It's a very odd sensation, when you've been attending an event as a fan, and then you're suddenly participating in it.

In some ways, it's kinda cool. I get to see the entire inner workings of how a contest operates. Obviously, the downside is that I'm going to be on stage.

Firstly, while fans can do whatever they want before the contest, as long as their butt is in a seat before it starts, coordinators are recommended to come several hours early.

Not knowing any better, I did exactly that. I went up to the receptionist lady, and instead of giving her my ticket, gave her my contest pass. She scanned it, and sent me down instead of up to the seats.

Apparently, this is a chance to familiarize yourself with the arena, shake off some pre-contest jitters, and to warm up, for both coordinator and Pokémon. Once that's done you can mingle amongst the crowd before the contest officially starts.

I have complete confidence in Bellossom's ability to pull off her half of the appeal. It's mine that I have questions about, and while I'm super familiar with everything that I need to do, it's not something I can practice, per se. So, I wander around instead.

There are quite a few familiar faces here, which makes sense, because Hearthome City and Solaceon Town are so close together. I give Ursula a wide berth when I spot her. Lucas apparently ran into her recently, and conveyed that I was sorry for the things I said, and even mentioned that Ursula also felt a little bad. He also mentioned that she still needed space, and that's why I'm giving it to her.

I also see Nando humming a tune with one of his Pokémon. I don't want to interrupt him while he's in the zone, but I do have to wonder if he's going to perform another song. He definitely struck me as a man who has way more depth than that.

The easiest person to single out is of course Jessie, who's going around and trash talking everyone, whether they listen to what she says or not, with her two assistants silently trailing behind her.

Both of them are about the same height, wearing extremely shady trench coats, with large hats and dark glasses to cover their face. One is obviously James, and judging by how the second one has blue feet and no shoes, I'm certain that person is actually Meowth, standing on top of Wobbuffet's head.

All they had to do was wear cowboy hats and boots, and they'd have blended in here perfectly, but of course, no one comments on these extremely suspicious figures trailing Jessie. I spot a few more people I've seen before, like the cowboy coordinator from Hearthome that doesn't look out of place here, and a girl that did an appeal with a Vulpix and a Clefairy, but funny enough, I don't see Dawn.

Surely, she has to be here. I stand on my tiptoes for a few seconds, coming down when I feel a tap on my shoulder.

Oh, she's right behind me. "Excuse me, are you lost?" Dawn asks, looking somewhat confused. That means my costume is working, if she can't recognize me.

"Hey, Dawn. And no, I'm not lost. I'm participating in the contest, actually."

I slowly watch her face morph into recognition, and then a wide smile breaks out on her face. "Wow, Luna! I hardly recognized you!"

To be fair, I hardly recognized myself when the lady at the beauty salon was done with me. My whole face is painted white, except for some black spikes around one eye, and a vertical red stripe that runs from my hairline to my chin on the other one. All my hair is pulled to the side, in a high ponytail, and it's secured in place with a ton of hair spray.

"Thanks!" I reply, sticking out my tongue so she could see it. "I even dyed my tongue blue!"

"And you shaved part of your head," Dawn points at said area, around my ear. "Seems like you really went all out for this one. Is that guitar real?"

"Oh, this thing?" I pull the instrument off my back and hand it to her. "It's plastic and fake. I tried to learn guitar when I was younger but I never got over the fact that my fingers were always hurting."

Even though it wasn't a real electric guitar, combined with my face, and a newly torn pair of jeans and a black leather jacket, I'd say my rockstar look is spot on. I definitely stick out amongst the coordinators, especially the ones dressed in their finest attire, but again, I don't really care.

"Who's this, Dawn? Another one of your friends?" Someone comes up to stand next to the blue-haired coordinator. I'm pretty sure this is Zoey, the spiky haired redhead from Hearthome City, but if she's a coordinator, why isn't she dressed up?

"This is Luna, and she's a friend we've met a couple times. She's a really talented trainer!" Dawn turns to me. "This is Zoey, a rival of mine, though she's also a great friend who's cheering me on this contest!"

It's almost comical how Zoey's face turns to distaste. "Ah," she says sourly. "Another trainer trying to pretend they're a coordinator. If you'll excuse me." Zoey leaves as quickly as she arrived.

"I'm sorry about that," Dawn apologizes for her friend, even though she doesn't need to. "A lot of coordinators in the circuit feel that trainers should stick to battling, and not participate in contests at all. It's kind of hypocritical, considering most of them are fine entering battle tournaments, though."

I shrug nonchalantly. "It's fine. I'm a big girl. It's fine for someone to have that opinion, even though I don't agree with it. You don't agree, either, right?"

"No, I don't," Dawn says confidently. "I was really happy when Ash told me that he's entered a few contests in the past, because he sometimes wants a coordinator's perspective." Seems like Dawn has that Fantina mentality. It's not long before she pieces together why I'm here. "Oh, is that why you are competing?"

"Pretty much," I inform her. "I don't really think I have a chance of winning. I'm more here to learn all that I can."

Dawn seems a little concerned. "And did Ursula take that well? Do you have plans if you meet her in battle? I noticed that you two haven't talked once since you've been here."

"No, she didn't," I reply, picking at my outfit. "She got mad as soon as I told her, but I didn't help the situation, because I said some things that I shouldn't have. Hopefully, I can apologize to her at some point. As for meeting her in battle, I haven't really given it much thought, considering I'll be pleasantly surprised if I make it out of the appeals stage."

"Well, I for one hope you get to the battle stage. You might have gotten the best of me in the tag battles, but here on the contest stage, I'll have the advantage!"

It's good to see that Dawn still has her confidence, despite what happened last time. I don't have any doubts about her skill. It's more her mentality, and how she approaches these contests, that I have concerns with. Still, I wish her the best of luck, as she does the same, before a staff member comes and tells everyone that practice is over, and we need to be back in an hour's time.

Thankfully, I'm not a celebrity, as a newbie coordinator. Plus, no one recognizes me from the Hearthome tag battles, considering my excellent costume. Some of the locals from Solaceon get the attention, along with Nando and Jessie, considering they have a knack for entertaining others, albeit in very different ways.

Unfortunately, I'm with Dawn, and she goes straight to Ash and friends. Her entire team; Piplup, Buneary, Pachirisu, and even Togepi, are dressed up in little cheerleading outfits. Who was she practicing with, then?

Zoey's here too, but she gives me the ol' "I'm not going to talk to you if I have nothing good to say treatment," so I do the same. As if I cared about being disliked by someone I barely know.

"Hey, Dawn!" Ash greets his friend. "Who's this?"

I knew Ash wouldn't recognize me. I could put a branch in front of my face, and even that would be enough to fool him. I wave to him and Brock, and they recognize me as I begin to speak.

"What's up, guys?"

"Nice to see you again, Luna," Brock greets. "For a second there I thought you were the opening act for the concert. Apparently there's a really famous band opening up the Wallace Cup, and I assumed that they might be doing something similar here."

"No, I sure couldn't be the opening act for anything, let alone a major contest." I did try out for a band once, but that went over rather poorly. "This is my outfit, because I'm going to be performing in the contest in less than an hour."

"Good luck and have fun!" Ash tells me cheerfully, which is weird, because I'm in direct competition with one of his own best friends. "We're taking the time to train, to make sure we're super ready for the gym in Veilstone City. The gym leader wasn't in Hearthome while we were, so everyone's extra pumped!"

HIs whole team cheers at his words, including one Pokémon I didn't expect to see with him, considering it's Dawn's last choice for an appeal. I turn to Dawn, and gesture at the Water-type amongst Ash's Pokémon. "Is it me, or is this Buizel the one you battled with in the finals? Or does he have a twin that I don't know about?"

Dawn laughs. "No, he's the same Buizel. I traded him to Ash a few days after the finals. Ash's Aipom has always been interested in contests, and Buizel has always been a battler first, so it worked out perfectly. Zoey was the one to suggest it, actually."

Huh. Looks like Ash has his Water-type after all, and Dawn has a Pokémon to perform with. It's a little bit unfortunate, considering I have history with this Buizel, but hell, I have even worse history with Chimchar.

My days of avoiding Ash are over, anyways. "So, you have five Pokémon, huh? Have you given any thought to your sixth?" I ask, making some conversation, because I'm certain Dawn won't lead me astray. She'll bring me to the contest on time.

"No," Ash says simply. "I'll meet them when the time comes."

Brock, though, seems interested in following this train of thought. "What would you suggest for the sixth member of Ash's team?"

I shrug. "Maybe a Dragon-type? The Fire-Water-Grass three Pokémon core is pretty common, I'd say, for good reason. A Dragon-type can be risky insurance against opposing Dragons that do well against those three types, as well as helping against other trainers who use that core, without having to constantly try and switch to get a good matchup."

Apparently, I've given Brock something to chew on. Seems like he puts more thought into Ash's team than Ash himself. We watch them train for a bit, with the emphasis seemingly being on Turtwig learning Energy Ball and Staravia learning Steel Wing. Brock and Zoey give their suggestions throughout, and even I can't resist throwing in a tip here and there.

Dawn eventually gets up, and that's my cue to wave goodbye, as we make our way through the crowd back to the contest hall. Again, we get our contests passes scanned, but this time, instead of making a right to head to the arena floor, we head left to the waiting room, where there are already a few coordinators making themselves comfortable in the plush accommodations.

My companion points out a few things that are important to know. "That's obviously the TV, where we can watch the appeals, but next to that is a list, where all the coordinators names go. It shows the order in which everyone appeals."

Said list is empty now, but I have more questions. "You know, I've always wondered about this. Is the order randomly selected, or do people volunteer when they go?"

"It's completely random," Dawn educates me. "When your name gets to the top of the list, you go into the hallway and wait behind the curtain. A staff member will tell you when to go through to the arena. Remember that even though everything you do is on display as soon as you walk through those curtains, you can't officially be evaluated for anything until your Pokémon is on stage with you. If you have anything that needs to be set up beforehand, do that first."

Thank goodness Dawn is here, walking me through all of this. It's nice to have someone with firsthand knowledge explain to you, so I only don't have to rely on research.

More coordinators are filing through the door as we talk, and the amount of people in the room is starting to swell. Nando recognizes me and waves to me as he walks by, but when Ursula comes in, I catch her eye for only a second before she looks away. When Jessie prances in like she owns the place, I can't help but laugh into my elbow.

I think Dawn is surprised that Ursula didn't take the opportunity to say something. She goes to sit in the back, far away from us.

There's a twenty minute delay in between the time we're told to get here, and the actual opening ceremony, as a buffer for any contestants that are running a bit late, but apparently, everyone who registered is here in this room. The screen next to the TV with all our names on it starts scrambling itself, and a hush ensues as everyone waits for the machine to stop.

Let's see… There are so many coordinators on this list. It's difficult to find my name, but I eventually see it about halfway down, behind Jessie and Ursula, but before Dawn and Nando. I'd have taken going really early on so I could get this out of the way, and kick my feet up for the rest of the contest, but whatever.

The TV changes to show the arena, where the opening ceremony, which is a theater act about the founding and history of Solaceon Town. The first coordinator, the cowboy man from previously in Hearthome, swaggers up to the door, going into the hallway to wait behind the curtain that Dawn told me about.

Randomly selected, my ass. Am I supposed to believe it's a total coincidence that the hometown hero with the best chance of winning is opening the appeals stage?

First though, we need some remarks from the judges, who seem to be the same for all the major tournaments. A man in a ridiculously red suit, the bald short guy, and a local Nurse Joy.

"Thank you. I hope everyone here is ready for a marvelous display!"

"Indeed! One that's remarkable!"

"There are so many wonderful Pokémon and coordinators here, I can't wait to get started!"

Useful comments as always, guys. As soon as Nurse Joy ends her sentence, the contest begins in earnest.

Randy the cowboy sends out his black Tauros in a shower of stars, and immediately, I notice a difference from sitting in the coordinator waiting room than in the stands. Amongst the fans, it's all cheering and awe and a generally good vibe. Here, people are picking nits left and right.

You know the sort. Oh, Tauros's fur isn't shiny enough. Oh, it's horns aren't long and curved enough.

It's no wonder Ursula can get so sensitive and defensive, in an environment like this. In any case, Randy does a pretty good job showing off Tauros's muscles by using Bulk Up, and then having it run around with an assortment of physical moves, like Rock Climb, Wild Charge, and my personal favorite, Raging Bull, to show off its strength.

He then surprises us all by calling for Surf. Randy's Tauros spits out a bunch of water that swells into a wave, and then, right as it's about to crash into the ground, he calls for an Earthquake. The audience is protected by a psychic barrier, but Surf bounces straight off the ground into a line of geysers.

That gets the audience hollering, as Tauros dips its head and Randy takes a bow.

Someone's already heading out the door to replace him, and I realize that it's actually the third person on the list, and that I missed the second person walking out there in the midst of this performance. At least I know I won't miss it as long as Ursula and then Jessie are still here.

The murmuring about Randy's performance is fairly favorable, though one voice sticks out, both in volume, and in boisterousness.

"Ah, to be so naive and ignorant! Future top coordinator Jessilina will show all of you exactly what a memorable appeal looks like soon enough!"

I suppose it is a virtue to have the utmost confidence in yourself at all times. Then again, I have to remind myself that in the contest world, Jessie is actually pretty good, despite her career as a Team Rocket agent being an abject failure.

Right away, even my untrained eyes can see there is a lot more polish for these appeals, than the tepid, hesitant ones in Hearthome, where everyone was nervous about the double performances.

Literally, in some cases. One coordinator has their Steelix use a combination of Rock Polish, Flash Cannon, and Dragonbreath to light up the arena like you wouldn't expect from a Pokémon that spends most of its time underground or in caves.

Another lady uses her Sunflora to do some type of play on the four seasons, using Grassy Terrain to signify the coming of spring, Sunny Day and Growth to show summer, Weather Ball to burn the Grassy Terrain to the ground for autumn, and then a clever use of Dazzling Gleam, where the little sparkles left in the air resemble snowflakes for winter.

Of course, there are still some questionable ones mixed in as well. One coordinator has her Jigglypuff suck in air and inflate like a balloon until it's ten times its size, before deflating. I mean, I guess it was impressive in a weird way. Unfortunately, it's a bad final smash, so I don't see how it's a good appeal.

Next, there's a guy who commands his Magcargo to create a bunch of rock pillars by using Rock Slide then Rock Throw, to stack them all on top of each other. Then he melts the rock together using Flamethrower. While they're still hot, Magcargo climbs up each one, slowly, I might add, and uses a close range Lava Plume. The result is a bunch of lava lamps on the arena floor.

I admit, that one was pretty cool. It did take a while to take down, though, so the next person could step on the stage, though something grabs my attention as the young girl and her Marill do their best to charm the crowd with their cuteness.

The thing about sitting in the back is that you have to pass by everyone when you do come up to go to your appeal. I see some pink curls bouncing by me, and I can't help but call out, even though we're not on speaking terms, because I don't want to see Ursula do badly again. I still consider her my friend. "Good luck!"

A hitch in her step is the only indication that she heard me, and I make a sour face. Even if she doesn't rejoin me and Lucas, I at least want to get one conversation in, where I can apologize and come clean about this whole thing. Or at least make it up to her in some way.

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As soon as the coordinator girl and Clefairy before her are finished with their appeal, Ursula takes the stage. It's almost like I'm witnessing a different person. Her outfit isn't as pretentious as it usually is, her posture is much looser and more relaxed, and even her voice isn't as stuck up as usual.

That's not the most surprising thing, though. "Helioptile, it's showtime!"

I knew Ursula could be stubborn and proud, to a fault, but trying to again make an appeal work with Helioptile was not what I expected from her. Right away, however, I see that Ursula's outward appearance isn't the only thing that's changed.

"Use Parabolic Charge!" Helioptile actually does it. He actually uses the move Ursula called for, sending up the electric ball with its tendrils covering the battlefield, while one bolt from the center remains connected to its user, the one that normally would restore Helioptile's health, had it been striking opponents..

"Now, Electrify!" Helioptile's frill stands up and the tendrils start converging towards the Electric-type, super charging it with energy, before the return to floating around the arena like an octopus's tentacles. Electrify turns your next move into an Electric-type version of itself. I'm very curious what her next move is going to be.

It turns out to be Hyper Voice. You can actually see the sound waves, since they've been charged with electricity from Electrify. When the first sound wave reaches Parabolic Charge, it combines with the attack like a ring around a planet.

Helioptile changes his angles, so each sound wave, and subsequent ring, loops around Parabolic Charge differently. It looks more like the diagram of an atom now, with Helioptile as the conductor, keeping it pulsing and moving.

"Shock Wave!" Ursula orders. Helioptile crackles with blue lightning, sending up the central lightning beam that connects him to the central ball. The ball changes color from green and yellow to blue and white, and amazingly enough, the same color spreads through the tendrils, to the rings, turning the whole apparatus a stunning electric blue.

It looks phenomenal, but Ursula's got one last trick up her sleeve, to really seal the deal. "Electrify again!"

Helioptile charges himself again, as I wonder what move is going to be electrified this time.

"Dark Pulse!"

That one's a new move. Whether Helioptile picked it up from watching Absol, or Conway taught it to him, for use in the tag battles, I don't know. What I can see is that the electricity has the tight spiraling rings, and dark color of Dark Pulse. Helioptile fires it into the nucleus of the atom, and it slowly starts changing colors again, to black and purple.

The entire thing looks like an insane blacklight, before Helioptile sends it skywards and it shatters in an explosion of color. Helioptile happily leaps into Ursula's arms before my friend does a curtsy and heads off stage.

I have to say, I'm so impressed with Ursula. Not just because she's managed to work through the issues with Helioptile to get the Electric-type listening to her, but also because that was the most free and loose I've ever seen her. She was having fun out there, and not acting like the outcome would be life or death.

Personally, I really liked the way she manipulated her appeal with different techniques. Hopefully, the judges did too, and send her on through to the battle stage.

It seems that I'm not the only one that notices Ursula's massive improvement.

Dawn's got an iron grip on the hem of her dress. I have to remind myself that Ursula wasn't the only one who had a very disappointing performance at the last contest, and while I wasn't able to help her out, I can at least help Dawn.

After a brief moment of hesitation, I place my hand on her forearm. "Relax," I tell the younger girl, in what I hope is a soothing tone. "I know you've been working really hard since the last contest. The judges will take notice of all that hard work, for sure."

She does let go of her dress and smoothes out the wrinkles she's created. "Sorry. I have all the confidence in the world before a contest starts, but once it begins, I start to get nervous." Dawn looks up at the ceiling, seeing something there that I'm not. "I guess it's knowing that I have a lot to live up to."

I don't push her for any more information, though I do tell Ursula "great job" as she walks past, which she doesn't react to again.

Man, I'm trying. I turn my attention back to the appeals, droning out the murmuring of the other coordinators. The current one is another cowgirl, putting on an intense riding show with an electric zebra that I recognize. I'm pretty sure her whole saddle and riding outfit and such are all made out of rubber, which only makes me slightly more comfortable as she dips and dodges around thunderbolts that her Pokémon summons from a dark cloud at the top of the arena.

It's apparently a recreation of an old Solaceon Town legend of a man who rode through a raging thunderstorm to warn a neighboring village of an imminent attack. Kinda cool that even a place like this has its own history and heroes to look up to. The cowgirl gets a massive applause, as she takes her hat off and throws it to the crowd, and I feel pretty comfortable saying she and her Zebstrika are second round material.

The amount of strong performances mean that you've got to match them, and I can feel Dawn tensing up next to me. I nudge her, as someone else gets up to head to the arena. "I'm sure she'll put a smile on your face." I nod to said coordinator.

"Oh, Jessilina? I'll admit, I do find her appeals very funny, even though she sure is full of herself. I can never pin down her style either, because she uses so many different Pokémon! And there's the fact that I find her strangely familiar…"

I can only imagine the reaction when Ash or Dawn and Brock finds out who Jessilina actually is. They'd probably stop in stupefied shock, point and say, "It's Team Rocket!" I stifle a giggle at the mental image.

We have to wait through a couple more performances before Jessie takes the stage. The first is a man who is just finishing up having his Exploud absolutely blow the top off the arena with its extremely loud Hyper Voice. Thank goodness this psychic barrier cuts out most of the sound, or everyone would need noise-canceling earmuffs like the coordinator himself.

Yeah, I wouldn't send him on through to the battle stage for that one. The next young lad has a chance, with a fun performance of him throwing a frisbee all over the place and having his very excitable Yamper go and chase after it.

Jessie is quick to take the stage as soon as the boy is done with his appeal. It's always a little bit of a toss-up, of whether she's going to actually use one of her own Pokémon or one of James's, but let's see what she can cook up.

"Dustox, let's dazzle them!" The Pokémon she's raised from a Wurmple takes to the air in a shower of stars, and I'm kicking myself, because I've totally forgotten to ask how these coordinators do that!

Whatever. It's the actual appeal that matters, not the entrance. Dustox leaves a sparkling trail of scales as it flies, which draws in the crowd, but even Jessie knows not to dwell on that. "Use Poison Sting!"

Dustox shoots the barbs towards the audience, but Jessie isn't done. "Confusion, then Poison Sting again!"

The original volley gets frozen in the air by psychic power, and whizzes back towards the originator of the attack, as Dustox fires another one to meet them. When the two Poison Stings collide, they explode in a shower of purple sparks that Dustox is happy to spread throughout the arena with Whirlwind.

A nicely executed combo from her, but Jessie and Dustox have more to show. "Reflect!" Jessie orders.

Dustox creates a glass box around itself, and then Jessie makes a grand gesture. "Moonlight!" When Dustox glows silver, the light coming off the moth Pokémon bounces off the glass walls and refracts to create a bunch of rainbows.

I think Jessie is going to leave it right there, but she surprises me with one final move. "Psybeam!" The attack builds up inside the Reflect box and explodes covering the entire battlefield in a sparkling, multicolored cloud, Dustox and Jessilina included. For a moment no one knows where either coordinator or Pokémon is, but one more Whirlwind whooshes the whole cloud away, revealing Dustox on Jessie's head.

The audience goes crazy as Jessie waves and blows kisses to the crowd, and once again, I find myself impressed. Jessie probably could be a coordinator full time, if she put this futile quest of capturing Pikachu to impress Giovanni aside. And if she got better at battling. I'm not sold on her ability to do that.

Not that she ever will. As the contest staff try their best to extract Jessie from the spotlight, I turn to Dawn before I forget once again. "Hey, what do you coordinators use to get all those effects when your Pokémon comes out of its ball?"

"You're officially a coordinator too, you know," Dawn teases, as she pulls out a roll of what look like stickers. "These are called seals. You can attach one to your Pokéball, and whatever pattern the seal is comes to life with the energy that gets released when sending out a Pokémon."

She passes the roll over to me. "The best selection of them is in Sunyshore Market, but I've never been. These are actually left over from my mom's contest run, but you can have one."

I pick out a musical note sticker and hand it back, pulling out Bellossom's Pokéball with my other hand to stick it above the button. "Thanks. Your mom is your inspiration for being a coordinator, then?"

Dawn nods. "Yeah, I grew up walking by her collection of ribbons and trophies every day. I want to add a few of my own up there! Maybe even surpass her, one day."

The similarities with Barry are striking, considering both Dawn and him idolize one of their parents, and want to surpass them. I feel like that might be their problem, though. Barry because he's too impatient and is in a constant rush to get stronger, and Dawn because…

Well, I can't put too much thought into it right now, considering every single person who performs is like a countdown for me eventually going up there. The list of people protecting me is really starting to dwindle, too. After another one of these Fire-type specialists puts on a fire breathing show, and a girl makes pigs actually fly by having her Grumpig use Psychic on itself to levitate and zoom all around the arena, it's time for me to go up there.

Dawn gives me a thumbs up as I head to the door, but I don't really need the confidence booster. As soon as I'm waiting behind the curtain for the person in front of me to finish, I let all the nervousness flow out of me as I remember why I'm here.

Not to win, or even get out of the appeals phase. My goal is to enjoy the experience, and have some fun.

And for all the trouble I've had, I wouldn't trade this for anything, because I have always and will always love Pokémon. I have to say, I think my appeal is going to convey that pretty well.

On the other side of the curtain, I can hear applause, indicating the person before me is finished. The announcer's voice rings out. "Now, give a warm welcome to our next contestant, first timer Luna!"

After a deep breath, I walk through the curtain, straight onto the stage. I set down the synthesizer I borrowed from Nando next to me, set the timer, turn on my microphone, and then pull my fake guitar while throwing Bellossom's Pokéball up in the air in one motion.

"Let's do this, Bellossom!" My Pokémon pops out amongst a cloud of musical notes, which is fitting, because it's time to introduce these people to the song of my childhood.

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Ursula was surprised that Luna had pivoted to using Bellossom. She had thought her estranged friend would stick with her gut instinct and go with Vivillon. Then again, she had no idea what Luna was actually doing, considering she had dressed in the most ridiculous outfit Ursula had ever seen. Also, why did she have a device playing music with her?

Bellossom had immediately begun using Petal Dance as soon as she was summoned. At first, Ursula thought Luna would dance also, but then she started to sing.

"I wanna be, the very best, like no one ever waaaaaaas…" Ursula was taken aback when at the end of Luna's sentence, Bellosom's petals, that she had floating in the sky up until this point, flashed into three different images, all in a matter of seconds, a Squirtle, a Cubone swinging its bone club, and a Pidgeot soaring through the sky.

"To catch them is my real test, to train them is my cauuuuuse." Half of the petals turned into a giant Pokéball that was sent spinning through the sky, while the other half became an Oddish that was absorbed into it.

If Ursula thought that was impressive, that was nothing compared to the petal Articuno and Zapdos and Arcanine and Rapidash that were sent sprinting and flying in circles around the arena, captivating the crowd as Luna sang about traveling the world, meeting Pokémon, and understanding the power each one possessed.

To be honest, her singing was more like boisterous caterwauling to Ursula, but Luna and Bellossom looked like they were having the time of their lives. As the beat started to speed up, Luna and Bellossom amped up their appeal.

"It's you and meeeee! I know it's our destiny! Oh, you're my best friend, in a world we must defeeeend!" For these lines, Bellossom created a bunch of Pokémon battles in the air: a Pikachu and a Raichu, and Nidorino and a Gengar, and an Ekans and Kofffing against a Caterpie. Each time the petal Pokémon clashed, Bellossom threw up a Moonblast to create an explosion that left glittering dust in the sky.

Ursula could tell the song was winding down, by the way the music quieted down. That meant Luna's voice was in the forefront, but hardly anybody noticed, considering Bellossom was using Sunny Day to shine light on the whole arena, on 'hearts so true.'

Then, on 'our courage will pull us through' Bellosssom created a colossal petal Charizard with about ninety percent of the petals, and hurled up a fiery Weather Ball, using the last of the petals to surge through the Weather Ball like there was actually a Charizard using Flamethrower. The embers of the attack surrounded Luna and Bellossom in a ring of fire.

"You teach me, and I'll teach you!" Bellossom jumped onto Luna's guitar and was flung high into the air, and right as the song ended, the Grass-type stuck the landing right on Luna's guitar, bringing every petal smashing into the ground at the exact final moment.

There was a moment of stunned pause for the audience, before the audience exploded into wild applause. Luna grabbed Bellossom and whirled around in glee, before realizing that she still needed to give a bow. Even as she departed from the stage to make way for someone else, Ursula's fellow coordinators remained silent. She assumed they, like she, had no idea what to think of Luna's performance.

Lone applause from the back broke the trance over the room. Everyone turned to look at the clapper, the beaming bard Nando. "I thought it was a wonderful performance," the Hearthome Contest Winner said. "It may have not been traditional, but it was very earnest and inspired and her Pokémon shined throughout the appeal. In addition, she really understood the message that we needed to convey."

Ursula thought that was a good way to put it. It was completely out of the blue, but Luna and Bellossom's performance had clearly been done with a ton of heart.

If she were the judge, Ursula would put them through to the battle stage. Although, that might be her still trying to figure out a way to apologize for her actions. She couldn't even bring herself to look Luna in the eye as she came back into the waiting area, fresh from her appeal.

Not that she was confronting her. Luna went straight to Nando, handing over the device she had used to play the instrumental for the appeal. "Thanks for letting me borrow this."

Nando gave it straight back. "I think it will be better off in your hands, than mine, considering what you came up with. To come up with a song like that in such a short time is very impressive."

That earned a laugh out of Luna. "Let's say that it came to me in a dream one day. Wasn't exactly straight off the top of my head. But if you won't take it back, let me buy it from you."

The bard agreed to that, and while the transaction was ongoing, Ursula turned her attention back to the ongoing appeals.

Honestly, even if she was completely impartial when it came to Luna, her friend's appeal, in the grand scheme, was probably good enough to go through. Not to say the others were bad, because they weren't.

One coordinator had her mushroom Pokémon Morelull use a combination of Poison Powder, Dazzling Gleam, and Energy Ball to create an effect that made the arena twinkling like stars in the night. Another used his Drednaw to carry an astonishing amount of heavy rocks without blinking in its very strong jaws.

A circus man had his Pansear jump through a series of hoops using Acrobatics, with the final few being on fire courtesy of a Flame Burst attack. Then, there was a coordinator lady who put on a psychedelic water display with her Golduck, though Ursula thought she might have been better served to save that one for Pastoria.

Dawn was up next, and even though Ursula supposed she owed the other girl an apology, but there was something Ursula could not put her finger on about the girl, that she still disliked.

Making amends with Luna was her priority. Dawn could come after.

"Ambipom, spotlight!" Dawn shouted, sending out a Pokémon Ursula hadn't seen before in a shower of confetti. Judging by their surprised murmuring, none of the other coordinators had seen Dawn use it, either.

Except one. "Looks like Dawn evolved good ol' Aipom," Luna said aloud, eyes plastered to the screen.

It was certainly capable of another acrobatic appeal like the Pansear earlier, but it seemed Dawn had something different in mind. "Focus Punch!"

Ambipom took a while to build up the attack, but it was charged in both its tail-hands, and punched them both together several times, sending shockwaves reverberating around the arena with the power of the attack.

Ursula immediately tied together something that she had seen when Luna and Bellossom had performed, as well as Nando in Hearthome. That Focus Punch was not learned with a contest in mind. It was learned to knock a Pokémon's lights out.

"Now, Swift!" Ambipom did a one-armed handstand, before starting to spin in a circle and using Swift, sending golden stars in every direction before they started to form a loose funnel around Ambipom. They had no intentions of stopping though, and Ambipom got on its back, like it was breakdancing, creating even more Swift stars, until it was a swirling cloud.

Inevitably, some of the Swifts started to crash into one another, but that resulted in a magical shower of sparks. The whole arena was glittering like gold.

For most coordinators, including herself, pulling something like this off would be a spectacular achievement, especially considering how astounded the announcer and the audience seemed. But it wasn't enough for Dawn.

"Let's go for it, Ambipom! Agility! Then Fire Punch and Double Hit!"

Ambipom became a literal blur, smashing through Swift stars with Fire Punch from its arms, which discharged showers of red sparks, and Double Hit with its tails, which became purple sparks. In between, Ampibom was throwing up more Swifts, to keep the cloud swirling as it continued to attack.

It was an unbelievable, visual feast of a display. Ursula's mind was working overtime, trying to figure out where Ambipom was going, what attack was it using, and where the next explosive spark shower would occur, because it was really a struggle to keep her head from spinning with all of this eye candy.

And this was only on TV. Ursula couldn't imagine what it looked like watching in the audience.

Dawn finished it off the exact way she started the appeal, with a Focus Punch clap shockwave that shattered the entire cloud instantly. Ambipom was clearly exhausted, but held a pose until all of the dust and sparkles had faded, and Dawn had rushed out onto the stage to give her Pokémon a huge hug, to the cheers of the audience.

Like Luna's, Dawn's performance felt like a total wild card to Ursula. The other girl had certainly returned back to the waiting room in incredibly high spirits, but Ursula didn't know. Part of her thought it was plenty good enough, especially the first half, and part of her thought her rival had gone too crazy on the latter portion.

The rest of the winding down appeals stage was an exercise for Ursula in figuring out if she was going to make it through or not. She had sworn that if she didn't, she would take the defeat on the chin and learn from it, but that didn't mean she wanted it to happen.

Was the Bibarel smashing a dam of boulders created by Rock Slide with a combination of Waterfall and Superpower better than her and Helioptile's appeal? What about the farm girl with her Ponyta, who had it use Flame Charge so many times it was leaving flaming horses after images in its wake, since it was sprinting around the arena so quickly.

There was also a man dressed in full samurai armor that put on an intense sword fight with his Scyther, and a lady who showed off the wide variety of moves her Altaria knew, including Dragon Pulse, Air Slash, Moonblast, Ice Beam, and Flamethrower.

One appeal definitely stood out over the rest, and that was Nando's. The bard clearly was here to demonstrate that he could do more than sing with his Pokémon, because he'd chosen Quaxwell, and singing definitely was not this Pokémon's forte.

"Use Water Pulse!" Nando called. His Pokémon created multiple water orbs throwing them each several feet into the air.

"Now. Liquidation!" Like the last time Ursula had seen this move, Quaxwell covered its limbs in water. When the balls of water came down, Quaxwell kicked them straight back up, the combination of the two Water-moves somehow making sure the Water Pulse kept their shape.

They did the juggling routine three times before making another move. "Up into the air with Acrobatics!" If Ursula thought the juggling was impressive on the ground, it was nothing compared to Quaxwell bouncing the Water Pulses around whilst in midair. The Water-type kicked them high into the sky, before landing gracefully on the ground.

The long descent time gave Quaxwell a chance to sneak in one more move before dealing with them. "Misty Terrain, then Air Slash!"

The Water-type created a light fog around the arena, although its shadow was still clearly visible, waiting for the optimal moment. When all the Water Pulse descended to about eye level for Quaxwell, it lashed out with a massive crescent of air, splitting every Water Pulse and the Misty Terrain fog into pinpoint halves.

It also gave them a perfect view of Nando and Quaxwell's finale. "Finish this up with an Ice Spinner!"

The Water-type coated both its feet in ice this time, and started twirling like a figure skater would, drawing in all the fog and water from its previous moves into one swirling tornado before it exploded outwards, leaving only Quaxwell, Nando, and a dazzlingly display of water droplets.

There really was nothing to criticize, from Ursula's point of view. Clean combos, a touch of flair, and a nice showcase of his Pokémon's skills. Nando's performance was simple, elegant, and excellent.

A few more appeals were performed after Nando's, though none of them were anything to write home about, in Ursula's eyes, to wrap up the morning session. The screen shifted to the orange-haired announcer.

"Join me in giving a big hand to all of our talented coordinators today!" The lady paused as applause rang out around the arena. Feel free to take a break, but be sure to be back after the judges are done deliberating, so we can show you who has made it to the battle phase!"

With that, the screen faded to black, and the waiting game began.

"So, are we supposed to sit around here and just wait for the results?" Ursula overheard Luna asking Nando.

That's exactly what we're going to do, Ursula thought. Twenty of the most excruciatingly painful minutes were about to occur, where you would run through your appeal a hundred times in your head, over analyzing every little mistake you may have made.

At least, that's what the old Ursula would do. A lot of other coordinators, she had noticed over the years, had tried to cut the tension bringing out their Pokémon to mingle. Many were doing so right now. Nando had brought out Sprigatito for Luna to fawn over, while Bellosssom and Quaxwell were showing each other their dance moves.

She brought out Helioptile and suppressed the surge of guilt she felt when she saw her Pokémon's smiling face. "Go on and have some fun," she told her Pokémon. "There are so many new faces for you to meet."

That was because some coordinators also invited friends to come visit them during this time. It made the room temporarily very crowded, but a vast majority of people would leave after not qualifying for the battle stage. Dawn in particular had a multitude of people and Pokémon visiting her.

"Ambipom and you were great!" Ash greeted loudly, as soon as he entered the room. While all of the rest of Dawn's Pokémon loudly agreed, her other two friends, Brock and Zoey, were much more reserved.

It seemed they had the same questions about Dawn's appeal that she did, though the girl herself didn't seem to notice. "Thanks! We were awesome, weren't we? Especially Ambipom! She's a natural at contests!"

Dawn's Pokémon were making so much commotion, because they were so pleased with their trainer's appeal, along with everyone else in the room, that she missed the sound of the TV flickering back on. As soon as the announcer started speaking though, you could hear a pin drop, as everyone's eyes turned to the screen.

"Sorry for the delay, folks! Without further ado, here are the eight talented coordinators moving on to the second round!"