Ask to Join Galarian Star Journey

[PyroGaleZX]

The crowd cheered as other performers had successfully finished and made it through the first stage. Nessa smiled as she took center stage again, "Thank you, everyone! Now then, we thank all of the coordinators that came here today to showcase their outstanding Pokemon! And the judges have made their decisions on who will be moving onto the Second Stage, give it up for your Top 4 Coordinators!" Nessa announced. Silhouettes appeared as holographic images as the coordinators in the lobby watched with anticipation, suddenly the silhouettes began glowing taking the forms of the 4 Coordinators that would be moving on: Reginald Valerias from Opelucid City, Lucas Gayle from Hearthome City, Daphne Wilkson from Petalburg City, Ivory Cashen from Petalburg City.

The crowd roared with applause, Alito sighed and threw his arms behind his head, "Oh well, guess contests aren't really our thing," Alito sighed as he and the other coordinators were escorted out, "Good luck everyone!" Alito waved as he went to the audience.

Nessa took the stage once again, "Now then everyone, please get ready!" Nessa announced, "Our first matchups will be Reginald Valerias from Opelucid City versus Lucas Gayle from Hearthome City!" Nessa declared.

 

[Merciless Medic]

After struggling to realize that his ensemble was indeed not wet, even though he felt damp up until a few minutes ago, Reggie looked up at the holographic images of the action coordinators that were accepted to the next obstacle to get the medal. He waited with anticipation to see Nessa congratulate and show the contestants moving on, his stomach doing flips with anticipation and nervousness. When the faces popped up, he hardly recognized himself.

"I'm... I'm in?" His eyes widened in surprise as the realization took a second for him to fully comprehend. "I'M IN!! WE'RE IN!! WE DID IT, EMERIC!" He shouted, his Gastly popping out of his PokeBall to hug Reggie with his ghostly smog, two huge smiles spreading across the duo's face. After the rush of dopamine and endorphins ran through his system after being proved to himself that he can do this, he looked up to see he was up against a teenaged boy around his age. He had a round face, curly brown hair, and hazel eyes. Looking around, he found the guy with that description. Reggie was able to tell that he was taller than the kid, and he had quite the pale skin. He had a hat with a feather on it. Wasn't he the guy with the Gible?

Reggie cleared his throat from screaming it almost raw from his excitement earlier and ran up to this 'Lucas', striking up conversation before their battle. "Hey, bud. Looks like I'm going up against you in a few minutes." Looking at the Gible, Reggie waved a hand at them. "That performance you did was really spectacular. Nice use of that Dragon Pulse." Though, now that he remembered, he showcased all of his Pokemon's attacks. Well, almost all. He recalled there being Dragon Pulse, Bite, and Sandstorm. Regardless, if they did fight and if this were a normal Pokemon battle, the two of them had at least one move that was super-effective against the other. Though, this wasn't any ordinary Pokemon battle, and they had to focus on showcasing their Pokemon's capabilities. Reggie and his Gastly have been training and using similar strategies they've seen on television, adapting to use their own strategies on the matter. Of course, since Action Contests are meant to make yourselves look amazing while making the opposition look bad or their strategies exploitable in your own favor, this was going to be a doozy. Especially since Reggie realized the humans had to get in on this, too. This wasn't just their Pokemon doing all the work.

The Shiny Gastly hovered over to the Gible, waving a little see-through hand at the Dragon/Ground-Type and greeting him with a little chortle, careful to not get too close to his sharp teeth or in chomping range.

 

[Crimson Sun]

Lucas sat next to Gible on a soft cushioned chair, waiting in anticipation. The performers after him were just as impressive, and Lucas was scared he wasn't going to make it in. Though that wasn't saying that he didn't love the attention he received after his performance, and it was indeed one of his best performances ever for the appeal round, he's just a little nerve wrecked. Hopefully, he thinks that he heard more applauses for his act compared to the others, though that may be just him tooting his own horn and subconsciously trying to pray that he makes it into the battle portion of the Action Contest. Speaking of which, he wonders how he'd supposed to participate in the battles of Action Contests. Lucas supposed that that band he received in the beginning would protect him from potential dynamaxing damages of the Pokemon, but how exactly is he going to make himself look particularly good during the battle?

The brunette stared at the screen when the Hulburry Gym Leader and model began to speak of the coordinators who would be moving on to the second round. The Top 4 she says, which means the list of coordinators definitely had cut down from the initial coordinator count from the appeal rounds. Ding! The first profile picture appeared, and it was a familiar face. The familiarity was more than just the impressive marionette performance, but it was from all the way from the mini skirmish of the chase in the Wild Area in front of Motostoke City gates. Though Lucas doesn't know him well enough, he did know of him, in which Lucas was ecstatic that a familiar face was able to make it in.

Ding! The sound of the screen showcasing the next profile picture of the coordinator who would make it in. Lucas didn't dare open his eyes, nervousness oozing out of him, but he would have to see the results sooner or later anyways, might as well make the choice of seeing it sooner than later. Raising his head, and the brim of his fedora out of his gaze, Lucas found himself staring at his own profile picture on screen, meaning the brunette was able to make it into the next round! An audible sigh escaped his mouth as he patted Gible's head, proud of their accomplishment.

Ding! The next image was another familiar face, from Daphne if he recalled correctly, having met her earlier in the day with her Skitty battling Alito's Riolu. A small smile was etched upon his face again, glad seeing another familiar face have made it. Ding! The last trainer revealed was a coordinator Lucas didn't know at all, only having seen her impressive performance with her Azumarill. The waiting room applauded politely for those who made it on to the second round, Lucas having some strangers congratulate him personally which he bowed his head back respectfully in thanks.

Nessa appeared on the big screen again, having the computer randomly match up coordinators against each other for the battle portion. On screen, Lucas's photo was placed besides the Ghastly trainer, who he picked up the name cue as Reginald. They were the first match up for the battle portion, and Lucas was slightly nervous. His Shiny Ghastly did have a devastative Dazzling Gleam in it's arsenal, which would be quite troublesome for Gible in the long run. They are going to need to strategize around that.

Reginald came up to Lucas in the middle of his thought, seemingly to strike up a friendly conversation before the battle. He complimented on his Gible's use of Dragon Pulse, which Lucas immediately swelled his chest with confidence, because he was proud of that combination too. It took a lot of concentration back during Sinnoh to be able to focus a lot of that draconic energy, and clearly their efforts paid off.

"Thank you so much, you and your Ghastly were amazing too. Your Ghastly must have used a ton of it's energy to be able to constantly control you throughout the whole performance, it was very impressive."

Though that bit does remind Lucas, something about his Ghastly and it's performance. During their performance, it looked like Reginald had fell asleep when looking into Ghastly's eyes, which was the whole schematic of their performance. He would probably need Gible to do his best to avoid it's eyes. Not to mention, Gible being a land-based Pokemon with Ghastly who has levitating capabilities, gives Lucas a bit of a disadvantage for the battle too. Hmm, this was going to be a tough bout for his first Galar Contest.

 

[jade421]

As Daphne waited in the back for the 4 who advanced to be called, she could not help but bit her lip as she paced a bit with nervous anticipation. They had done all they could, but every Coordinator seemed to put on their best performance so it was anyone's game who'd advance to the next round. Course, that had not made it easier on her as the tension felt quite suffocating as she clutched the Pokeball of Selina as she waited seemingly endless for the results to come. Eventually, the faces of those who advanced came up, and as Daphne had gotten a good look at them...

"We...we made it!"
​

....relief, followed by utter joy, escaped the lips of Daphne as she had seen her own face among the final four as she hugged Selina's Pokeball; her partner inside seemed to sense the positive energy as it shook a bit as if telling Daphne she was happy. Their work paid off, and on their first Contest they had made it to the Battle Rounds! Daphne had so much energy once the stress had faded that really she had no idea what to do with herself now, but even that had to quickly shift as she remembered this was just a step. A big step, but just a step and she still had 3 other talented Coordinators to overcome if she wanted to claim this day as hers. Thankfully her match was not the first one, so she had time to think over a strategy before she faced this Ivory Cashen.

Would be no small feat, Ivory was a quality Coordinator and Daphne would have to bring her absolute best if she desired to win, though while she worked over what strategy to use she'd take the time to watch the first match and perhaps she'd be able to draw some inspiration from her possible finals foe; whoever that turned out to be.

 

[Merciless Medic]

Reggie's smile widened as he saw Lucas reacted positively to his compliment and sent one back to him. This time, Reggie felt an intense sense of glee overcome his body and he gave his opponent some complimentary finger guns. "Thanks, man. We turned his prank into a combo after he did it one too many times, so I'm glad it worked out as well as it did." And that I didn't end up waking up halfway through and falling to the fake water... The thoughts of what could have happened, which were all bad, flashed across his mind and the sudden look on his face lost the confident luster he held before. However, his expression came back just as quickly as it was lost, and he gave Lucas a thumbs up as Nessa called for the participants to get ready and come up to their starting positions.

"See you in the ring. Not sure what we are able to do in a trainer-assisted battling performance, but I'm pretty sure we can figure it out. I'm sure you'll do fantastically." He gave Lucas a parting wave, his Gastly waving goodbye to the Gible before being returned to his PokeBall for another appearance. It was time for the beginning of the fight.

Reggie ran up to where he should exit out from and, when Nessa said his name after some tense minutes of waiting, Reggie released his Gastly and told him to enter the way they exited, so it looked like they continued their act. A thick cloud of Gastly's shimmering smoke flowed out of the door and onto the floor. Emeric the Gastly then flowed through, completely unseeable due to becoming like his gaseous body. A bright dazzling light grew from outside the door, and as it dimmed, Reggie stood in its place, having lunged out of the door quickly while everybody blocked the rays. Remnants of Emeric's gas flowed off of him softly as he held out his hand for his Gastly to sit upon, the gases forming up in a double helix pattern before coming together to form the shimmering dense head. The Gastly and his trainer bowed politely at the crowd, once to the left and another to the right before waiting excitedly for Lucas and his Gible to emerge.

 

[jade421]

Daphne worked to find a seat for the coming Contest Battle, and as she had gotten set she figured it had been only right for her team to get a view of what was to come. As such, she released from a pair of ungimmicked Pokeballs her two trusted companions; Selina the Skitty and Echo the Whismur. Course, Selina had been excited, especially when Daphne worked to tell the pair they advanced thanks to her performance which the Skitty seemed to take pride in. Echo of course had been happy as well, though nervous as now they had to take on top Coordinators and this seemed to make the Whismur all the more nervous.

And Daphne had a chance to see this for herself, as the first of the semi-finalists had made his entrance and his Gastly seemed to keep a respectable flair even if this round had been about combat as much as a display of Coordinated performing talents; a display that this Reggie had been here to win and Daphne grinned as she sensed this was bound to be a good one.

 

[Crystal1302]

Athena didn't know how to describe this feeling, she was actually excited at something for once. Of course she couldn't exactly express it, she was still mostly winded from the battle with Reggie, but watching the action contest on TV was exhilarating. Thanatos had even got caught up in it and was even mimicking some of the pokemon that were performing (Including almost knocking over a vase trying to copy one trainer's Azumarill. "It seems that Reggie has succeeded and made it to the second round". "Oooh. You zzt-eem verrry intere-ztt-ed in thi-zzt Reggie guy. Is it more than just friends I wonder?" Athena proceeded to snatch Prometheus out of the air and chucked it towards the direction o Iris, who caught it in her mouth. "Eew! Slowpoke mouth! Gro-zzt!"

 

[Crimson Sun]

It was time for the long awaited battle against Reggie and his shiny Ghastly. Although, it wasn't that long of a wait considering the appeal round was merely an hour ago, it still felt like a long time for the brunette. With Reggie and Ghastly emerging on one side of the stadium, Lucas and his Gible in his sealed Pokeball appeared on the opposite side of the stadium. Lucas subconsciously clutched the band the staff gave him early to protect trainers from dynamax battles, as a mean to calm down a bit. Although loving the attention on him and his Gible, he still can't help but still feel nervous for the upcoming battle. If he does win this, it will be his first Galarian Contest Ribbon he would receive.

Lucas quickly threw out his Pokeball as a means to get the round started soon. As Gible stepped out onto the field of Crumbling Hulbury, emerging from the capsule sealed Pokeball. Different from the sand seal used in the appeal round, Gible appeared out of a smoke seal, covering the field with a miniature white hurricane. Dispersing the smoke, Gible did his best to showoff to the audience trying to get cheers onto his side by showing some spins and loops. Though that did cater some louder cheers for the Land Shark Pokemon, Gible quickly locked eye and center onto Ghastly, waiting for the initiation of the fight.

"Remember Gible, avoid eye contact best as you can!"

Gible nodded it's stuble head, avoiding the eerie gaze of the Ghastly, and centered it's attention of the Ghastly's mouth instead, trying to focus it's attention on the opponent while avoiding potential eye contact.

 

[jade421]

Soon enough the other Coordinator had come one, one that Daphne had been more familiar with if by sole reason she had known his name in Lucas. And after a stunning reveal it seemed he and his partner Gible were to meet the shiny Ghastly and Reggie as the air of anticipation and excitement seemed to fill even in the backstage area. Course, Echo and Selina seemed in aww of what they had seen, while Daphne of course was eager to make note of both given that, should she win her own semi-final, she'd meet the winner here but she decided not to get ahead of herself. For the time being she'd simply watch as a fan and enjoy the show, and she had a good feeling that they had been about to get just that and so much more.

 

[Merciless Medic]

Reggie watched as Lucas and his Gible came out on stage, the little dragon popping out in smoke to make a pretty cool entrance. Emeric the Gastly stared down at the Gible from the stadium, a large smirk on his face. He was going to show him how it was done. Once the sound for the battle started, Reggie blew upon his Gastly with a soft command and a concentrated breath, sending the gaseous Pokemon flying through the air quickly, where he then took more speed. Once he was over the water, he rocketed his gaseous body downward, compacting his gases enough to give him some amount of density. Once he contacted the water, a large splash of water came up, and then the bright light muffled by the water shimmered through. Emeric's Dazzling Gleam made the water sparkle in many different vibrant colors, and portions of his gaseous body rose to the surface, creating what looked like a witch's cauldron if mixed with the correct ingredients.

This was only a warm up. Reggie calmly walked his way closer to the center of the field, his hands behind his back, holding one of his wrists as a soothing gesture. He smiled triumphantly at the spectacle before him, before looking over at Lucas and his Gible. Yelling over, he taunted at them. "I hope your Gible's got more than cheap party tricks, Lucas. Wouldn't want to make this too easy for me." He slyly gave the two of them a mocking grin, and he watched the Gible with a calculating gaze. The Gastly finally sprang up from the water, his gaseous body light enough to be propelled high enough in the air as the water seemed to spit him out. He formed a double helix with his gases as he flew up, glaring down at the Gible and his human beneath him.

@Crimson Sun

(dear lord, sorry for the wait XD)

 

[jade421]

So it seemed the trash talk already was underway? Daphne could not help but smile at the comments as it seemed the competitive flames only were further stocked by the shiny Gastly owner. Course, her own partners Selina and Echo watched carefully as one seemed a bit star struck and the other seemed to be delighted at what was to come. Daphne seemed to share in the excitement as she sat in the backstage area and watched carefully.

Alright Lucas, Reggie, show everyone what you are made of!

 

[Maple Parker]

Maple occ info: location: Spikemooth - pokemon team: Sizzeleped (spicy)
Maple smiled as she straightened her jacket as she was excited to head out from her house for the day. Her adoptive parents were not home. As she did she smiled and went over to her best pokemon friends bed. As the little fire bug layed in his bed the fire bug woke up and crawled over to her and up her arm as that was its favorite spot to hide. "Hi spicy ready to go" she smiled happy to have her favorite pokemon with her as she got him some pokemon food her back and headed out the house.

Jacob - Dratini (Tina), Litleo (Nina), Eiscue (Shawn) - location: wild area
Jacob had decided to go to the wild area to hang out at a camp with his pokemon. He set up his red tent as he smiled after word setting up the stuff to make some curry. Then he braught out his team, Nina the litleo, Tina the dratini, and Shawn the Eiscue. As he smiled he started playing with one of the toys as Nina was tackling it. Tina was sleeping on top of the tent. Shawn was pecking at the ball being strange as usual.

Crystal - Pixie (Vulpix), Sven (vupix) - location: Glimwood Tangle
Crystal was out with her two vulpix that had been left behind at her parents house since she was five years old. She was currently looking for a particular pokemon to join her team. She was looking for a ponyta. Although she knew it would not be easy to find. Smiling with her ribbon around her neck as usual one vuplix being Sven the alolan vulpix on her head and Pixie in her arms. As she flicked the mushrooms to make sure she knew where she was going.

 

[jade421]

As the match began, Daphne felt a rumble in her stomach which caused the Coordinator on deck to sort of fluster to herself. She supposed she should use this time to get a snack or something to fill this need, thankfully it seemed there was a vending machine by her side she presumed for such a purpose in the long hours a Contest could take. Daphne moved and quickly got herself a bag of chips, and for good measure something for her partners in the form of a bag of Poke-treats as she returned to her seat and all parities began to enjoy their meal while eyes remained glued to the screen.