Welcome to Gaia! ::

Erika brushed a stray strand of sandy blonde hair out of her eyes as she looked at herself in the mirror. The woman before her was wearing a black tuxedo, much fancier than her usual jeans and tank top. Closing her eyes, Erika took a series of deep breaths, but the nervousness she felt didn't cease. Opening her eyes, she shook her head, annoyed. "I don't know why I'm freakin' out," she said, looking down at the lopunny beside her. "You're the one who has to do everythin'." The lopunny looked up at her human companion and placed a paw on her side, as if to tell her everything would be fine. In truth, she knew perfectly well why she was as frazzled as she found herself. The man she loved was somewhere in the audience, waiting to see her and Virgilia, and Erika wanted to impress him. She shook her head again, laughing self-deprecatingly. "I swear, man, this love-struck teenager s**t just isn't for me." She looked back at the mirror and frowned. "Can't even bring myself to wear a ********' dress like a normal person."

As the woman continued to murmur to herself, Virgilia's ears perked up as she heard timid footsteps. Turning, she smiled. "Jeanne. So lovely to see you." The raichu's arms were behind her back as she jumped slightly. "Ah, um, uh..." The raichu looked around sheepishly before revealing the single tulip she held in her hands. "There was... there was this lady - in town, I mean - passing out flowers to people, and she, uh, gave me one, and it... made me think of you... I guess...." Jeanne blushed heavily as she extended the flower to the lopunny, looking at the ground. Virgilia took the tulip and inhaled its fragrance, smiling. "Thank you, Jeanne. It's like being home again." Jeanne started as Virgilia rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her."Thank you." she whispered. The raichu's arms slowly rose to embrace the lopunny when a booming voice sounded over the loudspeaker, causing her to yelp in surprise.



Erika took another deep breath and put on a determined face. "No more time to worry about it." Picking up the old cassette player she had brought with her, the woman turned to Virgilia. "Ready to go?" The lopunny nodded in affirmation before turning back to her companion. "Will you come watch, Jeanne?" The raichu stumbled over her words. "I, uh, ye- Yes, of course! I would love to, Virgilia!" The two, accompanied by Jeanne, walked down to the wings and waited to be summoned on stage. At last the call was given, and the raichu called out a tentative,"G - good luck, Virgilia!" The lopunny smiled and waved as she left.

The crowd broke into applause as Erika and Virgilia made their way onto the stage, but it slowed to a crawl as they noticed the bulky box Erika was carrying under her arm. "What's that?" "I've never seen something like that, anyone know what it is?" "I've got no idea..." The confused remarks were matched with confused faces as Erika knelt down and set the tape player down and opened it. Retrieving a cassette tape from her pocket, she popped it into the open player and closed it. An old man in the front was the first to understand. "....That's a cassette player, isn't it?" Erika turned to the man and grinned. The audience turned to the old man. "A cassette player? Like that thing they used to play music WAY long ago?" "Wicked!" The crowd quietly murmured to themselves as they turned back to Virgilia. Erika pressed the play button and a static-y noise began. The audience's words slowly crawled to a stop as they listened for the music. Erika walked to Virgilia and knelt down. "Healing Wish." she whispered, and the officer left the stage. Amidst the confused looks of the audience, the lopunny clapped her paws together and closed her eyes, the static-y sound persisting in the background. As the audience focused on the lopunny, sparkling shards began to descend slowly from above, and the music began.

Moving in time with the initial notes, Virgilia began to weave forwards and backwards, from side to side and back again, keeping with the rhythm. Around her, the shards began to reach the floor and each in turn shattered soundlessly upon impact. It was a surreal scene - a ballroom dance in a rain of gemstones. As the song picked up tempo, Virgila used Quick Attack as Erika had instructed her to do earlier, and kept up with the notes. The quick movements juxtaposed with the slowed down weaving as the song slowed in tempo took the audience's breath away before the song picked back up. Erika and Jeanne watched from the wings, concerned that she may not be able to make it through to the end - they'd only practiced the song in parts, never in its entirety. Between her weakened constitution and klutziness, there was every likelihood something would go wrong. Erika's breath caught in her throat as the song neared it's end and Virgilia leapt up into the air with a twirl, the last of the shards falling with her. She had never been able to land this jump correctly, but they had run out of time to practice it and decided to just go with the act. As Jeanne looked on worriedly, Virgilia smiled and not only landed, but spun in place as the last of the shards exploded in shimmering beauty around her. A Low Sweep attack had made it so the landing not only worked, but worked better than Erika ever expected it could. The music came to an end, and the static-y noise resumed itself in the background.

Breathing heavily, Virgilia looked around at the stunned audience before turning to Erika and Jeanne, trying to find some indication of what they thought. The audience erupted in cheers for the magnificent performance, and Jeanne rushed out and wrapped the lopunny in a hug of her own, a huge smile on her face. Even Erika was whooping and laughing despite herself. As the woman stepped out onto the stage, the crowd began to cheer with renewed vigor. "Hell yeah, that was awesome!" "That lopunny is so adorable!" "A grand act!" Jeanne broke off from the hug with the startled realization she was in front of a huge number of people and rushed back to the wings. Erika laughed at the raichu's hasty retreat as she and Virgilia gave a deep bow to the crowd. Picking up the tape player, the woman stopped the static-y noise and tucked it under her arm. The coordinator and pokemon duo left, escorted backstage by cheers and applause.