Arissa hung just offstage, waiting for her turn. Nervously she smoothed the fabric of the dress she’d picked for the occasion; purple with dark gold accents, to match her pokemon. This was it, their first Pokemon Contest! She and Kishin had been practicing for this since the moment they reached Zatao, and had gone over every move countless time to perfect the routine. They were as ready as could be. She just hoped their best effort was good enough.
And now their number was being called. Their turn at last. After taking a deep breath, she smiled brightly and stepped onstage, pokeball in hand. She beamed at the audience before tossing her pokeball onto the stage and calling, “Kishin, show us your moves!”
Her Archeops emerged from the pokeball with a small flip before landing lightly on the stage. Slowly, gracefully, she took a few steps forward until she was center stage. Then she bowed deeply to the audience, flourishing her wings to either side so that their tips were just grazing the surface of the stage. She held that respectful position for a moment, and not a feather quivered as she stayed still as a stone.
It was a good entrance. Now to start the performance proper. “Ancientpower,” Arissa said quietly.
Slowly Kishin stood up straight, raising her wings at the same speed. As if the motion called them, rocks began to rise around her. They were all different sizes, some mere inches across, while others a human could stand on comfortably. The largest rock of all floated up below her, carrying her high in the air. By the time her wings were pointing straight up, a forest of rocks was floating above the stage at many different heights and positions, with her platform levitating highest of all. When Kishin stopped moving, so did the rocks.
“Now, Acrobatics!” Arissa shouted energetically.
The rocks stayed in place, but Kishin did not. With a hop and a flip, she jumped from her perch to a nearby rock, then leaped to another, then twirled to yet another. She bounced, cartwheeled and spun from rock to rock, picking up speed with each movement. Her first jumps left plenty of space between herself and rocks, mostly by jumping along the topmost ones. Then she began diving between the floating stones, and her movements brought her closer and closer to them until there were mere millimeters between herself and the rocks. It seemed any moment she could crash into the stones, but every time she just barely avoided them.
“Rock Polish!” Arissa called, clapping her hands together delightedly before clasping them in front of her.
Kishin continued to jump and flip, never missing a beat. But now she moved even closer to the rocks, so that the outstretched feathers on her wings, tail and feet began brushing against the stones. As the feathers grazed the rocks, they began to smooth down the rough edges and leave the stones polished and shining. The light sweeping touches also sent the rocks spinning gently, so that they glinted in the sun light like giant chandelier.
“Steel Wing!” Arissa cheered. Time for the big finish!
Kishin hopped up to the highest rock, leaped straight into the air, then did a midair double somersault as her whole body became coated in shining silver. Then she crashed down into the largest rock, cleaving it in two. She swooped to swiftly smash into the other rocks, splitting each into chunks. Then before the chunks could fall far, she dove for them again and again, shattering the pieces into ever smaller bits until they were little more than glittering sand. She didn’t let the sand rest yet, and swooped through it a few times, sending it swirling and glinting through the air. As the last of the dust drifted to the ground, she floated down to land on stage. With the final particles shimmering in the air around her, she bowed deeply to the audience once more, then turned to exit the stage.
Arissa wanted to clap for her pokemon along with the audience. A perfect performance, every move exactly as they’d rehearsed. For now she had to settle for patting her pokemon on the head and murmuring “Well done!” as they left. Now to wait for the judges’ score.
