Unbroken Rythym [Nicole, Eira, Zan, Maleko]

Zandrophin straightened Dolos' tie and walked out onto the stage. Some of the people in the stands were present for his last performance. They cheered as he walked out.

They remember us....that may help things, Sir.

Not necessarily...Akane is still our executioner. Stay sharp.

Zandrophin walked into the center of the stage and flourished a bow to Akane and his audience. He lowered his head for a moment, and when he brought it back up, he was in full entertainer mode.

"Good evening, citizens of Celosia! I'm so glad you could all come out here tonight. My name is Zandrophin, and I hail from Saffron City in Kanto. You all came to see a show...and I don't plan on disappointing!"

The crowd roared. Zandrophin smiled,

"I see that most of you know I'm not kidding. That's great...you just made my job much harder."

There was laughter from the audience. So far, so good.

"Now...those of you who've seen me before should all remember Mentus?"

The Abra began hovering at the mention of his name, and began to teleport around the room amidst the cheers of the audience. He got in amongst them, messed with hair, sat on heads, and even borrowed some old man's popcorn. Zandrophin snapped his fingers and Mentus came right back, hovering on Zandrophin's left.

"He will not be alone tonight, however. Please welcome one of the newest editions to my team, Dolos!"

Spinning a full 360 degrees on the balls of his feet, Zandrophin threw the Dusk ball out onto the stage. Three shadowy orbs came out of the ball, shot into the air, looped around, and came together back on the stage. Dolos appeared with a small flash of light. The crowd cheered again. Dolos took his place at Zandrophin's right. Zandrophin outstretched both of his arms. Dolos and Mentus took their places at the opposite side of the arena and turned to face Zandrophin. Mentus hovered a few meters off the ground, Dolos directly beneath him. Zandrophin took a deep breath before speaking,

"Your eyes are a great tool. They allow you to see beautiful and terrible things. They give you perspective, and are the windows to the soul. However, what happens when those are taken away? What happens when what was once light grows dark?"

As Zandrophin was speaking, Mentus began to manifest the shape of the Psychic eye symbol. The giant purple eye floated just above him, at eye level with the people in the middle rows. Zandrophin continued,

"What happens...when the eyes are blinded?"

As soon as he said this, Mentus sent out a psychic message to all in the audience,

Shield your eyes.

A split second afterwards, The eye closed and a bright flash enveloped the arena. Zandrophin could only hope that most of the audience had followed his instructions. The audience looked down and saw that Dolos was now effectively blind. Many were confused by this, but had little time to process it, as Zandrophin spoke again,

"Yes, ladies and gentlemen...Dolos is now temporarily blinded. The eyes may be helpful, but this performance will show what the other senses can do. Dolos' job is to get across the field and reach me...while Mentus attempts to prevent him through the use of the dummies Lady Akane has provided and through a few tricks of our own."

He paused to let the audience settle before continuing,

"As with my previous performance, there will be few vocal cues. Now, without further ado," he said, all three bowing elegantly, "let us begin. Dolos...return."

Dolos didn't make a dash for Zandrophin at first. Instead, he started at a slower trot. This had been part of their training during their off-time...to sharpen their senses in case they were ever injured. As he got closer, Mentus began his work. He began by using Psychic to shift the ground beneath Dolos' feet, trying to trip him up. When this didn't work, he simply pulled him back or turned him around. Still to no avail. Then he moved on to the dummies. He picked them up a few at a time and teleported them out in front of Dolos.

Dolos heard the wood dummies hit the stage, and used Double Team. Four phantom images appeared around him. He used Quick Attack immediately afterwards, and all five Absols disappeared. They reappeared on the other side of the dummies, which were cut in precise places and fell down. The afterimages disappeared and Dolos kept going, beginning to increase in speed.

The next trick Mentus tried involved those two boxes of red orbs, which Zandrophin had given him at the beginning of the match. He took control of a few of these, and lobbed them around Dolos. The orbs hit the ground and popped loudly. These were an attempt to disorient Dolos. They worked momentarilly, since Dolos had to dodge them using Quick Attack. However, the Absol was soon back on the right track. Mentus tried a different tactic. He returned to the dummies and placed 30 of them down in 6 rows, 5 deep. Dolos ran at these, full-speed, and the sythe on his head began to glow. He swung out, and Night Slash obliterated the dummies.

With Dolos still going, Mentus attempted something else. He used Calm Mind on Dolos, who stopped. He made it so all could hear what both Pokemon were saying.

You've made it. Congratulations.

The human has not said to stop. Not there yet.

No...your act is over now...it's finished.

As Mentus was saying this, he'd created a ring of dummies which were slowly closing in on Dolos. He began to slowly spin them. This was the tip Dolos needed. He heard the dummies wooshing through the air, and decided to create a wind of his own. He crouched down like a cat and began to generate a Razor Wind. There was no sound in the wind, but people could feel it. Just as the dummies closed in, Dolos Attacked. White lines appeared, striking the dummies repeatedly. All fell to the ground in pieces.

Mentus had had enough. He began to rapidly teleport Dolos all over the arena. Finally setting him down. He used Calm Mind again and spoke,

Where are you now? Where is your Master?

.....Right beside. I am home.

The crowd began to applaud. All three bowed again, and Zandrophin stepped forward.

"I know what many of you are thinking. They were supposed to create an interesting spectacle by working together...not by competing? However, ladies and gentlemen, isn't competition what pushes us all to try our best..so that when we have to work together, we are already at our peak of performance? Competition strengthens teamwork; this performance proves that. We thank you for your attention."

The trio bowed again and awaited their judgement.

Once again, Zandrophin had impressed Akane with his interesting twist on things. Though it wasn’t brilliant move combinations, it was brilliant in showcasing the true strength of both the pokemon. It was just what Akane expected from him. And she was pleased to know the absol had only grown in strength in Zandrophin’s care.

”Zandrophin, you never fail to disappoint me. I especially loved the usage of props,” she chuckled as she leveled herself eye-to-eye.

”Zandrophin, after this performance, I expect you to do exceptionally well in the next round. However, for this preliminary round I proudly award you a marvelous score of twenty. An excellent springboard for the next round.” She felt bad she couldn’t award more points, but it mattered not. He would destroy in the next round anyway.

”I know that feels like a tough act to follow, but give it up for your last competitor of the day Maleko!” Once again she applauded with the audience as she returned to her seat.

Akane was intrigued, she never much cared for the grass types, but she didn’t dislike them either. This new trainer showed promise, but was clearly a beginner. Akane noticed him motioning with his pokemon, but the movements were off. The pokemon were either extremely well trained, or bred for contests to work together so well.

”I must say, I do love it when I get and unorthodox trainer. Your performance may have only granted you a seventeen, but an impressive and solid seventeen it is. You should be proud to carry it into the next round.” She had hoped he didn’t get his spirits down. In the next round that vine whip would prove useful.

The red lady turned to her contestants whom had been summoned yet again.

”Excellent job from all of you. You all have worked very hard to earn those impressive scores. Now your final task in this two round contest begins; this is another double battle-style contest, but instead, you the trainer are preforming alongside your pokemon. By this I mean you are heavily incorporated into the routine. Either helping your pokemon jump higher, or even by dancing with them-it does not matter as long as you show me true teamwork and a true testament to your friendship and trust you’ve built with your pokemon. Also if you have more than two pokemon I am allowing you to use different pokemon for this round.” What a long winded speech. Shows you how long it’s been since I had to give a speech. "Nicole, if you wouldn't mind going first again, please."

Okay... this is not something he was sure he could do.  While watching Nicole's performance he was feeling like his stomach was going to tie itself in a knot.  He had never had to do anything like this... not once.  Could he actually pull off something amazing in this round to make up for the seventeen points he had gotten before?  His hand slipped into the other pocket of the borrowed suit that didn't hold his Pokeballs, and grasp his flute lightly for comfort.  He really should just worry about that when the time came.  After Nicole and her Pokemon gave their bows, he clapped along with the audience.  It had been short, but the two seemed more comfortable with it being that way. 

Looking over at Eira, the next one who was going to perform, he couldn't help but wonder what she was going to do.

Chazz sat in his chair watching Akane soak up each contestants performance. She was passionate about pokemon, and Chazz admired her for that. Chazz however was grateful he was not a judge. He was too busy being enamored by all the foxy ladies about. Hopefully there would be an after party, with just him and all these lovely ladies. Chazz leaned close to Akane before the next performance began and said, "Thank you for my birthday gift." It wasn't Chazz's birthday, but Akane would get the joke. Seeing all these women in dresses beat having to do performance reviews with the council.

Zandrophin rubbed his forehead throughout the performance. Baby or not...the giggling was piercing. He tried to block it out, but to no avail.

It makes it hard to focus on the routine, old friend...which isn't half bad.

I agree, Sir...this is why I don't like children.

She has skill to recognize moves so quickly, especially when they come straight at her. That is impressive.

Zandrophin watched as the pair flew high into the air...then came down very rapidly....almost too rapidly.

This isn't going to end well.

Then she hit the ground, and Mentus shuddered.

What did you see, old friend?

She's going to need medical attention, Sir...hairline bone fractures from the impact....mostly in her ankles.

Foolish princess....risking herself with such an unpredictable Pokemon...I wonder if it will work out for her....