Choreographing the appeal had been difficult for Molly. She wasn’t a dancer by nature, and neither were her pokemon. Where Margourette could spin and glide like she was the tiny doll in one of those music boxes every child seemed to have, Molly stumbled and hesitated and tripped over her own feet. It was frustrating beyond belief, and yet she pushed forward through all of that.
Adreffe was supposed to be a region of learning, of getting out of your comfort zone and trying something new, and what sort of teacher would she be if she couldn’t hold herself to the same struggles her students were expected to undergo?
Still, perhaps it’d be easier to focus if her feelings for Margourette hadn’t been skyrocketing ever since the start of this Cup. There was simply no getting around it - Margourette was beautiful, even after their pavilion showing had ended and she’d been exhausted, her dress covered in Skitty fur and Togekiss feathers and with half-melted chocolate smeared across her baking apron. Her hair, long since having fallen out of its pristine bun, had glittered with all the rainbow lights still filtering through their icy pavilion walls, and her eyes had glittered with the tiniest hint of mischief as she’d flopped down against Molly and sighed dramatically:
❝ So exhausted, amie! You must carry me back to the hotel. ❞
Though she’d (probably) been joking, Molly had simply lifted her up with a fond smile and carried her bridal style out of the pavilion, lulling her to sleep in the process. She’d hoped at the time that Margourette’s arm, draped so delicately across Molly’s chest to rest upon her shoulder, hadn’t been able to feel the frantic beating of her heart hidden just underneath her sweater dress. She’d prayed to Magearna above that Margourette hadn’t felt the gentle brush of fingertips against her scalp as her hair was freed from its tie and brushed out, nor the feather-light ‘goodnight’ that had been whispered as Molly left for her own room.
She definitely hadn’t had that safety during their practice sessions, though. The music Molly had chosen was almost waltz-like (she really didn’t like to make things easy on her tender heart, did she?), so naturally it meant that the two women had to spend a lot of time pressed pretty closely together as they danced. While that had done wonders for their synchronisation, these flimsy ballet costumes did nothing to hide how fast her heart was going. Margourette had been kind enough not to mention it (outside of the occasional check-in to make sure Molly had enough stamina to get another rehearsal done), but now her crush was so obvious that she was having trouble looking the ballerina in the eye without that telltale blush creeping up her cheeks.
Even as she stood there now, backstage, playing with her puffy white tutu that contrasted amazingly with Margourette’s black one, she found herself staring at the floor rather than admiring how the stage lights made Margourette’s blonde hair glow like a halo.
There was a soft squeeze on Molly’s hand.
❝ Ready to begin? Our audience is waiting. ❞
❝ Oh- I- uh, yeah! Yeah, let’s go. ❞
Pokemon List (ik there’s a lot, but bear with me):
Togekiss - Dazzling Gleam, Aura Sphere, Air Slash, Fairy Mist
Alcremie - Mystical Fire, Sweet Scent, Decorate, Magical Leaf
Morelull - Confuse Ray, Sludge Bomb
Florges - Wish, Flower Shield, Petal Blizzard, Sunny Day
Slurpuff - Thunderbolt, Sticky Web
Cubchoo - Rock Tomb, Sheer Cold
Glaceon - Sand Attack, Blizzard, Rain Dance, Iron Tail
Sealeo - Water Gun, Aurora Beam
Smoochum - Sing, Ice Punch
Music: Merry Go Round of Life from Howl’s Moving Castle
As soon as the women stepped out on stage and took their places in the center, the music started. The starting notes were simple, and so they kept their dance at a simple waltz, never straying far from the dead middle. This gave the pokemon time to form a circle around them, some of them standing more gracefully than others, and start using their moves.
Glaceon called out to the ceiling, summoning a gentle Rain Dance to patter across the stage. This water got Cubchoo’s attention, who wiggled in place for a moment as he remembered what he was supposed to be doing, and then released a breath of Sheer Cold. This move wasn’t anywhere near the strength a Cubchoo could let out, mainly toned down for the comfort of the audience, but it was chilly all the same. This colder air froze the wet ground on the stage, forcing Margourette and Molly to move from a waltz into more of an ice skating routine. Margourette took most of the attention here, her ballet training coming in useful for a balancing challenge such as this, and Molly used that as the necessary distraction to nudge the pokemon circle into moving, following her around to the back of the stage.
There, Sealeo’s Water Gun was fired against Smoochum’s Ice Punch, each connection creating a thick pillar of ice. This continued all the way around the left side of the stage, then the right, leaving a total of nine pillars on each side. Their final connection was the biggest one yet, leaving a block of ice about as big as a dining table jutting out from the back of the stage. Apparently content with what she was seeing, Molly left to go rejoin Margourette in her dance at the front of the stage, Florges sealing them off from the pokemon with a Flower Shield. A Fairy Mist courtesy of Togekiss leaked out from behind it, the pink smoke trailing across the stage and down into the audience, and by the sugary smell drifting up from it, it looked as though it had intermingled with Alcremie’s Sweet Scent. The Rain Dance was wearing off now too, the floor now thoroughly coated in a layer of ice.
Molly’s hands found Margourette’s, and before she knew what was happening she was getting tugged into an elaborate dance of twirls and spins, their bodies pressed so close they were little more than a blur of white and black. This definitely hadn’t been part of their rehearsals, and yet Molly couldn’t find it within herself to pull away and get them back on track. Especially not when she was suddenly dipped, the toes of one foot ghosting across the ground, the rest of her weight kept suspended in Margourette’s arms (and how hadn’t she noticed those muscles before?) In a moment of whimsy, she plucked a white rose off of the Flower Shield and slipped it into Margourette’s bun, nuzzling her shoulder as she pulled away. The ballerina breathed out a huff of laughter (what a lovely sound!) and returned the gesture, slipping a black rose into Molly’s brunette curls. They could have stayed like that forever, wrapped in their own little world, but the music was lulling and that meant it was time for their second half.
They straightened up, Margourette slipping off to kneel down one side of the stage and Molly the other, and waited for the shield to drop and give their pokemon back the spotlight. Once it did, eighteen tiny ice Duckletts were revealed sitting on top of the ice pillars they’d made before, as well as a Swanna with her wings outstretched, perched proud in the center slab of ice. If the people in the audience had attended the Adreffian pavilion, they’d no doubt have a pretty good idea of what was going to be happening next.
The pokemon lined up behind their Trainers, already having agreed it’d be easier for the judges if this next part was done one-by-one, rather than all moving at the same time. Togekiss was first to break the line, floating over to the leftmost Ducklett sculpture. She flipped in front of it, looping backwards again and again until she’d built up a neat circle of wind around her, and then she released it in an Air Slash. Rather than slicing through the Ducklett, it was caught underneath it and the icy pedestal it sat on, levitating the duck in a gentle up-down motion and swirling through its shell of a body. The air whistled as it whipped through, a happy accident that gave that particular Ducklett a voice.
The next Ducklett was given the power of the Fighting type, Togekiss glowing neon blue with the stored energy before bumping the ice sculpture with its Aura Sphere, careful to feed the energy inside without accidentally destroying anything. It glowed beside its wind-surfing brethren, the Aura Sphere flitting over every crevice of the icy container but never able to actually break through.
For the third Ducklett, Alcremie was called over with a gentle chirp. Togekiss unleashed a Dazzling Gleam, the move bouncing off of all the ice on stage and shining outwards across the audience in all directions. The Ducklett was left shining bubblegum pink, glittering with Fairy power, and Alcremie completed the look with a Decorate. Strawberries and globs of frosting were held up for the audience to see before being dropped down into the icy shell, the ensemble soon beginning to smell incredible.
Togekiss floated backstage, her part in this show finished, but Alcremie continued on. The next Ducklett was greeted to a Mystical Fire, the flames dancing about inside its body but never burning hot enough to melt the exterior.
That had been a nightmare to correct during their training, so much so that Molly had lost count of how many times they’d considered scrapping this idea entirely, but she couldn’t help but give a proud smile over to Alcremie. The little thing just looked so happy with itself, pointing at the Ducklett as if it, too, couldn’t believe that it had worked.
Molly turned her back towards the crowd just as Florges got up to float over to Alcremie, easily scoping her up and carrying her over to the next pillar. This Ducklett was treated to a combined attack, a mix of Alcremie’s Magical Leaf and Florges’ Petal Blizzard, and the resulting look was a gleaming mess of leaves and flowers, caught in some sort of endless whirlwind. Florges then joined Togekiss backstage, setting Alcremie down with a barely audible splat of ice cream against the floor.
The next Duckletts continued in this fashion, each new typed move hitting a new ice sculpture until seventeen of them stood completed, each one more dramatic than the last as the mythical Swanna’s love for her chicks grew.
The Ghost duck sang with the eerie notes of Morelull’s Confuse Ray, the whistling harmonising nicely with wind still coursing through the Air Slash duck from before. Morelull’s Sludge Bomb attack had left another Ducklett oozing thick purple liquid, congealing around the base and dripping slowly down the ice.
The Rock and Ground ducks had been completed simultaneously, Glaceon’s Sand Attack clinging to the surface of one while Cubchoo’s Rock Tomb had filled the shell of another. Glaceon was one of the few pokemon still left sat on stage now, its Iron Tail reflecting nicely in all the lights and onto the body of another ice Ducklett, making it appear to have a metal coating.
The Electric duck still crackled with Slurpuff’s Thunderbolt, a violent thing that had shot down from the heavens and illuminated the entire stage for a split second. A candyfloss Sticky Web had ensnared another, stuffing the duck with layers of pink wire that pushed more of that same sugary sweet smell out onto the stage and into the audience.
Not all the Duckletts had had exciting creations (the Water type, for instance, was just slowly getting filled with the ice that was melting off of it), but the music was reaching its final part and they couldn’t afford to waste more time here.
Immediately after the second lull, as the crescendo started, Smoochum started to Sing along to the music, her voice perfectly matching the notes. Sealeo’s Aurora Beam combined with Florges’ Wish (she’d returned to the stage during the creation of the Duckletts) and sent a beam of rainbow light skyward, just as the Swanna had done when she’d wished for her chicks to be given life. The beam hovered against the ceiling, spreading out across it as it desperately sought some sort of answer to the prayers it carried, before Glaceon interrupted the moment with a yowl. It was the only warning she gave before unleashing a brutal Blizzard, feeding off of the Sheer Cold from the start of the performance and really letting the harsh winter seep in.
Molly and Margourette were dancing again, had been ever since Smoochum’s song had started, but their movements were more laboured than before. The cold was setting in, chilling their joints unpleasantly, eventually forcing them to cuddle together just to avoid the air whipping all around them. Ballet dresses were not the best insulators in the world, and yet the women braced themselves to endure it. They knew what was coming next in this story, and if it went according to plan it’d all be worth it.
They waded through the Blizzard snow until they came to kneel at the base of the Swanna sculpture, sheltering beneath her wings.
Finally, finally, the storm was split apart by Florges’ Sunny Day, lighting up the stage and warming everyone in the room. Smoochum’s song had hit its closing notes, the snow was rapidly melting and sending waves of water down into the audience, but none of that was the center of attention. Instead, as Molly and Margourette stood up once more, their costumes were illuminated by the rainbow light of the Swanna behind them, who was in turn illuminated by all the colours of her chicks surrounding her. Every ice shell had been filled with a different move to create a colour representative of its type, and the rays of the Sunny Day were now hitting them from all different angles, sending the light bouncing across the floor and straight into the figure of their mother.
It was beautiful, made more so by the way it made their contrasting costumes dazzle and shine, but Molly couldn’t tear her eyes away from her dancing partner. Margourette had one hand on her cheek, the other on her waist, and though no words were spoken Molly knew what was going to happen. As the music died out around them, the remaining pokemon leaving to join their teammates backstage, the two women were drawn closer and closer together until their faces were mere centimetres apart.
❝ Margourette, I… I-I’ve always- ❞
❝ Shh, mon ange. I know. I feel the same. ❞
And so, with the rainbow light of a mother’s love shining over them both, Molly and Margourette shared their first kiss. Not as friends, or Adreffian colleagues, but as lovers. Two souls devoted as deeply to one another as the Swanna was to her chicks.
The stage has been set in a classic Hoenn fashion; seats, thousands of them, surrounding an inset circle. The smell of seawater fills the room, matched to the layer several centimeters thick on the stage, briney and soft and loved by so many. A platform, made roughly of rope and beeswax and wood, floats where it is tied to a post on one edge of the stage.
There’s a curious group of people in the audience above that dock. A hundred or so sun-loved men and women, each donning either a bandana or a scrap of blue fabric wrapped around their arm, hold signs and praise aloft in the air. There’s a prevailing symbol, the distinct A known to them as the symbol of the Aogiri family; but, of course, most simply know it as Team Aqua’s logo. Still, they’re being polite for a band of often land-bound pirates.
Quietly, in the brief span of time where the lights above are not quite turned on, two Pokemon enter the stage. It’s probably a bit strange to see a Ludicolo dressed as a traditional Shino priest, but the Swampert next to him looks equally strange in the red robes of traditional Terranid design. They take their place on the dock, the Ludicolo shaking leaves out of its hat to decorate the stage.
[00:30] The music starts off with a literal bang. A taiko drum calls out, slowly and rhythmically at first. Like the beginning stages of thunder, the sky lights up with each bang. As it does so, the rest of the cast appears; first comes a Luvdisc, swimming as best as she can through the meager surf. Then comes a Sharpedo, shaped like a person; she’s dressed in the traditional salt-crusted garb of the Cetanids, her feet bare and her hair left long. Her tail leaves wave as she passes, following the beat of the drum.
[00:57] The drum crashes once more, breaking into quick thunder. With it comes another member of the cast; barely recognizable under traditional robes and heavy makeup, the Pirate drifts out of the green room, with his Mega Trident held by his side. He’s wearing a furisode, most unlike a man his age, one that was passed down through his family. It’s his Mother’s and, until his child reaches a certain age, it’s his. There are few hangups about a man wearing a robe like this for the Cetanids, they who prioritize having someone to embody Kyogre in their plays over whether or not it counts as cross-dressing.
Silk shines blue and opalescent as he makes his way to the center of the stage, following the crash of thunder. He looks like Kyogre, skin painted blue and white to match the details of his kimono. His mask, his symbol in Contests, looks a little out of place. Gilded silver does not match all the white and gold in his outfit. But this is a tradition too and he thinks Juan will forgive him for the fashion faux-pas.
[01:04] The drums begin in earnest. He spins, slowly, carefully, pointing his Trident at the dock embodying the land. Those of the land, the Swampert and Ludicolo, threaten with displays of teeth and tossed leaves. Those of the sea, the Sharpedo and Luvdisc, reply in turn with glares and splashes of water. Each step and turn follows the drums, growing stronger and stronger.
[01:20] Until, finally, another drum joins. Dual tones split the Sea and Land into two movements. A Leaf Storm begins in the Ludicolo’s hat, whirling until it sends blades into the sea. Water splurts from the Luvdisc’s mouth until it becomes a Hydro Pump, surprising for her size. Both are loose, carefully, ensnaring and twirling around the other. The focus is on them as they follow a path from side to side.
[01:40] With the inclusion of a wood instrument comes the Swampert, rocks and ground pulling from the walls as they clatter into the makeshift sea. The Sharpedo dodges these things, quick even with her legs, as she blocks them from hitting their (similarly makeshift) Kyogre with lifted Surfs. As the rocks (encouraged by Earth Power, controlled with extreme care) encircle the Pirate, so does she; the Sharpedo knocks every rock away, her waves lifting to the beat of the drum.
[02:00] With the twang of a shamisen comes an increase in activity. Land works with land, sea works with sea. The same moves merge effortlessly, a show of rock and leaf contesting with Water that rises and crashes. The same dance is prevalent, tho’ it grows in tempo. Slowly, the Pirate lifts his Trident. As he does, the Sea grows stronger; movements begin to, slowly, overpower the other.
[02:25] Words join the music. He hopes they’ll be unintelligible over the speakers, as they don’t make much sense in this context. This is probably the point where someone in the audience recognizes where this music comes from and releases a hoot of laughter (one that is more delighted than amused, maybe; what 80s nerd doesn’t like Akira, after all?). The Pirate does his best to ignore that.
[02:32] The next words come with the improvement of the Land. A word, meaning nothing, repeats and calls out; and with it, the Swampert and Ludicolo grow strong, shaking off the sleepiness of Summer and growing into the frantic nature of Fall. They push back, beginning to overwhelm, as the Ludicolo leads a dance growing in tempo. The Swampert does his best to keep up, though a careful eye might notice his struggle. It’s hard to match with a Pokemon like this.
As this dance goes on, the dock begins to build up with leaves and bits of ground. The shape is intentionally, growing more and more like Hoenn’s distinctive volcano; beloved Mount Chimney, red leaves falling onto the top to look like glimmers of lava.
[03:06] As the music slows, so does the movements, and so to the reverse. More care is taken here, twirling leaf and water and ground into spirals and arcs. These are Pokemon who live for Contests, even if the Sharpedo’s glare and snap is distinctly violent. Of them all, she leads; her steps follow a dance inspired by those wielded by Cetanids who wanted to calm or worsen the sea. She and her Kyogre, her trainer in makeup that she’s trying not to laugh at, work perfectly in harmony (though, admittingly, he does lag a bit in that outfit. Silk is heavy when it’s wet).
[03:40] Slowly, the sky builds. Leaves float there, like the dappling of clouds. They cast shadow and light upon the water, like a summer storm sends thunder across hundreds of miles. The Swampert takes up the fighting, wielding the Earth with a strength that belays practice, as the Ludicolo steps back. There’s a small chest on the dock, carefully hidden, that it goes to.
It pulls out a piece of blue ‘crystal’, one as big as a beachball. Contests mean having to make things larger for everyone to see and, while the Pirate doesn’t much care for one-time-use props, Juan did a very good job constructing a fake Blue Orb.
[04:48] When Ludicolo lifts the Orb, the Pirate recoils. He curls up on himself, as if to hide from it. The people of the Sea notice this and fight back, but their water weakens. It trickles, rather than gushes. They fight, fight, fight and dance, but they can’t go against the Water being twisted up and around the Orb. With a heave, the false Kyogre collapses, face-down in the water.
Delighted, those of the land riot. The leaves that were left floating above the stage come down, fluttering prettily, to cover the sea. Those of the Sea recoil and hide within them, a hard measure to ask for when one is a shark nearly as big as her trainer. The land dances, happy as can be. They follow the beat, of course, and Ludicolo still leads.
Slowly, strangely, the water recedes. Those of the land do not notice it, nor how their dock rises until a cover of leaves, as all that is left of the sea around them, is but a mere centimeter of water. A puddle, one that the acting Kyogre crawls from and reaches for his Trident. There’s a glow there, in that tiny crystal, as bright as the light in the Blue Orb.
As the small group in the audience begins to chant (Rainbow Falls, Rainbow Falls, Rainbow Falls) he lifts the trident and stands. The people of the land watch him, their Blue Orb threatening, but…
But he lifts his Trident nonetheless.
[06:03] With a crack of wood, something rises from beneath the land, building from the hump that grew during the last act. An enormous Kyogre, one shaped like a Pokemon, rises from the stage. It’s made of seawater, one that drips and denies leaves as it grows larger and floats higher. Inside is the Sharpedo, Rainbows soaking her as her form changes into something larger, more dangerous. Her Surf encircles them, as the Luvdisc beside her provides shape with Aqua Ring.
Pitching a roll towards the lights fills the room with Rainbows, casting that enormous Kyogre in the hues of humanity’s gift. The section of audience reserved for the Pirate’s curious party of supporters cheer, reaching from the stand to drag their hands through the Kyogre as it encircles the stage.
As it reaches the highest point, it stops for a second. The actor playing Kyogre below looks up at it and, with a bang of his Trident against the floor, the massive water bubble pops. Water is sprayed everywhere, soaking the audience in warm seawater, and the Pirate jolts forward to catch his Sharpedo before she falls.
The music tapers off. The show is done. As is tradition, the actors step forward and take a bow; something the Sharpedo, still in her trainer’s arms, has a bit of trouble with. With a delighted wave, they all return back to the Green Room.
---------
And, as they do, Archie lifts his head at his competitors seated there and laughs. His shark laughs too, as nasty as he.. “Good luck beating that, nerds.”
Performers Dittto as Arceus Avenian Roserade as the Effects Specialist Zoroark as the Casting Illusionist. Aigaslash as The Sword of Rending Fate Garchomp as The Villian Music: Battle against a True Hero Human Cast Iset Lawson as The Interceptor Illusionary Indriad as the Fina...
“No Pokemon were harmed in the making of this reenactment...just me....”
