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Arissa had been slightly less nervous as she waited backstage for the results of the first battle round. She'd though Kishin had done very well, she was fairly confident in the performance. Only fairly, because she couldn't be sure what the judges would think. Beauty was in the eye of the beholder, after all. But again her worries were proven unfounded as the scores went up and she found that Kishin again had the best overall score. Her score was very close to the pokemon she would be up against in the final round, though. They would have to try even harder in this last chance to show the judges just what they could do.

Kishin was as calm as ever, still cuddling her plush Torchic, but Arissa had to take a moment to make tiny adjustments to her hair and clothing in order to settle herself for this last round. Then she smiled as she headed out onto the battlefield, Kishin by her side. The crowd was cheering and clapping as the competitors made their way to the trainer box. She was sure the audience had become excited by the previous rounds, and were eager to see what the top coordinators and their pokemon could do. The enthusiasm from the crowd both eager to show them the kind of excitement they were looking forward to, and a bit nervous that she wouldn't meet their expectations. But she didn't let that show, just smiled and waved at the audience. Even Kishin waved one wing at them, the other still holding tight to her plush chick.

Upon reaching the trainer box, Kishin again took out her Torchic and held it out to Arissa with a stern chirp, so Arissa gently took it and cradled it like a real baby. Then Kishin stepped out towards the center to greet her opponent.

Kishin smiled at her opponent as she came out. <"Hello there! Well, aren't you lovely,"> she said to the Volcarona with wings like stained glass. <"Let's have some fun and show everyone the best show they've ever seen, shall we?">

When they got the signal to start, Arissa decided to take the initiative. "Kishin, tailwind and Double team. Whirlwind style," the coordinator said softly. It was an opening move they'd planned beforehand.

Kishin began to run with her wings outstretched and her head tucked low so it was almost parallel with the ground, inscribing a wide circle around the edge of the battlefield. After a few moments she rose into the air with slow wingbeats, leaving the ground like an airplane taking off. She continued to circle, rising through the air until she was about level with the top of Hyacinth's wings. Then a breeze began to pick up, the Tailwind pushing Kishin along so that she began to pick up speed while her wings continued the same slow wingbeats. Faster and faster she circled, until she began to blur and leave afterimages. The wind was so strong that it was almost a physical presence, a circular wall of air that followed Kishin's flight path.

Then she began to dip down and rise up in flight, so that her path inscribed a wave pattern. A couple of the afterimages behind her began to dip lower or rise higher, their variations becoming more pronounced until there were clearly three Kishins flying through the air, one below and one above the original. Then more afterimages began to differentiate their path until there were six Kishins circling the stage. Then more, though with all the pokemon weaving as they were, it soon became hard to keep an accurate count. All that was clear was that there was a great many Archeopes circling the stage, forming a wall of wind and pokemon that encircled the whole stage and kept rising. And was the circle beginning to tighten?

[Move used: Tailwind/Double Team]
[Moves available: Dragon Pulse, Round, Double Team, Tailwind]
[HP: 1000/1000]

Hyacinth didn't bother to move away when the Archeops flew towards her but in hindsight it would've been better if she did. As Kishin generated a Tailwind to boost her speed enough to create a blustery wall, the Volcarona struggled to remain upright. And then it became even more difficult to stay strong in this windy environment when her opponent then duplicated herself. Brown and purple shapes darted all around her and she couldn't keep her eyes on all of them without sacrificing the frantic flapping that was stabilizing her. The whole sight was rather dizzying and she had to resort to closing her eyes so she would save herself a headache so early in the fight.

Dreidyn was in awe at the combo move that Kishin and Arissa managed to pull off, but it was no time to gawk at her enemy's display. Her Pokemon was in trouble and she needed to think of a way to counter the move, and fast.

"Scatter the ashes! Use Fire Spin!" She shouted out. Hyacinth, with her eyes still closed, swung her wings and casted scales lit on fire into the wind. Another swing produced more embers, and although she couldn't see it, some of the bits of fire struck the copies of Kishin that burst into flames upon contact. From the outside of the whirlwind, it looked like sparks of light were popping up and then fading back into the turbulence.

But that wasn't the end of her attack. Now with her eyes fully opened, she stretched a leg outward so that the scattered flames grew bigger and merged together to form a ribbon of fire. Like a puppet master, she guided the blaze around and around her, eliminating the rest of the Double Teams and generating hot air to counter the wind that the Archeops kicked up. The tornado that was once threatening to blow her to bits was now a fiery vortex that she could control. The end of the fire ribbon veered out of the twister that was wrapped around Hyacinth and launched itself at the last Archeops flying, bringing with it the rest of the Fire Spin attack.

[Move used: Fire Spin]
[Moves available: Fire Spin, Gust, Psychic, Light Screen]
[HP: 900/1000]

Hyacinth recognize what Kishin was brewing long before she conjured the water spout, as she pulled off a similar trick in her appeal. She was ready to avoid the twister since any attack involving water would be especially unpleasant for fire types, but to her surprise the Archeops did not direct it at her. Instead, it was pushed towards her Fire Spin attack, which was still going strong until the water spout collided into it. The impact between the two opposing forces took Hyacinth for a spin, as well as created hot and wet steam that stuck to her wings and made it harder for her to fly. She also had created steam to hide herself in her appeal, but she dove into the water shortly after that and didn't have to deal with water droplets bogging her down. And she couldn't repeat the same tactic when she had no clue where her target was...

Dreidyn could tell that Hyacinth didn't have the foggiest idea of what to do in the fog. She couldn't even see the Archeops herself, although she was certain that she was still in there. She knew that her Pokemon had a way to find her however. All they had to do was use one of her moves in a slightly different manner...

"Find her with Psychic!" She called out. Immediately after her command, the Volcarona's eyes began to glow a bright violet, changing the mist around her into the same color. The purple mist formed tendrils that branched out in all directions, the ends shifting from hands to arrows to canine heads to whatever shape that would indicate their reformed purpose. Instead of concealing Kishin from Hyacinth, the steam that Hyacinth controlled would seek out and reveal her.

Eventually one of the tendril found the Archeops by flying into her. It didn't do much other than dissipate, but now Hyacinth knew where she was located. She dashed towards where the tendril had felt Kishin, accumulating violet mist around her body that swirled in a stormy fashion. As soon as the brown and purple figure came into view, she unleashed an invisible force upon her with a flap of her wing. A great wind, augmented by a psychic push, rammed into Kishin, attempting to throw her out of the steam clouds that hid her.

[Move used: Psychic]
[Moves available: Fire Spin, Gust, Psychic, Light Screen]
[HP: 800/1000]

(...rolling...)

When Kishin noticed that everything was being sucked towards the Volcarona, she halted her attack and turned to fly away from the other pokemon. She had to make quite an effort to do so, since the wind was very strong indeed, and pulled in many of her copies. Some of them managed to escape the wind with her, and all were clearly visible as the last of the steam clouds were sucked out of the air. Kishin was just deciding she was safe from the wind when it exploded in all directions, sending her and her copies cartwheeling dizzily through the air. Almost immediately afterward the Light Screen exploded, and before she was fully steady again she was busy trying to dodge the shards. Off-balance as she was, she could not evade them all, and was slashed by a couple of the sharp fragments. A few of her copies were also struck, each bursting in a shower of gold and purple sparks, adding to the appearance of fireworks in the sky. Still, when the skies began to grow calmer there were still a few more Kishins hovering in the air with her.

Arissa watched Hyacinth's performance, both admiring the strength of the wind she conjured and worried what it might do to her pokemon. This was certainly a battle full of large-scale, almost atmospheric attacks. She kind of didn't want Kishin to get close to the Volcarona, so she'd have time to dodge whatever came next. Well, one attack was certain to keep her at a distance. "Kishin, Round," she called. She hadn't the foggiest idea how Kishin could use that creatively at the moment, but she trusted her pokemon to come up with something.

At Arissa's command, the Kishins flew up to hover in a wide circle with the Volcarona in the center far below. With them all stationary, it could be seen that there were four total left. One of them sang out a single loud, clear note, and continued to hold it. The next Kishin sang out a second note, one that was a bit higher in pitch but harmonized with the first, and also held it. The third and final Kishins each added their notes and held them in turn, each higher than the previous one. They held the chord for a moment, paused for a beat, then all sang out their notes in unison.

They began to sway from side to side in the air as one started singing a deep, repeating series of three notes that served to keep the beat. A second began singing a melody, while the Kishins added a spin to their swaying flight. A third chimed in with a harmony, and they added a flick of the wings each time they completed a spin. The last Kishin capped the song with a descant, a series of high, chiming notes that embroidered on the song, finishing with a flourish of the tail to match the wing flicks.

She wasn't done yet, though. One by one they peeled off to dive down, towards the ground, their song changing to a declining scale of notes as they descended. Just before hitting the ground, the lead Kishin pulled up with a flourishing trill of song, each Kishin copying the movement and trill in turn. They began a musical rendition of Follow the Leader, with the lead performing some stunt of flight accompanied by a trick of song, with each follower repeating both. They spiraled up in a lose corkscrew while voicing a bright burble. They halted so sharply in mid-flight that they flipped head-over-heels, while whistling sharply. They flew upside down for a few wingbeats, voicing a drunken-sounding warble. They made a point to be facing in the direction of the Volcarona as often as possible, in order to bombard her with their continued, varying song.

[Move used: Round]
[Moves available: Dragon Pulse, Round, Double Team, Tailwind]
[HP: 700/1000]

Kishin initially ignored the floating music notes, since they did little to effect her, and just kept flying and singing. But when they started swarming around her and fouling her wings, she had to pay attention to them. She also had to stop singing to focus on her flying, or else she might be knocked from the sky, or half-blinded by the increasingly bright lights. They kept with her no matter how she flew, so she tried harder to get rid of them. The four Kishins peeled off in different directions and tried to shake the things off any way they could; batting them away with swats of wings or tail, turning or diving sharply, or spinning in every direction. The glowing motes followed along through ever move, sometimes trailing behind slightly, but always catching up quickly.

Arissa watched it all, considering. If Kishin couldn't fly free of the glowing notes, she'd have to get rid of them some other way. Destroying them seemed best, though she noticed that they had absorbed the energy from the song. But previous attacks had shown they couldn't absorb energy forever, and perhaps they could use that. "Kishin, Dragon Pulse. Overload them," she said.

Kishin understood what she meant, though she continued flying evasively for a moment as she considered the best way to carry out the instruction. Each Kishin briefly gathered energy, then one after another they released a quick pulse that further lit up the notes surrounding them. Kishin tried to use that to gauge how much energy they could absorb from each pulse as two Kishins turned and flew straight at each other. The two seemed on course to fly into each other, but at the last moment they released a quick pulse as they sharply turned away from each other. The sudden turn left the notes drifting in her wake for just a moment, allowing the perfectly timed burst of light to hit just the notes, with no Archeops in the way. The notes blazed brighter as they caught up with their pokemon again. The other two Archeopses did the same, flying at each other and spinning away abruptly so they could fire at just the notes.

They continued to fly around the stage, weaving their flight paths together with sharp turns and spins as they pumped the notes full of light. Sometimes they fired at each other's notes, sometimes they released a pulse around themselves when alone so that their own notes grew brighter. The notes grew so bright that they began to leave streaky afterimages in the sight of anyone who watched them. Seeing this, the Kishins, with eyes narrowed to slits against the light, began an even more intricate flight that inscribed a lacy pattern of curls and arcs in the air.

When Kishin figured the notes were holding as much energy as she could safely pump into them, judging by the fact that they were starting to vibrate, the Archeopses began to spiral down towards the ground. They ended up surrounding Hyacinth, each marking the point of a wide square around her. Once they were just a foot or so above the ground, then turned and raced toward the Volcarona, gathering energy as they went. They flew straight at her, growing faster and brighter as they approached. Then like in their earlier flight they sharply turned upward just before impact, releasing all their energy as they did so in one massive burst of light. But unlike the previous flight, this time the notes all exploded into little balls of purple sparkles from the overload of energy. The copies also couldn't handle the massive pulse and burst as well, tossing a fountain of golden lights high in the air. The real Kishin rode the fountain, allowing herself to tumble upward in a tight ball as it propelled her straight up. As she ran out of momentum she uncurled with a flourish to hover in place, looking down at the Volcarona beneath her.

[Move used: Dragon Pulse]
[Moves available: Dragon Pulse, Round, Double Team, Tailwind]
[HP: 600/1000]