Authors notes:
Finally, Serena's final showcase. Today's showcase is brought to you by killerdude123, so be sure to thank him. Also I wanted to thank you all, I have now exceeded 300 followers. Now that that's out of the way, if you like the chapter please vote, feel free to leave comments, and share this story with your friends. I now present to you chapter 44, enjoy.
The gang finally made it to Fleurrh City for Serena's final showcase, where she was going to try and win her last Princess Key needed to qualify for the Master Class. As the gang walked down the street to the Pokemon center, they noticed posters, banners, and flags advertising for the showcase everywhere. "Well you'd never think there was a showcase coming here from the looks of this town," Korrina said sarcastically. Everyone agreed with Korrina's sarcasm, as they hadn't seen any other towns go so crazy for a showcase. That's when Ash noticed Serena seemed to be in a daze as she walked. "Hey Serena are you ok," asked Ash. "What? Sorry I guess I zoned out a little bit," Serena replied. "Are you ok," Ash asked again. "I'm fine, just thinking about the showcase," said Serena. Ash suspected there was more to it than that, but decided to ask again in private.
The gang kept walking a little bit longer until they saw a large crowd in front of one of the shops up ahead. "Must be a sale," Bonnie commented. But that was proven wrong when the crowd suddenly start cheering, "Amelia", "Amelia we love you", "you'll win your next princess key for sure," people in the crowd called out. The gang looked on confused about who they were talking about, until they saw her, a girl about their age wearing an outfit with each article a different shade of purple. She walked down the steps for the shop and started walking down the sidewalk with an older man in a black suit, that looked like her butler following her carrying her bags. As she approached the gang they stepped to the side as she walked right through them without even looking at any of them, as she acted as she was above them. She then walked to a black car, where a chauffeur quickly jumped out as she approached and opened the door for her to climb in. The other man loaded the bags into the trunk and then they both got into the front seat. "Who was that? She acted like what you would think royalty would act like," said Korrina. Everyone then looked at Ash. "What? You think just because I'm a Prince I know all the royals," asked Ash. The gang nodded. Ash sighed, "she's not royalty. Her father owns the largest gem mining company in the world." "How do you know that," asked Clemont. "Rota is known to have some of finest crystals in the world, and he wanted to mine them. He tried to get Queen Ilene to allow him to, but his methods were too destructive to the surrounding area so she refused to allow it. The guy was a creep, he heard the Queen adopted a son so he offered up the idea of his daughter and I getting together with the hope the Queen would change her mind," said Ash. "I can't believe he stooped as low as offering up his daughter," said Serena. "Some people only care about money, I guess he only saw her as a bargaining chip. But it wouldn't have ever worked, even if the Queen did agree to it," said Ash. "Why not," asked Bonnie. "Because I already had my heart set on another girl," Ash said as he looked at Serena when he said the last part. Serena blushed and Ash wraped his arm around her and kissed her cheek. They then made their way to the Pokemon Center.
It was late at night and everyone was asleep, except for Serena. She couldn't sleep and was just lying in bed occasionally changing position. "What's wrong." Serena jumped slightly and looked at Ash, who's eyes were closed. "Ash are you awake," Serena asked. Ash opened his eyes and looked at her, "yup, so what's wrong?" "It's nothing, sorry for waking you," Serena said as she laid down. "If it's keeping you up then it's not nothing, so tell me. Maybe I can help," Ash said as he sat up. Serena rolled onto her back and looked at Ash, "this is my last chance to qualify for the master class. If I fail tomorrow then that's it, I don't get a second chance. I'd have to wait till next year to try again." "Serena you can't think like that. If you think you'll fail then you will. You can only do your best if you walk out there and know you are going to give it your all," said Ash. "But what if I fail," asked Serena. "Then you fail, but I know you won't," said Ash. "How do you know that, how can you be so confident," asked Serena. "A few reasons, your performances are just amazing, you work so hard, Aria even said you were the only one who stood a chance at beating her, and because you live by my mantra, never give up till the end. Serena, it's not the end yet, so don't quit before you even start," said Ash with a comforting smile. Serena scooted in closer to Ash and wrapped her arms around him, "thank you Ash, you always know just what to say to make me feel better." Ash smiled and laid back down in bed, and wrapped his arms around Serena as she laid her head on his chest. Ash then kissed Serena's head, "Goodnight Serena."
The next morning they ate breakfast and then made their way to the showcase location, a massive modern looking building with the exterior appearing to be all glass. "Alright this is it," Serena said before she left for the dressing room. "Good luck Serena, I know you'll win," said Ash as he leaned in and gave her a kiss for luck. Meanwhile Greninja was off wishing Braixen luck in private, in a way only he can. "I wish those two could have done that earlier, we need to get going," said Serena. By her feet Pikachu was walking over to Sylveon to wish her luck. "So, I want to wish you luck. Not that you'll need it. You look so beautiful in your practices. I MEAN AMAZING IN YOUR PRACTICES," said Pikachu sounding more nervous than Sylveon. "Well thank you, please cheer for me," Sylveon said blushing madly. She then leaned in and kissed Pikachu on one of his cheeks. Pikachu's ear perked straight up and his body got rigid, he then fainted. Ash noticed this, "Sylveon, did you use draining kiss." Sylveon shook her head. Ash sighed and picked Pikachu up, "light weight," he muttered. Just then Greninja came running in with Braixen in his arms. "Are you ready now," Serena asked Braxin as she gave her an Oran berry. Braixen ate it and nodded. "Alright, let's go win our third Princess Key."
Serena made her way to the dressing room. Once she opened door she looked inside to see all the performers from the party and then some. "Excuse me, I am to be ready for the stage right away." Serena turned and stepped out of the way and saw it was the girl from before, Amelia. "Oh sorry." "Thank you," said Amelia as she walked past with her purple Drangonair leading the way. She walked through all the other performers without saying a word, and went to one of the tables to get ready. "Well at least she can be polite," Serena said to her Pokemon and went to another table to get ready.
"Welcome Pokemon performance lovers, to the Fleurrh City Showcase." The crowd applauded loudly. Monsieur Pierre waited a moment to allow the crowd an appropriate amount of time to applaud, then continued. "With this being the final showcase of the year, today these lovely ladies will be competing for their third Princess Key to allow them to compete in the Master Class." The crowd applauded again as Monsieur Pierre's Klefki shoots off of his cane and shows the princess key, as larger holograms of the key are projected. "The Kalos Queen must be able to catch the hearts of not only people, but Pokemon as well," said Monsieur Pierre as the front area of the stage rose up. When it stopped it showed that it was concealing a grassy area and dozens of Rhyhorn. "The object of today's theme performance is for each performer to get as many Rhyhorn into there designated area as possible in two minutes, with the help of no more than two of their Pokemon."
Back in the performers dressing room Serena was finished putting on the pokemon handlers outfit that was provided to her and had already chosen her Pokemon to be Braixen and Sylveon. "Serena, Concetta, and Kazalie, your up first," said a member of the staff. The three girls and their Pokemon made their way to the platforms they were going to be raised to the stage on.
"I'm scared, Rhyhorns are pretty strong. I know Serena chose me because I can use attract, but still I wish she didn't, if I have to I don't think I could battle one," Sylveon said nervously as they waited to be raised to the stage. "Relax. I've known Serena alot longer than you so let me tell you a secret that should make you feel better. We won't have to do anything," Braixen said to calm Sylveon down. "How do you know this," Sylveon replied confused. "You'll see," Braixen replied with a smile.
Soon the platforms started raising the three performers and their Pokemon. "Look Serena's in the first group," said Bonnie. "They should just let her move on to the next round, she's going to win this for sure," said Korrina. "I wouldn't be too sure, Rhyhorn can be very unpredictable," said Clemont. Everyone glared at Clemont. "Clemont, you do remember that Serena's been raised around Rhyhorn her whole life, that her mother tried to groom her to be a champion Rhyhorn racer. Even though she chose a different path, she was still taught about Rhyhorn. I doubt she'll even need her Pokemon to get enough," explained Ash. Clemont just sweat dropped.
Back on stage the timer began with a buzz. The Rhyhorn, who were all just grazing on the grass, looked at the trainers who were supposed to try and get them to their side. The Rhyhorn had no intention of making it easy for these girls, but once they saw Serena that all changed. They didn't know why, but they felt drawn to her. And with hearts in their eyes they all charged to Serena. Serena sweatdropped as the Rhyhorn surrounded her and started licking her, causing her to laugh.
The rest of the gang gave Clemont an I told you so look. "Fine you were all right," Clemont said.
Sylveon looked on at the sight stunned. "How did you know," Sylveon asked Braixen. "Just a hunch. Serena has said her mother was a famous Rhyhorn racer, and that she could race any Rhyhorn with little effort. I just figured, like mother like daughter."
The other two performers managed to get a few of the Rhyhorn into their area, but it didn't make a difference. The bell chimed, "time is up, and the performer moving on the the free style performance will be Serena." The crowd cheered, Serena stood up and waved to the crowd as the Rhyhorn continued to nuzzle her.
The rest of the themed performance proceeded, but none doing as well as Serena. The closest was Amelia, who had both her Pokemon use attract.
Soon enough the themed performances were over and the remaining girls were in the dressing room getting ready. Serena is brushing Braixen's tail making it look perfect. Once done she looks down at her Pokemon to make sure everyone looks good. That's when she sees Sylveon looking very nervous. "Your still nervous because of our last showcase aren't you," Serena asked Sylveon. Sylveon nodded. "Sylveon, it's ok if we're not perfect. All that matters is going out there, doing our best, and having fun. If we make a mistake it's ok, as long as we get back up and keep moving." "Serena your up next," said one of the showcase workers.
Serena and her Pokemon were standing at the stage entrance, with her hand on her heart as she takes another deep breath. "And now for our next performer, Serena," Monsiour Pierre announced. Serena walks out onto the stage to the thundering sound of cheers and applause from the crowd, eager for another amazing performance.
"Lets go!" Serena cried out as her Pokemon raced to their positions. "Flamethrower, let's go!" Soon a flamethrower dances around them, with flames seemly flickering. Soon a a fairy wind joined in mixing together making a dominating explosion of colors dancing around the center. Pancham and Absol soon started to dance with the fire, with Braixen using psybeam to seemly control the fire to move with them. "Ok Absol use shadow ball and Sylveon use a weak hyperbeam." As Sylveon's ability was pixelate, it turned the hyperbeam into a fairy type move as the two collided. But instead of creating smoke the shadow ball started to release small sparks of purple, and the hyperbeam releasing pink sparks, that flew around the now dancing Pokemon and performer. "Now guys time for the final part!" Serena yelled as she and Braixen joined hands and Pancham used stone edge to create boulders underneath them, that lifted the two of them with the sparkles still dancing in the air. "Use flamethrower!" Suddenly the flamethrower danced around the stone that lifted them up. A fairy wind soon joined and made Serena and Braxin look like they were standing in fire. The sparkles started to fall and was seen behind them, letting the beauty be seen as an everlasting sight. "Finished!"
The performances were now all finished and the performers were all standing on stage together. "Well we have seen some amazing performances today, but only one can win the princess key. So if you would please pull out your glowcaster for the performance you think was the best to cast your vote." Everyone in the audience pulled out their glowcasters and a glowing ball of that color flew out and to the keys worn by the performers. Once all the balls went into the performers keys, a key hole appeared over each performer as they started to fill up. All but two stopped filling up very quickly, Amelia and Serena's kept filling. They were keeping pace with each other, until Amelia's stopped, Serena stopped a few bars above hers. "And our winner is, SERENA," yelled Monsieur Pierre. The crowd stood up and cheered in approval, the other performers applauded Serena, except Amelia. She just stood there, looking at Serena in shock, as Serena hugged her Pokemon, as this was just not her victory, this victory belonged to all of them.
After the performance Serena was in the changing room gathering her things after changing back into her regular clothes. While she was getting ready to leave many of the performers stopped to congratulate her on her win and wished her luck at the master class. Serena stood up and made one last check of the area to make sure she didn't forget anything. "Do we have everything," Serena asked herself as she looked. "oops, can't forget that,"said Serena as she found her Pokemons brush and put it in her bag. "Alright let's go," said Serena as she and Sylveon turned around to leave. Once she turned Sylveon wraped one her ribbon like feelers around Serena's arm as they saw Amelia right in front of her blocking her path. "How. How did you do it," asked Amelia with a angry and confused look on her face. "Do what," asked Serena. "Beat me, how did you beat me. I had the more polished performance, this is my home city. This was supposed to be my win," answered Amelia, her eyes wide making her look like she was about to have a mental breakdown. "I don't know. They just liked it better I guess. Maybe mine was just more fun to watch," replied Serena. "Fun," Amelia questioned. "Yeah, my friends always say that my performances are just so much fun to watch. Maybe the rest of the audience felt the same," Serena explained. "That doesn't make any sense, the better performance is the one that's supposed to win," said Amelia. "Well do you have fun when performing with your Pokemon," asked Serena. "Of course not. It takes alot of hard work and percision to create a perfect performance," stated Amelia. "Well, try having fun with your performances, let it be more fluid and not so rigid. You might be suprised at what happens," Serena said. Amelia didn't have a response this time, she just stood there thinking about what Serena just told her.
Serena left the dressing room and went outside to meet back up with the gang. Once outside she looked, and saw Ash and Pikachu sitting on a bench by themselves, Serena started to head over. Ash soon saw Serena and Sylveon heading their way, and got up to meet her. Serena was feeling a bit playful, so she picked up the pace. First power walking and ending in a sprint, thankfully Sylveon could tell what she was planning and kept pace. Once Serena was close enough Sylveon unwrapped her feeler from Serena's arm, as Serena jumped up into Ash's arms and wraped her legs around him as she pulled him into a deep kiss. Thankfully Ash could tell what she was planning and was able to get a good footing before she jumped. Sylveon ran to Pikachu and nuzzled him, and he kissed her cheek, causing Sylveon to have a deep blush. "Congratulations my future queen," said Ash. "Thank you," Serena replied as she kissed him again. "So, where is everyone," Serena asked. "Oh, Clemont had a little emergency to take care of at the Pokemon center, and Bonnie and Korrina went to help him," Ash explained. "Oh no, I hope everything's ok," said Serena sounding concerned. "I'm sure everything is ok, but why don't we head over to the Pokemon center to check on them." Ash then set Serena back down on the ground as they walked back to the Pokemon center, with Pikachu riding on Sylveon's back.
"SURPRISE!" Clemont, Korrina, and Bonnie yelled as Ash and Serena walked into the Pokemon Center cafeteria. "What is all this," asked Serena. In front of her was a large table full of different foods, even a small cake that said congratulations. "Were celebrating you making it into the master class," said Clemont. Serena then looked at Ash with a fake annoyed look, "you said they left for an emergency." "They did, all this food can't cook itself, and they didn't have alot of time to finish it," Ash then gave a toothy grin. Serena smiled and then looked at the others, "thank you all so much."