After practicing with Rarity for the past few weeks it was almost time for the grand festival. She and her friends arrived at the Indigo Plateau again only this time it looked different. As they were walking Turquoise and rarity were excited to be competing. As soon as they arrived at the registration desk a familiar voice Turquoise recognized called to her.
“ So you finally managed to get this far,” The voice which revealed to belong to Selena said.
“ I assume you did as well?” Turquoise asked.
“ Read 'em and weep,” Selena said while showing off her five ribbons.
“ So you still won’t beat me,” Turquoise said. After her brief exchange with Selena, Turquoise proceeded with registration. After her ribbons and Pokedex have been scanned Turquoise was ready. As soon as Rarity finished registering She and Turquoise went to the back along with the rest of the coordinators to get changed. Rarity came out wearing a long ivory dress with gold accents while Turquoise was still changing.
“ Are you ok in there darling?” Rarity asked before Turquoise popped her head out.
“ This is a bit embarrassing but a little help?” Turquoise asked. Rarity came in a saw Turquoise in what looked like a kimono with a Ninetails pattern.
“ Where did you get that from?” Rarity asked while helping Turquoise with her kimono.
“ Erika gave it to me before I left Celadon City,” Turquoise said. After tying the obi Rarity and Turquoise left the changing room and waited for the Grand Festival to begin.
Meanwhile at the Celadon City Gym Erika along with her gym trainers were all gathered in the lounge area to watch the Grand Festival on TV.
“ Do you think Turquoise made it?” Sapphire asked.
“ Of course she made it. She won the Indigo League after all so naturally, she acquired the five ribbons needed to enter,” Erika said. As they were talking the Grand Festival was about to begin with Lilian appearing on screen.
“ Welcome ladies and Gentlemen to this year's Kanto Grand Festival. 270 coordinators have worked their hardest to come this far but only one will be walking away with the Kanto Ribbon Cup,” Lilian said before the spotlight shined on the trophy for the Grand Festival. “ Before we introduce the judges allow me to explain how the appeals round will work for the Grand Festival. There are two rounds. A preliminary round and the main round. In the Preliminary round, our coordinators will have to give us a performance using only one move and in the main round they can use as many moves as they want but only the sixty-four Coordinators who make it past the first round will move on to the second round. Now then let us introduce the judges. First up from the Pokemon Activities Committee is Mr. Contesta.
“ A pleasure as always to be here,” Contesta said.
“ Next up Mr. Sukizo,” Lilian Continued.
“ Remarkable,” Sukizo said.
“ Next is not one, not two but three Nurse Joys,” Lilian continued while all three joys smiled for the audience. “ And finally our special judge for this year’s Grand Festival. All the way from Twinleaf Town in the Sinnoh Region. A contest Veteran. Give it up for Dawn.
“ No need to worry,” Dawn said as the crowd went wild.
“ And now without further ado say it with me, everyone,” Lilian said as she prepared to say her catchphrase.
“ LET'S GET BUSY,” Everyone shouted. Many skilled coordinators gave some of the best performances Turquoise has ever seen and when it was Selina’s turn she watched attentively to see what she had planned for this round. “ And now our next contestant all the way from the Sinnoh Region is Selena. Selina took her position which Dawn recognized as her old rival Ursala’s style.
“ Raichu take the stage,” Selena said as Raichu appeared out of his Pokeball while surrounded in green thunderbolts which he pushed away before landing on the stage. “ Use Electric Terrain. Raichu covered the entire stage in electricity which caused Raichu to float above it like he was surfing. Raichu was having a lot of fun riding the electric terrain like the waves off the shore of a beach.
“ Now that is a very cool performance. What do you say, judges?” Lilian asked.
“ Between the two kinds of Raichu that performance put the Alolan variety front and center,” Contesta said.
“ Remarkable,” Sukizo said.
“ The best way to show off Alolan Raichu’s Surge Surfer ability,” Nurse Joy said.
“ Raichu looked like he was having fun with that performance,” Dawn said.
Meanwhile in the other stadium Rarity and her Sylveon were doing a killer performance with Hyper Voice which thanks to Sylveon's Pixilate ability made it sound more melodic than loud. After the three joys gave their scores, rarity returned backstage to watch Turquoise’s performance.
“ And now our next contestant all the way from Pallet Town is Turquoise,” Lilian said as Turquoise walked on stage.
“ Altaria let’s dazzle them,” Turquoise said before throwing her Pokeball which popped open and unleashed a cloud of white smoke which Altaria now wearing regalia with a mega stone on it appeared out of. “ Use Sky Attack while flying up. Altaria flew upward at high speed while covered in a yellow aura that covered her body. Turquoise rubbed her pendant which caused Altaria to mega evolve. “ Now nose dive. As Altaria was still shrouded by the Sky Attack and Mega Energy she nosed dived and as soon as she stopped Mega Altaria appeared which really dazzled the crowd.
“ Now that was quite the performance, what do you say judges?” Lilian asked.
“ A very splendid way to use Mega Evolution in a contest,” Contesta said.
“ Very Remarkable,” Sukizo said.
“ It was like watching stage magic,” Nurse Joy said.
“ Normally a pokemon disappearing in a flash is bad but in this case, it works perfectly,” Dawn said while remembering the mistake she made with Ambipom. The rest of the coordinators went on and after the last one finished it was time for the judges to deliberate. While the deliberating process was going on Rarity managed to return to the stadium where Turquoise was. As soon as she got there Lilian appeared on the screen.
“ Sorry for the wait and now without further ado here is the sixty-four Coordinators moving on to the second round,” Lilian said as the contestants began to appear one by one with Turquoise in first, Rarity in tenth, and Selena in seventeenth.
“ We made it,” Turquoise and Rarity said in excitement.
“ Don’t go celebrating just yet because you still have to get through the second half of the appeals stage,” Selena said.
“ We will make it and then get ready for a rematch,” Turquoise said to Selena.
The next day All sixty-Four coordinators were dressed and ready to go. With the competition now reduced to Sixty-Four people the rest of the grand festival was now moved to just a single stadium.
“ Welcome to the second day of the Appeal’s stage,” Lilian said joyfully. “ We have seen some amazing performances yesterday and now let’s see what our remaining sixty-four coordinators have for us today. Leading us off is none other than Turquoise. Turquoise spun elegantly while throwing her Pokeball.
“ Ninetails let’s dazzle them,” Turquoise said as Ninetails popped out of her Pokeball surrounded by blue flames. “ Use Fire Blast on the field. Ninetails unleashed her Fire Blast on the field before landing in the center of the flames. Ninetails began dancing around in her fire making her look elegant. “ Now use Extrasensory on the fire. Ninetails used her Extrasensory to make her fire spin around herself before sending it upward and causing it to explode into fireworks which got the crowd excited.
“ Yet another amazing performance from Turquoise,” Lilian said As Turquoise and Ninetails finished. After returning backstage Rarity was impressed with her performance. After some of the others did their performances it was now Rarity’s turn.
“ Hatterene take the stage,” Rarity said as she threw her Pokeball which unleashed a cloud of white smoke that dissipated revealing a blue, pink, and white humanoid-like creature that looked like a witch with a long arm on the hat. Turquoise pulled out her Pokedex for more info.
“ Hatterene, The Silent Pokemon, If you're too loud around it, you risk being torn apart by the claws on its tentacle. This Pokémon is also known as the Forest Witch,” The Pokedex said.
“ Hatterene use Light Screen. Hatterene used Light Screen to trap herself in a yellow box. “ Now use Psycho Cut on the box. Hatterene unleashed a barrage of pink blades on the walls causing them to explode. “ Now use Substitute. Hatterene looked to be damage only to disappear and for the real Hatterene to reappear unharmed.
“ And like a true magician, Hatterene pulls off a death-defying escape act,” Lilian said as the crowd showed how much they loved Rarity’s performance. The performances kept coming all were amazing which proved how hard each coordinator worked to get to the Grand Festival. It was now Selena’s turn and she was raring to go.
“ Roserade take the stage,” Selena said as she threw her Pokeball which popped open and unleashed a purple flower that exploded and revealed Roserade covered in purple pedals. “ Start with Petal Dance. Roserade spun around elegantly while shooting pink flower petals upwards. “ Now use Pin Missile. Roserade fired her Pin Missile which created a dazzling display of both fireworks and raining flower petals which amazed the audience. As soon as the last performance ended a thirty-minute intermission went into effect for the judges to deliberate who moves on to the battle stage. Turquoise was feeling nervous after seeing Rarity and Selena’s performances.
“ Don’t look so nervous darling you were great out there,” Rarity said.
“ Do you think I will make the cut?” Turquoise asked.
“ You better make it or else,” Selena said.
“ You are not helping and if you have nothing nice to say then stay out of our conversation,” Rarity said sternly to Selena.
“ Whatever,” Selena said before shifting her focus back to the monitor. Sometime later Lilian appeared on the monitor.
“ We are back and after a lot of deliberation here are the sixteen coordinators who made it to the battle stage,” Lilian said as sixteen profile pics appeared on-screen three of which included Turquoise, Rarity, and Selena.
“ We made it,” Turquoise said excitedly.
“ Was there any doubt,” Rarity said.
“ And now let’s shuffle the deck and see who will be facing who,” Lilian said as the profile pics shuffled and then formed a bracket. Neither of the girls was facing each other off the bat. With the lineup for tomorrow set up, everyone returned to the Pokemon Center for the night.
The next day Turquoise, Rarity, and Selena were pushing their way through the battle round which consisted of double battles until they made it to the final four.
“ After so many intense and amazing battles we are now down to our final four which consists of Turquoise, Selena, Rarity, and Anna,” Lilian shouted as the match-up appeared on the jumbotron which was Turquoise vs Selena and Rarity vs Anna. The first battle was Turquoise vs Selena and the crowd was excited.
“ Prepare to lose Turquoise,” Selena said.
“ We shall see about that,” Turquoise said.
“ Five minutes on the clock, Go,” Lilian said as the clock counted down.
“ Altaria and Espeon let’s dazzle them,” Turquoise said as both Altaria and Espeon appeared while covered in yellow and blue stars.
“ Let me show you some real power. Garchomp and Flareon take the stage. A bigger shark with spikes in certain places appeared and gave Turquoise and her pokemon an intimidating glare. Turquoise wanted to learn more about Garchomp but didn’t since the clock started ticking and she could not afford to waste any time.
“ Espeon get on Altaria and use Swift and Altaria use Sky Attack. Espeon got on Altaria’s back before creating a swift barrier around them as Altaria began to glow and then spread her wings. As soon as they flew down Altaria looked like a majestic phoenix whose beauty was elevated by the swift surrounding her.
“ Nice try but that won’t work. Garchomp use Sandstorm and Flareon use Scary Face. Garchomp whipped up a huge sandstorm that surrounded Flareon in a sand tornado that formed Flareon’s Face before it turned into a scary expression which was Flareon’s Scary Face.
“ Espeon jump and use Psybeam from above the tornado. Espeon leaped off of Altaria and flew very high thanks to her light body and nimble speed. As soon as Espeon was over the tornado she fired her Psybeam which managed to nail Flareon and cancel out the Scary Face. Altaria’s attack kept going and managed to nail Garchomp for a good amount of damage and caused him to bump into Flareon who was still recovering from the attack from above.
“ And Turquoise manages to deliver a very dazzling display with a three-stage attack that just cost Selena a mountain of points,” Lilian said as Selena’s points went down a lot which made Selena angry.
Selena: 45%
“ Now it’s payback time. Garchomp use Breaking Swipe and Flareon use Flare Blitz. Flareon was covered in a blue fire which was amplified by Garchomp’s Breaking Swipe boosting Flareon into the air towards Altaria like a bullet covered in blue and green flames.
“ Espeon use swift to block that. Espeon used swift to create a huge star that managed to block Flareon’s attack. As soon as Flareon broke through the star a bunch of stars rained down on Garchomp while Flareon’s attack nailed Espeon with enough power to cause her to faint which caused the judges to hit their buzzers.
“ And Espeon is down for the count,” Lilian said as Turquoise and Selena’s points both went down with two minutes left on the clock.
Turquoise:50%
Selena: 30%
“ Return Espeon,” Turquoise said while recalling Espeon. Turquoise needed to end this before Selena double-teamed her. “ Altaria use Moon Blast full power. Altaria unleashed a full power Moon which managed to nail Garchomp for a huge amount of damage and sent him flying into Flareon which resulted in both of them fainting.
“ And with a spectacular finish the winner of this round is Turquoise,” Lilian said as Turquoise’s picture appeared on the jumbotron. After recalling her Pokemon Selena smiled as if the score was now settled.
“ I must admit you've gotten much stronger since we first met but I promise you the next time we meet I will beat you,” Selena said before leaving. Sometime later Rarity managed to win her match against Anna and now it was time for the final battle of the Grand Festival. Before the battle, Turquoise and Rarity were in the dressing room touching themselves up for this final battle.
“ I can’t believe I made it this far,” Turquoise said.
“ Believe it darling you come so far and on your first journey too,” Rarity said.
“ Thanks, Rarity I'm glad it's you I'm facing in the final match,” Turquoise said. After they finished getting ready both Turquoise and Rarity returned to the field for the final match.
“ And now ladies and gentlemen it's time for the final match of the Grand Festival. On my left is Rarity and on my right is Turquoise. Who will win the Ribbon Cup?” Lilian said before the spotlight shined on the cup. “ Five minutes on the clock go.
“ Delcatty and Sylveon take the stage,” Rarity said as she threw two Pokeballs which popped open. The one with Delcatty unleashed some Red confetti while the one with Sylveon unleashed a big pink heart before revealing the two pokemon.
“ Venusaur and Corviknight let's dazzle them,” Turquoise said as she threw her two Pokeballs which also popped open. The one for Venusaur unleashed a pink flower that exploded and rain pink petals around Venusaur while the one for Corviknight unleashed Corviknight who was surrounded by green lightning bolts which he knocked away before hovering over Venusaur.
“ Sylveon use Hyper Voice and Delcatty use Sing. As Delcatty was singing Sylveon added her Hyper Voice which resulted in a melodious ballad.
“ Venusaur use Petal Dance and Corviknight use Drill Peck while spinning. Venusaur sent out a spiral of pink flower petals while Corviknight flew through the spiral and spun not only looking quite elegant covered by the power of the petal dance but also able to smash through Rarity combination and deliver a powerful blow.
“ And that display of both power and beauty cost Rarity a good amount of points,” Lilian said as Rarity’s points went down.
Rarity: 75%
“ Not bad but we are not out yet. Delcatty use Assist and Sylveon use Shadow Ball. Delcatty’s assist turned into Ominous Wind which boosted the shadow Ball’s power and speed as it flew towards Corviknight.
“ Do a loop and dodge it. Corviknight dodged the amped-up Shadow Ball which cost Rarity some points.
Rarity: 55%
“ Our turn to attack. Venusaur use Sludge Bomb and Corviknight use Steel Wing. Venusaur unleashed a blob of sludge upwards while Corviknight used his Steel Wing to volley it at Sylveon and Delcatty. They tried to dodge it but Sylveon could not move quick enough and took the full force of the attack which caused her to faint and the judges to hit their buzzers at the three-minute mark.
Rarity: 25%
“ Sylveon return,” Rarity said as she recalled Sylveon. Rarity was now in a bind with two pokemon against one and decided to go for broke. “ Delcatty use Blizzard. Delcatty whipped up a powerful Blizzard that covered the whole field. Corviknight was able to withstand the Blizzard but Venusauar took a huge amount of damage which caused him to faint at the thirty-second mark and the judges to hit their buzzers as Turquoise lost half her points.
Turquoise: 50%
“ I’m betting it all on my final move. Delcatty use assist. Delcatty used assist which turned into Froslass’s Ice Shard which Turquoise was ready for.
“ Corviknight use Steel Wing on that Ice. Corviknight used Steal Wing to break the ice up and sent a barrage of crushed ice at Delcatty. Before the ice could hit time ran out.
“ And that’s it time. And the winner of the Grand Festival Is,” Lilian paused for suspense before Turquoise’s picture appeared on the screen. “ It’s Turquoise. The crowd went wild with applause as Rarity recalled her Delcatty. Sometime later everyone gathered to watch Turquoise accept the Ribbon Cup.
“ We hope to see you again in the next Grand Festival,” Mr. Contesta said. As soon as the award ceremony was over everyone who competed gathered for a banquet. Before Turquoise could enjoy the festivities she saw Selena leaving.
“ Where are you going, Selena?” Turquoise asked.
“ Back home to Sinnoh to do some training and then to the Johto Region for the Johto Grand Festival,” Selena said.
“ I look forward to seeing you again,” Turquoise said.
“ Trust me you will be seeing a lot of me but until then keep up the training,” Selena said before leaving. Later that night Turquoise looked back on all her success and began thinking if there was more for her or if this was the summit of her abilities.