Hmph. So what's your plan then, oh wise one?

Give as good as you get. Let's test the waters first, okay? See if she plays it like I think she will. Get out of that Zangoose's face, then give him a Magical Leaf. That one's always a crowd-pleaser.

Kade once again closed his eyes, apparently lost in his music. Still, he let out a low whistle and jerked his head to the side. Solenne nodded, then teleported a fair distance away from Shiro. With the Zangoose's speed being what it was, he was going to have to rely on his teleportation just to keep up. No sooner had Solenne reappeared than he went into a spin. A flurry of Technicolor leaves shot out from his twirling form, slowly drifting down in a delicate shower of color before they seemed to come to life and streak towards Shiro like prismatic arrows. Hah... good luck outrunning that, Gonzales.

 

[Sami]

Emerald eyes flicked to the large digital timer that loomed above both consestants head. 8 minutes left. Kaden was leading in points, dispite the chunk that had been removed due to that Shadow Claw. Looking back to the battle stage as the Kirlia got up, her eyes noted the effect that one solid hit did. This battle could go either way. It could be hers if she managed a KO, but it could easily go to Kaden who was good with the crowd if she took to long. Watching as the Psychic teleported a good distance away, her mind frowned, though nothing showed on her face.

"Wow! What a hit and Kirlia is back up with a reassuring sign that he isn't out yet! Oh, and it looks like Kirlia has launched a powerful Magical Leaf! How will Zangoose get out of this one?"

The announcer lady blared on her microphone as Chi looked to Shiro. Locking eyes, the faintest hints of a smile were on her face as she nodded. Shiro stood perfectly poised even as the Magical Leaves drifted down lazily. Lifting one claw, he flexed the two black talons before swiping them in the air. One slash to the left and up, the other to the right and down. It was as though he was tracing an 'x' in the air. The crowd didn't quite know what the Zangoose was doing, but they let out cheers as the Magical Leaves shot forward.

Moving her arms finally, she shifted her weight to one foot, which caused one hip to slightly sway to the side. Brushing strawberry bangs out of her jade eyes, she brought that same hand to the bridge of her nose. Almost as though she was going to push a pair of none exsistant glasses up with her index and middle fingers, she instead rubbed them against the red line that ran acrossed the bridge of her nose. "Gun it, Shiro!" Her smile widened as the hand lowered to place itself upon her hip. With that the Zangoose was off, heading straight for the leaves.

The crowd looked baffled and amazed. He was charging straight into it! Claws fully extended, Shiro was doing a rather nice job of deflecting them as they came, each leave being cut into technicolor shreds. The shreds fell to the ground, leaving a rather nice effect as he continued to barrel through the barrage. He didn't appear to mind the white tufts of fur that also lazily drifted to the ground. Feeling the sting of the attack against his skin on his cheek, shoulders and a few on his legs, he continued to plow through until the leaves stopped coming. It took longer than he thought to plow through the attack, this Kirlia wasn't bad at all!

Once the leaves were done coming, all that stood was Shiro and Solenne on a battlefield littered with white-red fur and shredded leaves. Instead of rushing from where he was, the Zangoose looked to the Kirlia with a smile as the wind swayed his ears forward. Chi's eyes once more flicked to the screen above momentarily. 6 minutes left, and that stunt had taken a good chunk from both contestants points. Chi's for taking damage, and Kaden's for having his attack partially deflected. Going back to the battlefield the ground started to whisper again as Shiro didn't budge.

"Up and over." Chi's voice could be heard after a few moments. With a smirk, he leapt back, but very high into the air. His body flipped as he did so, a rather large Razor Wind plowing through the battlefield underneath him, in the shape of an 'x'. The crowd let out a massive cheer as it finally clicked with them what he had been doing before. He started the Razor Wind before and used the time he needed to wait to contend with the Magical Leaf attack. Of course, being temporarily airborne as he sailed over his own attack left him vunerable, but he wouldn't be airborn much longer.

"What a move! Zangoose deflected a good deal of the Magical Leaves with his claws! That might hurt Kadence's points! That's fast for you, but he also took a good amount of damage, and that's definately going to lower Kichi's scores! And what's this! The stage has been suddenly swept up in Zangoose's Razor Wind!"

Kichi looked to the announcer with a slightly annoyed look. Well done, Captain Obvious. The girl looked back to the battlefield as her mind began to shift gears. She definately couldn't underestimate this boy, he knew what he was doing...and that didn't bode well for her. But hey, only time would tell how this battle was to go...and they only had 4 minutes left.

 

[Snapdragon]

Solenne... question. What's this Zangoose doing, exactly? Kadence's headphones drowned out whatever orders Chi was giving out, so he simply relied on the psychic to relay back her commands. Or just react accordingly, in tense situations where such a process would prove entirely too cumbersome. In this case, however, Solenne just shrugged. Shiro's strange gesture hadn't been a Swords Dance, since he'd fell for the earlier Taunt, but it wasn't an X-Scissor, either. Was he just trying to fake Solenne out, then? Solenne backed up a pace as Shiro charged right through his Magical Leaf. Hmph... this Zangoose was really proving to be a pain. Still, he had very little sense for the crowd; that was the one advantage Solenne had. If he avoided any more hits, there was a chance he could pull off a win through that alone. Of course, if Shiro was so strong that he didn't think twice about plowing his way through Solenne's attacks, then that meant the Kirlia had quite the job in front of him.

"Wait a..." Kade swore under his breath as the charging Zangoose suddenly leapt back, the Razor Wind rushing in out of nowhere. There would be no time to Protect against this one. Momentarily forgetting about the mental link, Kadence extended a hand and announced Solenne's next move. "High time you showed 'em just what your bloodline's worth, Solenne! Get in there with a Psychic!" A risky order; it wasn't all that long ago that Solenne learned how to use a regular Psychic. They'd spent hours refining his technique, but this was a high pressure situation, and with so little time...

Right on cue, Solenne's eyes took on a blue glow, with the pale aura spreading to the rest of his body. It seemed as though the move were about to fail, though; the halo of light around his body seemed to flicker for a second, then faded. It sprung right back to life, though only around his left hand. With a grin, Solenne charged forward, straight towards the incoming Razor Wind. He lashed out with his glowing hand, as if swiping with an invisible pair of claws. A cometlike tail of blue light trailed behind, slashing through the Razor Wind and diverting the worst of the attack. Solenne just grit his teeth and ran right through the remainder, flicking his hand out and to the side. Focus, gather it... hone it. With a shimmer of light, the aura seemed to take form, shooting out over his wrist and coming to a point. A wave of noise washed over the crowd, and the announcer lady took that moment to once again point out the obvious.

"A clever sneak attack from Zangoose, but Kirlia's still going! Even more surprising is the fact that Kirlia has turned his psychic into some sort of energy blade! This might give Kirlia the upper hand, but can he survive fighting up-close against something as quick as Kichi's Zangoose?"

"He can and will." Kadence rolled his eyes. Most contest newbies failed to see Solenne's trademark move coming; it was a trait exclusive to the line of Gardevoirs that had sired him, after all. However, said Gardevoirs had all been contest champions, meaning that coordinators who knew their stuff would recognize the tactic. Besides which... Solenne's bloodline came from Hoenn, and unless he was mistaken... Chi came from Hoenn, too. There was the chance she had already encountered a Gardevoir capable of this particular strategy. If they had any hope of using the element of surprise, better not to waste time.

Solenne also seemed to recognize the urgency of the situation; the match was over halfway over, they couldn't afford to be stalling. The Kirlia continued running straight for Shiro, but at the last second, went into a Teleport. He reappeared a second later behind the Zangoose and swung as hard as he could. Even if he only managed to get in one hit, he was gonna make it count!

 

[Sami]

Using Psychic like a blade...? Chi looked at the rushing Kirlia with interest. A very unique idea, though not to be mean, surely this boy hadn't come up with it on his own. It looked vaguely familiar, but she didn't have time to reminisce about it as the attack drew closer. Blinking, she suddenly realized why the Kirlia would pull such a bold move. "Shiro, Shadow Claw behind you!" The orders were called no more than a splite second before the Kirlia vanished. To late...?

Shiro spun on his heels, talons becoming alive with the purple wips of Shadow Claw. Slits widening as his head turned, it almost was like slow motion. Arm reeling back as the Kirlia's did so, it seemed as though he was but a mere second to late. Shiro took the Psychic full-on to the face, not the chest, not the shoulder. The face. Being caught off guard and at such and odd angle, the Zangoose was set to the side, skidding as he came to a stop.

"Zangoose is down! We have only but 30 seconds left on the clock! Will there be a surprise recovery?"

Chi really wished that Mrs. Obvious would shut her trap, it was distracting. Shiro stirred as Chi quickly flicked to her points, she was behind, but if she could KO this Kirlia, it would be all over. "Night Slash!" She called out as the Zangoose looked up. Starting from right where he was, he was on four legs, claws withdrawn before he rose to running on two feet. His pace was staggering as his claws extended, black auras swirling around only but one arm.

"Ten seconds!"

The Zangoose pulled back an arm and shot it forward, making a last second lunge for the Kirlia. To late. At the sound of the buzzer, white feet touched the ground, coming to an arupt halt. His eyes looked up at the large screen where the sound had come from, ear twitching. Arm still extended, his claws were only an inch in front and above Solenne's head. The obsidian flames of the Dark-type move still swirled around his arm that loomed in front of the Psychic.

"And that's it! Time is up! And the points say that Kadence Virelei is our winner! A close match but it had been decided, our new Hearthome Contest Champion is Kadence! Congratulations!"

Kichi was likewise looking up at the board with an emotionless face before she puffed a sigh, hands coming up and giving a shrug. "I suppose you can't win them all." She smiled to herself as she started for the center of the stage, where Shiro and Solenne stood. The crowd was going ballistic with the announcment of the winner.

The Zangoose looked to the stage, then to Kichi who was headed over, then down at Solenne. Suddenly remembering his claws that were in the poor Psychic's face, he pulled his arm back. With a wave, he dispelled the Night Slash's power. Patting the Kirlia on the head, his claws were withdrawn as he smiled to the Psychic, rubbing the side of his own head with his other paw. "Nice move, kid. Sorry about confusing you for a chick, there." He ruffled Sol's green hair before he looked up at Chi, who had finally made her way over to Shiro. Her hand came down as she scratched behind Shiro's furry, red ear. "Nice try, Shiro. Maybe next time." Emerald eyes then flicked down to Solenne.

Crouching down to the Kirlia's height she gave a small smile at the Poke'mon. "Nice show out there, Solenne, was it? A pleasure battling and watching you." Shiro stood a bit off to the side, moving a shoulder in a circular motion, one paw rubbing it at the same time. He had landed on it pretty hard just moments ago. His shoulder gave a 'crickling' sound as he rolled it, moving his neck side to side. Nothing like stretching the muscles after a good battle.

 

[Snapdragon]

That... was close. Solenne had raised his arm instinctively to block the Night Slash, but the moment the blade came near the dark-type flames, it broke down into a shower of blue sparks and died completely. Stupid dark-type immunity. Luck was on Solenne's side this time, though; the buzzer rang out just in the nick of time. In spite of himself, Solenne breathed a sigh of relief. Honestly... there was no way he would have survived if that Night Slash had hit. Kadence had been right about this Zangoose being bred from an Absol, by the looks of things. Sol's face momentarily creased into an annoyed pout as the Zangoose ruffled his hair--it was a good thing he'd been entered in the smart category this time, not the cool one, or he'd never have lived that down. He had an image to maintain, thank you! "Consider this win revenge for the chick thing. We're even now, Zangoose. And y'know... you weren't so bad out there, yourself."

Having said his piece to the opponent, Solenne bowed to Chi--nice of her to recognize his efforts, really. "Kiih... Kirlia, kii." It was a pity that mental connections with people he wasn't familiar with were so tricky. She probably got the drift, anyway. Sol's next bow was to the audience. He knew that most of his win had come from his ability to please the crowd, so in a way... they deserved props, too. Kadence, seeing Sol pulling his bows, finally lifted his headphones from his ears, resting them around his neck as he glanced over to the screen.

"Oh... it's over, huh? Awesome, we won." Kadence muttered, sauntering his way on over to the center of the battlefield. He shot Chi a smile, then extended one gloved hand. "Hey... Chi, right? Kade Virelai." Y'know, as if his name hadn't already been made apparent by the announcer mentioning it five or so times. But really... if people had to call him anything, better Kade than Kadence. "It was a real pleasure facing you. I was hoping that I'd be up against a real challenge in the finals, and you and..." What had she called her Zangoose? He hadn't heard a single word. He glanced over to Solenne, who rolled his eyes and mentally filled in the blanks.

His name is Shiro. You've got to turn your music down during appeals, Kade. You're too cocky for your own good.

Heh... this coming from Solenne?

"You and Shiro really granted that wish. It won't be that close next time, though, so... stay on your toes, alright?" A gentle nudge to his knee brought Kade's focus down to Solenne. He chuckled and pulled the headphones off his neck, handing them over to the Kirlia. Solenne held them over his ears, the band resting at the back of his head. The problem with big orange horns in your head? They don't really accomidate phones. Thanks to the virtues of a mental link, Kade's next words came in crystal clear over the loud music. And you, buddy... you were amazing. It was obvious that Shiro's on a whole other level than you in terms of experience, and Zangeese are stronger, faster, and tougher than Kirlias.

Yeah... too bad they aren't smarter.

Now who was it that was warning me about being too cocky? The underdog might have won this time, but it was by the skin of your teeth, Solenne.

So? Risks get the crowd excited. The only fall I took, I faked it being worse than it was.

Suuure, Sol, suuure. You've got a bigger ego than Forte sometimes, I swear.

Solenne rolled his eyes again, but with a smile on his face. Yeah, but I've earned the right to be vain. Another day, another ribbon. It's almost a shame we're never gonna see this girl again. Oh, that reminds me...! The Kirlia lowered the headphones and took a few steps forward, muttering to Shiro. He might have been arrogant, but he wasn't necessarily mean. Blame it on the whole "the Ralts line are all empaths" thing. Instincts or whatever. "Uh, hey... listen. That stuff I said about your coordinator and your dancing and stuff? I didn't mean it. Just... for the record, y'know." It wasn't too likely he'd be facing this Kichi again, but still... Kade always said that it was a good idea to leave on a good note. Just in case one of the coordinators they faced knew several buff men with baseball bats named Vinnie.

Of course, recalling his coordinator's saying always brought a smile to Solenne's face. The first time Kade has said it, it had kept Andante confused for about thirty minutes. No, the bats weren't named Vinnie. The thugs were named Vinnie. Yes, all of them were named Vinnie. They were part of the "Vinnies with bats" club. Heh... it was a good thing that Kade had chosen him to fight, not Dante. The Quilava would probably be quizzing Shiro on if Chi had any friends named Vinnie right about then.

---

"Ohh... sounds tough. Say, she didn't--"

"No, Andante, she didn't know anyone named Vinnie." Could Solenne call 'em or could he call 'em? The ribbons had been awarded, the coordinators had changed back into their ordinary clothes, and Sol had been healed up to new. Andante had, as usual, forced his way out of his pokeball the minute the contest was over to grill Solenne on all the details he could. As Kadence was finishing smoothing out Sol's green hair, the Quilava had his paws up on Sol's lap, grinning with all the eagerness of a puppy.

"That's good... great, even. So did they give you balloons for winning this time? I remember one time I won at Hearthome and they gave me some red balloons and they were really fun. But then some of them got away and Marzy didn't catch them in time and I accidentally sat on the other one. Do you remember that, Sol?"

"...No."

"Oh. Well, I do. I was pretty sad, but then Marzy brought back one of the balloons and Kade patted me on the head and that was really nice of them."

"Okay, Sol. I hate to interrupt, but you're all done. You want back in the pokeball, or are you gonna stick around with me and Dante?" Kade spoke up as he gave Solenne's bandana a final adjustment. There, just perfect. Solenne shot Kadence a look, then all but dove for his pokeball. Kadence couldn't help laughing as the Kirlia vanished in the usual burst of red light, leaving a vaguely bemused Andante. "Don't worry about it, buddy. Shall we get going?"

"Quiiih!" Dante cried, leaping up onto Dante's lap and scrambling up onto his shoulder. He was in his place, all was right with the world, there was another pretty ribbon in Kade's case; this was a good, good day. Andante could barely keep from laughing as Kadence stood up and headed for the backstage exit. That little lurch of his trainer's shifting balance was always kinda fun, in its own small way, and it was easy to be happy about little stuff when you were already happy about big stuff. The whole world was waiting, so may as well face it grinning like a spaz.

 

[Sami]

Shiro gave the Kirlia a grin, showing off his fangs. Ah well, he never did do good battling under a time limit anyhow. He stood a bit off to the side as Chi was standing up from the Kirlia. Looking to the gloved hand momentarily, she finally reached out and accepted the handshake. "Will do, Kade." She smiled slightly before releasing her rather delicate grip. Her grip really didn't match her appearance, which breathed 'femme fatale' and her grip was slightly above fragile.

Her hand then moved to her side, idly scratching Shiro behind his crimson ear again as he closed his eyes. The Zangoose gave out a strange cross between a purr and a growl as the Kirlia came over. "Oh, don't worry about it. I know you weren't serious. Had me going though, I'll give ya' that." He opened one of his closed eyes with a smile on his furry face.

As the crowd was going ballistic, Chi and Shiro exited so Kaden and Solenne could claim their rightful prize. As they went back into the changing rooms, Shiro was given a good healing and a grooming before being returned to his Poke'ball.

"You were pretty good out there, Shiro. But you need to work on your appealing, I suppose Ai could help you with that."

"Zan...zangoose." The tone was gruff, and sounded slightly irritated.

"Yeah yeah, I know you don't like working with anyone other than Kuro, but still, Kuro can work with Ai and not be stubborn, so why can't you."

"Goose." He crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at Chi, which earned him a slight thwap upside the head.

"Don't give me that rubbish. Stubborn mule." Chi sighed as they watched on the screen provided along with other trainers as Kaden recieved his ribbon. Well, after a performance like that, he definately deserved it.

---

The ceremony was over and Chi was back into her normal attire. Already outside of the building, she had returned the Zangoose to the confines of his Poke'ball. In his place though, was a large, regal Arcanine. The Arcanine was Kouo, and he paws at the ground idly and gave a passerby a growl as Chi was rummaging through her bag.

"Kouo, be nice."

"Arcanine, arc..." He shot the same passerby, who was giving him an odd look, a rather dirty look of his own, eyebrows furrowed and teeth bared. His glistening fur was slightly bristled due to all the people that passed so closely to him and his trainer.

Finding what she was looking for, Chi produced a book from her bag as she went to pick up the black backpack, only to be interupted. A set of pearly white teeth came down and clamped themselves upon the book bag, Kouo tossing it effortlessly with good aim onto his back.

"I could've carried that, Kouo. Bah, never mind then." Kichi shrugged before she flipped open the small book with one hand and adjusted her glasses. Yes, glasses. Once wearing contacts, Chi's emerald eyes were now hidden behind a pair of rather dorky-looking glasses. The small slice on the bridge of her nose was also hidden by the pair of glasses. Putting her spare hand on Kouo, she patted him as she started walking, the Arcanine being used to navigate toward the backway of the Contest stage, less people to deal with back there. Eyes on her book, she absorbed what knowledge she could from the information filled pages. Of course, when one is looking at a book, they can't really watch where they are going, can they?

Kouo didn't seem to be paying much attention either, as he was busy growling at a group of people who passed him by. Neither seemed to notice the door opening right in front of Chi until it was just a tad to late. Eyes flicked up momentarily as to wonder why her light had suddenly been cut off only to find a steel door heading her way. Giving a tiny squeak, Chi collided with the door, falling backwards as her glasses flew off of her face, landing somewhere else. Her nose had gotten a solid 'thunk' into the door as a hand came up to rub it. Kouo had leapt a little ways back, fur bristling as he growled towards the door. The nerve, whatever punk just flung open that door was going to pay for hurting Chi, that they were!

"Owww! A-hey, next time, maybe open the door a little slower, neh?!" Kichi called towards the person behind the door as she was still on her rump on the ground. One hand held her up as the other was covering her face. Her baggy sweater took the oppurtunity to lop off of one shoulder as the Arcanine lowered his head to Chi's level, making sure she was alright. There was still a growl emitting from his throat as his eyes looked up towards the steel door, waiting to see just who it was. The black backpack had slide off his back and was behind his girl as a slight breeze carried through the area.

 

[Snapdragon]

Kadence's first thought was something along the lines of "huh, that's weird; I don't remember having a song on my playlist that goes 'thunk' at any point." Of course, that thought was quickly followed up by "probably because I don't have a song on my playlist that goes 'thunk' at any point." For a moment, he simply stood there, both trainer and Quilava glancing about with identical bemused expressions. It wasn't until he heard a voice speak up from behind the door that Kade actually thought to quit holding it open and puzzle out what had happened. So he did. Well, how about that. Some kid sitting on the floor holding their face and an unhappy-looking Arcanine. It didn't take Kade that long to put two and two together: whoops, he'd just sent some unlucky kid ass over teakettle with the door. Nice going, Kade. Real observant.

Of course, if Kadence had spent less time lamenting his obliviousness and more time actually observing, then he probably would have picked up on the fact that this random stranger wasn't exactly a stranger. Alas, he didn't quite make the connection between the femme fatale he'd faced onstage and Captain Frumpington of the Baggy Platoon. Even if Chi hadn't been covering her face with one hand, Kade was a very aesthetic person (aesthetic being a gentler word for shallow, in this case). It would never occur to him that a person would be content to abandon an eye-catching look for the sake of dressing like a bag lady.

Just because Kade assumed he was dealing with a stranger, though, didn't mean he was heartless. Up on his shoulders, Andante seemed just as dismayed to realize they'd gone and hurt somebody, even if it was accidentally. That Arcanine looked kinda mad, too--which just meant they'd have to apologize twice as hard! Kade and Dante both seemed to have the same thought; the second Kade stepped forward to help Chi up was the exact same moment that Andante decided to come to the rescue. It was a good thing that they weren't on the stage right then, as the Quilava was getting to be pretty big for Kade's shoulders, and his shifting around made for quite the awkward scene. Combine that with Kade's commentary (and Dante's nonstop stream of "Quiih quiill"), and I think you can make a pretty good mental image of that:

"Oh, jeez, sorry about that. I didn't see--ow, Dante, hold still, your foot's digging into my... whoa, I said hold still! You can say hi just fine from up--that's my hair, Dante, ease up! If you want down, just let me--watch the headphones, buddy, watch the headphones! Stop squirming, you're gonna fall off!"

Kadence didn't know how right he was. Andante had leaned forward just a little too far and felt his balance slipping. He impulsively tried to turn his fall into a jump by pushing off with his back legs, but that just resulted in him giving Kade a kick in the cheek on the way down. Andante was lucky; even if his attempt to jump failed, his instincts didn't; he curled up into a ball, bouncing off the floor once before unrolling into a belly-down sprawl in front of Chi and Kouo. As for Kade, the little kick wasn't enough to really hurt, but a forty-pound animal taking a nosedive off his face was enough to throw his balance a little. He staggered to regain his footing, and...

Crunch.

Kadence could hear the noise above his music. He ground to a complete halt, his forthcoming tirade about how monumentally uncool that whole thing was and how Dante needed to stop acting like a kid because he was trained for Cool contests, not Incredibly Lame contests and anyway there was no way he would be allowed to become a huge Typhlosion if he was gonna go treating Kade like furniture and showing a complete lack of self-control because he could hurt somebody with his carelessness and... just what was that crunching sound anyways? Kadence moved his feet and bent down, returning a moment later with a pair of tragically broken glasses in one hand and the remains of one of the lenses in the other. In the immortal words of Coda: oh shit, son.

"Uh... I really hope these weren't yours, kid."

 

[Sami]

Kichi looked up, orbs of emerald watching the blur of a boy and the blur of a Poke'mon fidget about. What was on his shoulders? She gave a squint before her ears gave the answer before her eyes, sounded like a Quilava to her. Weren't they a little big to be perched on someone's shoulder like a Murkrow? Her ears however, could not reconize Kaden's voice, since well...he hadn't really talked all that much in the contest battle. Plus the fact that the world had become full of giant blurs wasn't really helping either.

Once the Quilava was done nearly face-planting, saved only by gut reaction, Chi looked to the creature curiously. It was quite odd to see just a blur of deep blue and tan sprawled out in front of her, but a growl caught her attention. Kouo took a step closer, lips barely lifted as his fur was started to lift more. "Kouo, calm yourself. It was an accident. Sheesh." Since her eyes were a bit out of commision, the sound of crunching glass brought her sight back in the direction of Kade.

At his words, a sigh escaped from Chi, the girl finally taking the oppurtunity to stand up, here she had been sitting down the whole time. "I'm afraid they are...well, were." She looked up at what was the blur of the boys face before down at the glasses. "I suppose I'll just have to buy new ones, not really a big deal." She offered out her hands to relieve the boy of the broken spectacles. Of course, with no glasses on, the scar acrossed the bridge of her nose was perfectly visible. Compared to when she stood on the contest stage before him though, Kichi had also lost about 3 inches in height, due to no longer wearing a pair of heels. Plus, with the baggy sweater, one could easily mistake her for a boy with a ponytail, and it's actually happened to her before.

Standing in front of and slightly hovering over the fallen Quilava was Kouo, looking down in all his regal, intimidating glory. The Arcanine seemed to have baby blue eyes when one looked closely, but they looked more like ice than anything from how he was glaring down at Andante.

"Your trainer has alot of nerve, Quilava." The Arcanine's brow furrowed as his lip gave a slight curl. His tail gave an annoyed twitch and his ears a matching, irritable flick. A rather mild wind swept through the area, lightly swaying Kouo's fur and only adding to his regal appearance. One could see he had a silver chain hanging around his neck, partially covered in fluffy, yellow tinted fur. His ears also had small, sliver earrings that stood out against the firey orange fire. Two small earrings in his right ear, and one in his left. His mouth was curved downwards into a frown as his eyes drifted from Dante back up to Chi. A slight growl gurgled in the base of his throat. She was standing awful close to that ditz of a boy...

One of her hands retreated to pull up the shoulder of her sweater in a futile attempt to get it at least a bit normal. Nevertheless, the sweater refused to comply and simply lopped itself back off of her shoulder. This was going to be fun, the only real place that sold glasses in Sinnoh was Veilstone, oh joy. Well, it wouldn't be to long of a trip, missing a Contest wouldn't hurt. She still had her contacts, but oh, weren't those a joy to put in?

 

[Snapdragon]

Andante, as usual, completely and utterly failed to get the point. He gave Kouo a slightly puzzled smile, then shrugged and replied in typical cheery fashion. "Oh, yeah, Kade's the bravest person I know. I dunno how you can tell that just from him stepping on some glasses, but I guess you must be a really smart Arcanine. My daddy was an Arcanine, you know. I have eighty-seven brothers and sisters, but not all of them have an Arcanine for a daddy. My name's Andante, and uh... what was I--oh! Those glasses! We're really, really sorry, Arcanine! We didn't mean to step on them, or smack your trainer in the face with a door. It was all by accident. Yup. Hey--we both have earrings! I totally just saw that." Dante gave his head a good shake, making his own piercings jangle musically. "I bet you do Cool contests too. I have a charm like yours too, but it's on a collar and it's a music note not a... bunch of line thingies. If you had a red scarf on your leg, too, we could be twins! How cool would that be?"

Kadence, of course, completely tuned out the nonstop stream of "quiih quilava quill" coming out of Andante's mouth. He had bigger things to worry about, ie: the broken glasses in his hands. Even if it had been an accident, he felt terrible for doing it. If this poor guy didn't have contacts, he'd be stumbling around blind and lost and alone. No way Kade's conscience would let that happen. He may have been a shallow, cocky airhead, but he still had a heart. With his eyes still glued on the twisted frames, he spoke up. "Geez, kid, I'm really sorry. I shoulda been watching where I was going. Look, I'll make it up to you, I promise. I can... uh..."

Finally, his eyes slid upward as he handed back the shattered glasses, gaze settling on the face of the person he'd downed. Wait a... that mark in between the eyes. Where had he seen that before? Think, think... oh! Not ten minutes ago! But wait... that would mean this boy--uh, oops. That would mean this girl was the same one that he'd faced on the stage earlier. "Whoa, what happened to you?" Kade blurted without thinking, eyes going wide. "You used to be hot, what's up with this..." Mousy, shapeless getup? Yeah, that would make her feel waaay better about herself. Still... how could Chi do that to herself? What kind of girl wanted to be mistaken for a boy?

Kadence and Andante were a lot alike, both in terms of personality and IQ. It didn't take Kade too long to kick into superficial idiot mode. Maybe... Chi was bullied as a child. And she had all kinds of trauma and image issues thanks to it, so she hid her low self-esteem underneath heinous ill-fitting sweaters and ugly shoes and 1980's single librarian glasses. That provocative contest getup was just a plea for attention--"see, I'm beautiful, don't you crush me please" or something. That... that was so sad! There was no way he'd let pretty-Chi only survive as a stage persona. The proverbial good Samaritan in Kadence wasn't about to leave her bleeding and penniless on the side of the proverbial road, no... he was going to scoop her up, let her ride his proverbial donkey, and make the inner swan shine!

Step one? Get Harry Potter here some flattering new frames. Although he'd been too busy beating her face in with a door to ever see Chi wearing her old glasses, he had an instinct about such things: they were huge and ugly and terrible and it was probably for the best that he'd crushed them into oblivion. Kadence cleared his throat and picked up where he'd left off. "Like I was saying, Chi--" Please don't let him have called her a boy before his little revelation, oh please, that would be too awkward. "--I can't just leave you sightless after ruining your glasses. Let me buy you a replacement pair, it's the least I can do. You can still see good enough to walk, right? I can be like... your seeing eye Kade if you have trouble. Oh... you can tell it's me, right? I mean... you're not that blind, are you? Just semi-blind? On a scale of one to ten, ten being Helen Keller..."

A real charmer, that Kadence Virelai.

 

[Sami]

The Arcanine looked down at the Quilava with one quirked brow. For the love of Arceus, did this thing ever stop talking? He was nearly as bad as that time Shiro had gotten ahold of an energy drink. Listening to the Quilava continue to talke, Kouo took the oppurtunity to seat himself down. Well okay, it seemed as though this one was a wee bit to dense to realize that he wasn't exactly the friendliest thing around. As the Quilava, Andante, paused to shake his head, Kouo took the oppurtunity to introduce himself. He wasn't friendly, but he wasn't rude either.

"Andante, huh? The name's Kouo."

His voice didn't hold the slightest tone of any emotion as his eyes moved and were seemingly locked on Kichi protectively. Only when the Quilava started talking again did his baby blues advert thier gaze. Okay, he was worse than Shiro on caffiene. He seemed very scatter-brained, this Quilava. But still, if his father was an Arcanine, there had to be some good blood flowing within the talkative critter. When Dante had finished talking, Kouo could be seen giving the slightests of sighs. Whether it was out of boredom or relief, it was hard to tell. The Arcanine had quite the poker face.

At Kaden's first comment, Chi tilted her head. Oh dear, that bright blue blotch amongst dark brown hair...this was Kadence, wasn't it? And the second comment only served to confirm her thoughts. Geez...it always was awkward when someone commented on the differences between her normal look and contest get-up. Rolling her eyes, she looked towards a blurb that was a trashcan standing near the corner of the building. Walking over to it, she discarded the frames and broken glass that was once the lense of her spectacles. She knew her prescription, so she didn't need to keep the lenses or anything like that.

"Heh, this is more comfortable, that's all." Kichi gave her reasoning as she walked over, stopping at the black blob that was her backpack on the ground and scooping it up. "No worries, I have contacts somewhere. I wear them for mostly contests, their really uncomfortable though....so it's not like I'm blind or anything." Her tone was similar to Kouo's, expressionless, but it was more non-chalant. Unlike Kouo's tone, which was quite sharp dispite neutral.

The Arcanine looked over towards the boy as he started to speak about being Chi's little 'seeing-eye boy'. The nerve. But oh man, this boy didn't seem to be much better than the Quilava. He seemed just as scatter-brianed. Like trainer, like Poke'mon, he supposed. He watched as Chi had her back to Kaden and Dante, her head tilted up. She was putting in her contacts. Despite all her complaining, she was actually quite skilled at doing so. A few eyedrops and there, she was already done. And yet she always has to make an excuse not to wear them.

"Bleah..." Making an irritated sound, Chi put away the small contacts case and eyedrop liquid and wiped below her eyes before turning around. Blinking a few times, Kichi looked to Kaden. "There, all better. And it's okay, Veilstone is basically the only place in Sinnoh to get glasses, and that is a bit far to ask somebody else to go just for a pair of broken glasses." Chi put both straps of her backpack on as she was talking, looking around for something momentarily. "Oh, there it is." She bent at the knees to snatch up her little book.

"See, it was partially my fault as well, I was to busy reading instead of watching where I was walking." She waved the book for a moment before tucking it away in a small side-pocket of her pack. Chi gave another tug on the shoulder of her baggy sweater, even though it simply fell back down again. Kouo stood up and walked up to behind Kichi, looking quite like a bodyguard with how rigid he was standing. Ice blue eyes were locked suspiciously onto Kaden. He did appear to be just a harmless, kindhearted ditz for now...

"Oh, Kade, this is Kouo. Kouo this is Kadence, he was the one who owned the Kirlia that Shiro lost to today."

Chi's words actually caused a looked of mild surprise on the Arcanine. Seriously? This little scatter-brain and his side-kick Quilava were the ones who beat Shiro? Oh wait, that's right, they had run out of time, hadn't they? He didn't quite pick up all the details of the match from the Zangoose...huh, how about that? Guess Chi wasn't the only one who had two sides to her.

 

[Snapdragon]

Comfortable. Huh. That was always the excuse the frumpmasters gave. Did they think Kadence was uncomfortable in what he was wearing? Wearing clothes that fit was a lot more comfortable than dragging your sweater behind you everywhere you went, and you actually looked decent if you were in something proper. Kade just hoped Chi's contest attire meant that she would be a little open-minded to trying on something that wasn't four sizes too big. If she was going to be stubborn, then he'd just have to burn that beastly sweater next time she was busy onstage. The gears in Kade's head were already churning. Not too many dark colors, they'd wash her out... maybe some green would look nice with her eyes? She could do with some heels; being on the taller side, Kade was probably gonna have to look down on her no matter what, but a tiny thing like her could benefit from a few extra inches of height.

It probably says a lot about Kadence and his priorities that he was more ruffled over the "comfortable" comment than hearing that the next place to get glasses was all the way in Veilstone. He'd intended on staying in Hearthome and working on some more ribbons; Forte was going to be disappointed that he'd be missing out on another ribbon, but once Kadence got it into his mind to do something, he didn't let go of it so easily. May as well see the sights while he was in Sinnoh, anyway. Veilstone was supposed to be nice this time of year, and it had a great night life, from what he'd heard. Better than Hearthome's, anyway. The place was great for contests, but precious little else. It was too fluffy a city to be much fun. If that even made sense.

But Veilstone...? Probably the closest thing he'd find to Goldenrod while he was in Sinnoh. Not as big as Jubilife, but definitely more exciting than Twinleaf or Solaceon or whatever. Might be fun to scope out the Game Corner there, too. Any place that let children get away with gambling was okay in his books. But more importantly than gambling, Veilstone had the biggest department store in Sinnoh. Chi may as well just have written out a formal invitation asking Kadence to drag her into an unwilling makeover.

Oh, Kade was gonna have some fun with that.

"Veilstone? Really? I was planning to head to Veilstone next. The contest's over and I don't have any Pokemon worthy of Pal Park, so there's no point sticking around Hearthome, right?" Kadence shrugged, then called Dante back to his side with a low whistle. Dante braced himself and jumped, but instead of letting him clamber back onto his shoulders, Kade simply caught the Quilava and held onto him. "Not this time, buddy. Don't want any more mishaps going down." Of course, Andante was equally happy to be in Kade's arms as he was on his shoulders. Or standing near him. Or standing pretty much anywhere, actually. That was just Dante's nature.

"Is there anything you need before we go? I figure there's no time like the present, and if you don't like contacts that much, you're probably dying to get your hands on a new pair of glasses. It's kind of a shame, though. You'd get used to them eventually, and you don't look half bad with contacts. It's a lot easier to notice the color of a person's eyes when they aren't hiding behind frames. I... guess it does kind of make that mark on your face stand out, though. How'd you get that, anyways? Don't tell me I'm not the first one to plow you in the face with a door."

Yeah, definitely a lot in common with Andante. Who, by the way, looked just as pleased at the idea of having some company for the road. He really, really liked his family, don't get him wrong, but having along new people was just so exciting! Especially considering the fact that this was the girl with that neato Zangoose that Solenne had been talking about. He wondered what else she had. A cool Zangoose that had an Absol for a daddy, and a big Arcanine that was almost his twin but not really which was kinda too bad but maybe Kade would give Kouo a scarf for his leg too. Hee... Kouo. That was kind of a weird name.

Of course, Dante was too polite to say so out loud, but he had kept himself occupied for the first little bit just sounding it out. Kouo. What did that mean, anyway? Dante had never heard of a song having a Kouo in it. Maybe that was why he had a necklace with weird line thingies on it, and not a collar like his. He hoped Kouo wouldn't be too jealous--he wanted to be friends! They had a lot in common. Silver earrings, fire-types, they'd evolved one time, they had four legs... but that one didn't really count since Dante could go on two just as easily as four. Still, Forte was the only other four-legged guy that Dante could talk to, and talking to Forte was about as fun as sitting on a Sandslash. Which he'd done one time, by the way, so he knew it wasn't fun. But speaking of... Kouo was kinda like Forte. They'd probably get along too.

"Hey, Kouo. Hey. Um... you're a lot like my buddy, y'know that? He's a Leafeon and his name is Forte and he doesn't talk so much, either. Except Forte kinda hates everything and likes to watch it fail. Unless it's Vaporeons. He likes those. He'd probably be nicer to me if I was a Vaporeon, but I like being a Quilava, and he's still pretty nice to me anyways since I can set him on fire. You should meet Forte. He might like you since you can set him on fire too, so he'll be nice to you. Actually, you should meet all our family. Then we'd all be friends. If we're gonna be going to Veilstone together, that's a really long trip, so the sooner we're chummy, the better, right?"