Couriway Town Showcase (SJ)

This is the Couriway Town Showcase, the first showcase featured in Pokemon Showcase Journeys.

Introduction
“Good morning, Madames, Mademoiselles, and Monsieurs! The wait is over! It’s time for an enchanting presentation of performers and their Pokemon partners! The Couriway Pokemon Showcase is about to begin! I am your host for this Pokemon Showcase, Monsieur Pierre! Up first is the Mademoiselles Sera, Midori, and Clarissa.”

Theme: Pokémon Styling
The three young performers took the stage. Dressing their Pokemon up in cute hats and accessories, walking down the runway at their own pace. Fletching was wearing a black bow tie, while Chespin was wearing a red one that was covered with white spots. Fenniken’s tail was covered in blue beads.

After all the performers and their Pokemon walked down the runway, orange, green, and white lights filled the stadium.

Clarissa was chosen by the audience to move on to the finals, as her Fletchling chirped happily and she smiled at it in thanks. It was kind of an anticlimactic opponent considering her Pokemon, but for a first showcase it’d have to do.

“For our second round, the performers will be Mademoiselles Rose, Sylva, and Madison.”

The two other performers looked at each other, both nervous. Were they nervous because I was with them?

They seemed to back down and blush, as if though they were scared of performing with me. Were they? This was my first time in a showcase too, they knew that right?

''No need to get myself down over them. ''I thought, starting to decorate my Vivillion with ribbons that matched its scales. My legs were shaking, and they hadn’t this bad since the first time I’d battled against my mother. I looked at my opponents, as I got finished with my decorating early. Sylva’s Skiddo was decorated with cute flowers on its back, and Floette’s flower had been turned into a whole bouquet.

When we were all finished, I walked down the aisle gracefully, my Vivillion fluttering lightly above my hand. Cheering me on in secret were the whispers of “Woah, she’s good” or “Hey, isn’t that Madison Sycamore?” That I could pick up from the audience.

Again, little balls of blue, yellow, and pink lights filled the stadium. I locked my eyes nervously on each little pink sphere as I watched them fill up my key.

“The winner of this theme round is Mademoiselle Madison!”

I blushed and smiled at the crowd, and was filled with relief as I was lowered down off the stage.

“Congrats Princess! But still, I’ll be sure to see you in the Freestyle round!”

“You bet Shauna!”

“Will Violet, Shauna, and Jess please go on standby?”

I watched on the TV in the waiting room and saw Shauna put a brim on her Swirlix, and decorated it even more with some puff balls.

Serena and I both stood together. Sure, Shauna was our rival today, but we still felt anxious for her. She was our friend, and we all wanted to go to the Freestyle round together. As we kept our eyes on the yellow lights, we crossed our fingers and closed our eyes tight.

“The winner of this group is Performer Shauna!”

As she was lowered off the stage, we all went into a group hug. “Way to go!”

“Alright Serena, all you have to do is make it to the performance round and we can all compete against each other.”

“Oh. So Serena is the one competing against me? How unfortunate for her, because it won’t be easy with me to beat!” An aloof girl snickered, beckoning her Amuara to come wait with her on standby.

“Ouch…” Shauna looked at Serena, trying to reassure her. “Don’t worry! We know you’ll do great!”

As Serena rose onto the stage, we were concentrating on that girl and her Amuara. Contrary to what she’d said, her decorating skills were only slightly above average. Serena had grown up with a Showcase-loving home, there’s no way she could lose!

Still, the girls Amuara was decorated in pearls and other gems, While Serena’s Sylveon was decked out in plain ribbon. A Deddenne was their opponent, but that performer wasn’t the focus.

Many purple and red, and a few dark blue lights flew through the air and into the keys.

“The winner of this rounds theme performance is Performer Elsa!”

The girl and her Amuara snickered at Serena as she looked down at her Sylveon in pain.

“It’s alright Serena! There’s always next time!” Shauna comforted her friend, who started to get teary-eyed.

“Yeah… I’ll watch you guys in the freestyle performance for sure! Alright, now one of you has to win this Showcase for me, OK?”

“Alright, that’s a promise!”

Freestyle Round
We changed into our Freestyle dresses and waited for Monsieur Pierre to finish his monologue for the freestyle round.

“And now, it’s time for the freestyle performance stage where the winners from the theme performance stage compete. And what’s more? You lovely people will be our judges. Please cast your votes using the Glowcasters after all the performances have concluded. So please get ready for sublime performances. First up, Performer Clarissa.”

The young girl looked tense as she ordered the bird Pokemon to use agility while flying around her. It was a white ball flying around her, but she looked like she was enjoying herself when it was all over.

“How pathetic. She’ll never make it out alive when it’s my turn to appeal.” Elsa was getting her makeup done now, but she was still sharp-tongued.

''Don’t let it bother you, Madison. Some people are just bitter like that. ''Keeping those thoughts in mind, I went on stage in my dress with a smile.

“Alright Vivillion, Light Screen!”

It spread out several layers of Light Screens, which I jumped on and danced across. It used Aromatherapy to cover me in green mist and some scattered flower petals. At the top of the path, it grabbed me, spread its wings, and then flew me down back on to the stage, while dispersing of the mist and broken light screens all the while, creating a mesh of green and white sparkles that fell across the stadium.

“Finished!” I called out, curtsying to the crowd as they roared with applause and praise. I could see Serena and the professor sitting together in the front row. They were smiling. The further out I looked from them, the more I realized how happy everyone was. My heart was racing, and I was out of breath, but I was pretty happy with my performance too.

As I walked back into the waiting room, I was greeted by a pumped up Shauna and a stunned Serena. “How did you do that?! It’s only your first performance, so how?” Serena was estatstic, and her jaw looked like it was ready to drop to the floor.

“Well, she probably just got lucky. Or it was just adrenaline. Either way, no matter how wowed that crowd was, I’m still going to beat you by a landslide.” Elsa taunted. I was really getting fed up with that girl’s attitude, but somehow I managed to restrain myself from sending out my Xerneas on her.

“Any who, I’m up! Wish me luck guys!” Shauna waved to us, running on stage.

She started with Cotton Spore, and then used sweet scent what seemed like a million times as bunches of scent particles lifted higher and higher into the air. She began to bump her Swirlix back and forth through the sweet scent until it was a pink blob with eyes. Using Tackle, It dashed into the air, created a big pink cloud and cleaning itself off in the process.

She smiled and waved to the crowd to finish off her performance.

“How immature. Does she know that only true ladies have a shot at becoming the best performers?” Elsa nagged her behind her back. I wanted to fight her so badly, but I knew I’d cause a scene if I did. “Come on Amuara, let’s show our audience the way a true top Pokemon Performer does a Freestyle round!”

Elsa had her Amuara use Powder Snow, whisking her up with it. It then used Aurora Beam, and Elsa collected each of the rings it formed. After that, when it used Hail, she throws each of the rings at the blocks of ice, breaking them and creating a massive explosion of white and rainbow sparkles.

I had to admit, her appeal was very good, but that just made me even tenser than before. As Shauna and I rose to the stage again, we looked at each other, then looked at Elsa. We had to avenge Serena, even if it meant seeing Elsa be even more of a jerk to us than she was today. To save me, Pierre went into another monologue. “Please light your Glowcasters using the corresponding color of the performer you thought gave the best performance. Alright! If you please?”

Orbs of light came fluttering onto the stage, and my heart pounded with each one my key collected. Would I win my Showcase debut? Would Shauna? Would Elsa?

I decided to just close my eyes as tight as I could until this was all over. Pierre started to speak, and with each syllable, my heart inched towards the edge of my chest

“And now, the winner of the Couriway Pokémon Showcase is…Madison!”

“Alright!” My Vivillion fluttered next to me happily.

“You were great, Madison! Congratulations on winning your debut Showcase!” Shauna smiled next to me

“Thanks so much, Shauna! You were great too!”

Pierre walked over to me when all the other performers had left the stage. “Congratulations on being our winner. We’re happy to present you with the beautiful Couriway Princess Key.”

“Thank you very much sir.” I bowed respectfully to him then walked off stage.