"I haven't seen you around before. Are you a new coordinator?"

Glancing over my shoulder, I was surprised to see a girl around my age looking at me with a cocky smile on her lips. Her peach-colored hair was pulled up into two pigtails and then curled so that her hair spiraled down, spilling over her shoulders and down her back. She was wearing a beautiful black satin dress that seemed to scream 'wealth' and her makeup was bold but tasteful.

"That's right, this will be my first time in a contest," I responded quietly, turning around in my seat so I could converse with her more easily.

"Well, don't feel bad if you don't make it past the first round. Sinnoh Contests are very competitive and the Jubilife Contest is one of the most coveted ribbons of the region," the girl said with fake sympathy in her voice that grated on my nerves a little bit.

"Thanks for the tip," I said, trying to remain pleasant as the arrogant girl held the back of her hand to her lips and laughed snidely.

"You are so welcome! I'm sure you already knew, but my name is Ursula. I've been a Grand Festival finalist every year since I started my journey," she announced with a sniff, tilting her nose up in pride. I blinked in surprise and couldn't help but feel impressed.

"Oh, wow. That's amazing, Ursula," I said sincerely, wondering if I would ever get to compete in a Grand Festival. I had looked up what someone could do as a pokemon Coordinator and it all seemed to revolve around becoming a Top Coordinator through competing in Grand Festivals.

"Yes, I am," she agreed with a high-pitched giggle. "Good luck with your performance. You're going to need it," Ursula said, waving her hand and turning away without asking for my name or even looking at Roisel who was sitting quietly in my lap.

"Roisiiii?" Roisel whistled quietly, looking up at me with a confused expression.

"I guess she just wanted someone to acknowledge her talent," I commented with a shrug before turning back to the mirror in the preparation room.

Picking an outfit for my debut as a pokemon coordinator had been difficult, but as I looked in the mirror I felt good about my choice. Deciding to embrace my Kalos roots, I had chosen to sew my own outfit based on the latest fashions in a Kalos magazine I had seen in the airport before I left for Sinnoh. It had a red skirt with black tulle underneath to make it slightly voluminous with an empire waist. The top was mainly grey with large red cuffs that jutted out and up my forearms dramatically. A beret-like black hat with red accents, black thigh-high stockings, and red ankle boots completed my look.

Part of me had wanted to make Roisel a little outfit to match mine, but no one had dressed up their pokemon at the Floaroma Contest so I decided against it. Pulling out my PokeCom quickly, I opened the text that I had received this morning from Aryan wishing me luck and I breathed in deeply through my nose. I felt more nervous about the contest than I had ever felt at the start of a rhyhorn race, but there was no way I was going to give in to my fears. This was what I wanted to do and Roisel had practiced so hard. I couldn't wait to show her off to the judges.

I slipped my PokeCom back into the concealed pocket I had sewn onto my dress and busied myself with brushing Roisel's fur for the hundredth time that day. As Roisel whistled contentedly, I watched Marian open the contest from the TV's positioned around the prep area. I wasn't sure what determined the order of contestants, but I was going to be one of the last performers of the huge group that surrounded me in the prep area.

All of the coordinators gave wonderful performances, and my nerves grew steadily as I watched the judges assign them scores out of thirty before they left the stage. Ursula's performance was actually quite stunning and I was amazed at the control her Flareon had over the Willow Wisp attack she used during her performance.

"Serena?" I flinched when the employee called my name and quickly stowed Roisel's brush in my makeup bag.

"That's me!" I called out nervously, walking towards the woman wearing a headset. She nodded at me without smiling then nodded towards the doors.

"You're up next," she said without emotion.

I swallowed quickly, hoping that my nervousness wasn't too obvious as I nodded to her. Since I had taken the time to curl my hair, I quickly grabbed Roisel before she could climb up my arm and take her usual spot on my shoulder.

"Time to get in your Pokeball now, Roisel. You remember what we practiced, right?" I asked, feeling my knees begin to shake with nerves. Roisel whistled excitedly, sitting patiently on my arm as I pulled out her Pokeball and returned her. She disappeared in a beam of red light and I gently placed the premier ball into a special ball capsule that I had purchased the other day and fixed a seal over it.

Taking one last breath to try and calm my nerves, I walked out of the prep area and down the hall that led to the backstage area. As I walked, my body began to tense up slightly and I wondered if I was really ready for this. I clutched Roisel's premier ball like a lifeline as I waited for the coordinator ahead of me to finish their routine.

I couldn't help but flinch when I saw the performance only score 16 points out of thirty. My thoughts had been too focused on breathing properly to watch the performance, but now I began to panic, wondering if I would also get such a low score.

"We've seen some splendid performances so far, but don't anybody move yet! We have two more performances to go before the battle rounds begin! So let's give a warm welcome to our next Coordinator, Serena from Vaniville Town!"

A frightened squeak escaped my lips at Marian's introduction, but I took a deep breath and forced myself to jog leisurely up to the middle of the stage. The sheer amount of people made my knees quake, but I dipped down into a small curtsy before raising Roisel's Pokeball to my lips and giving it a quick kiss for luck.

"Let's do this, Roisel," I whispered before standing up from my curtsy and tossing her Pokeball up over my head.

As the ball capsule opened and broke the seal I had chosen, a small crystal flower bud appeared, blooming within seconds to reveal Roisel in the middle of the lovely crystal petals. She launched herself forward, spiraling beautifully and coming to land gracefully in front of me, pushing herself up to stand on her hind legs briefly and sniffing with obvious fascination at the crowd of people cheering for us.

"Go, Serena and Roisel!" I blinked in shock, briefly scanning the front row of stadium seats to see if I could find where the voice had come from. But then I quickly shook my head, snapping myself back to the present and my first-ever performance round.

"Roisel, use Sweet Kiss," I instructed firmly, looking at Roisel and trying to ignore the rows and rows of filled seats in front of me. Roisel spun in a small circle, brought her front paws to her lips, and then moved them away, releasing a small pink heart. She then bounded a few steps to the side and repeated the move until I was surrounded by a circle of slowly growing Sweet Kiss hearts.

I stood still until Roisel was once again in front of me and I tried not to look nervous. The next part of the performance was the tricky part, but I trusted in Roisel and lifted both my arms up.

"Use Fairy Wind!" I said firmly.

Roisel dropped to all fours and let out a high-pitched whistle. A sparkling wind began to twirl around her and, just as we had practiced, she sent the wind out in a widening cyclone to spin underneath the floating hearts she had created. I could feel my skirt fluttering around in the Fairy Wind but I had made a point to wear black spandex shorts underneath to make sure I didn't unintentionally flash any of the audience members, so I stood still and watched Roisel's Fairy Wind cyclone begin to gain power.

The Sweet Kiss heart's began to twirl around in the wind and then they were swept away in the power of Roisel's move, spinning swiftly upwards. Practicing this move had been difficult and there were more times than I would like to admit where Roisel had gotten distracted and had accidentally sent the heart's straight towards me, leaving me in a confused daze. But I could tell that Roisel was fully committed this time and I couldn't help but grin widely as the Fairy Wind and hearts spun around us and then up to the ceiling.

"Finish it off, Roisel!" I said excitedly.

With another whistle, the cyclone of Fairy Wind suddenly rushed towards the middle, pushing all of the Sweet Kiss hearts into each other and bursting them, creating a cascade of pink sparkles that floated down towards Roisel and me. Without looking, Roisel pushed herself into a backflip and I caught her in the palms of my hands, lifting her up above my head and letting the pink sparkles surround us for a few seconds.

Cheers sounded out through the stadium and I sighed in relief. Roisel scurried down my arm to take her normal position on my shoulder and I curtsied to the audience and judges. Marian whisked back onto the stage with a wide grin and came to stand next to me.

"What an adorable performance! Let's see what the judges thought of Serena and her pokemon!" Marian suggested energetically, pointing towards the three judges at the very front of the stage.

"Remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo said and I smiled politely. He said that after every performance, so I was more interested in what Mr. Contesta and Nurse Joy would say.

"You have a very unique pokemon, young lady. And you showed us that she has keen concentration skills and control of her moves. Well done," Mr. Contesta said with a smile. I sighed in relief, glad that this had been a good performance.

"Your Roisel's fur is so shiny and her gem is practically radiant. It's obvious you lovingly care for her and I thought her performance was darling," Nurse Joy commented with a wide grin. I bowed to her, grateful for her kind words.

"Now let's see the score!" Marian said with excitement.

I swallowed hard, trying to keep myself looking relaxed even though it felt like a flock of butterfree were flying around in my stomach. After a small pause, numbers began to appear on the screens of the special tables the judges were sitting at and I gasped.

"Wonderful! Serena has gotten a score of 27.5! We have one more performer to go and then we'll be able to announce which lucky eight coordinators will be moving on to the battle rounds!" Marian explained with delight.

I waved gratefully to the judges and the crowd that was clapping and cheering for me. I could hardly believe I had gotten such a high score!

Just as I was about to head back to the prep area though, the final performer came on the stage and a thunderous cheer exploded from the audience. I paused and turned around, curious to see who got such an intense welcome, and blinked when I saw the young woman who had battled against a Noctowl the other day. People in the crowd began to cheer "Keira! Keira! Keira!" over and over and she waved calmly at the crowd.

I stayed backstage and felt my mouth drop open in surprise when Keira released an intimidating Infernape. The pokemon let out a roar, the flames coming out of its skull shot up towards the ceiling powerfully and I was amazed that Keira remained calmly by its side without flinching even a little.

"Time to get fired up. Infernape, use Sunny Day!" Keria commanded, jabbing her fist forward in an air punch that Infernape mimicked perfectly before leaping forward to the front of the stage. He flexed his slender but powerful arms and a shimmering light burst up in the ceiling, lighting the already well-lit room as if the sun itself were inside the contest hall.

"Now, use Fire Blast. Full power!" Keira called out.

With a battle cry so intimidating that it made Roisel jump in fright and hide behind my neck, Infernape let loose a huge burst of flames in the shape of the symbol that meant "fire". The symbol grew and expanded, reaching up towards the ceiling and alarmingly looking as if it would cause some major damage to the ceiling before it burned out.

"And finish it with Solar Beam!"

I gasped in surprise at the unexpected grass type move. But Infernape didn't seem concerned. He lifted his hands above his head, gathering power into the space between his palms, and then fired a yellow burst of light up towards the Fire Blast attack. The two attacks met and both of them exploded with a huge bang; but instead of explosive smoke, the two moves disintegrated each other, leaving only tiny bits of twinkling light and flames to fall gently down from the ceiling.

Infernape backflipped, landing next to his trainer. As the remains of the two intense moves faded to nothing, they both punched upwards and then kicked their legs in synch before Keira proclaimed their performance to be finished. My knees felt shaky as I heard the deafening roar of cheering from the crowd at Keira's explosive performance round and Roisel remained trembling behind my neck as the noise washed over us.

"It's okay, Roisel," I said soothingly, reaching back and pulling her from underneath my curled hair so I could hold her in my arms. "Let's go wait for the final results."

There was a lot of nervous chatter in the waiting room as the judges went through and found the eight highest-scoring trainers. I stroked Roisel's little head as I watched the nearest TV screen wordlessly. There was no surprise when Kiera's picture came up first, followed closely by Ursula's, but I felt a wave of elation and relief go through me when my own picture came up in the sixth spot. Groans of disappointment were mixed with the shrieks of elation going through the waiting room. I quickly followed the worker who brought me and the rest of the finalists to another room where we could feed our pokemon and prepare for the upcoming battle rounds.

Everything seemed to pass in a blur and I found myself standing on the stage across from a woman who looked to be in her late twenties. She smiled at me kindly but she had a competitive gleam in her eyes and I bowed politely to her.

"And now the battle of Serena vs Rebecca will begin! Let's put the clock to 5 minutes and battle... BEGIN!" Marian called out, stepping off the battle area just as the jumbo screens above us began counting down from five minutes.

"Butterfree, come on out!" Rebecca called out, releasing her pokemon with a flair. I released Roisel at the same time. I looked up at the large purple Butterfree and couldn't help but admire its beautiful wings that beat gently, keeping the bug type afloat.

Nervousness gripped me as I realized that this was going to be my first official battle. To prepare I watched plenty of contest battles that I found online, and I had come up with a few strategies, but I hoped that I wouldn't freeze from the pressure.

"Let's start things off with Stun Spore, Butterfree!" Rebecca called out. Immediately her Butterfree began flying towards Roisel and a shimmering green powder began to trail off its beautiful wings.

"Don't breathe it in, Roisel! Use Fairy Wind in small twisters," I called out firmly, trying to ignore the judges and audience and focus only on Roisel and our battle.

Roisel dropped to all fours and whistled quietly. Four small whirlwinds of Fairy Wind rose up around her small body and began twisting up, catching the powder Butterfree had tried to drop on her and spinning it slowly up and back towards Butterfree.

"How pretty!" Marian called out and I wondered if I could sneak a peek at the screens to see if I had managed to knock off any of Rebecca's points, but I quickly refocused when Rebecca called her next attack.

"Use Psybeam!"

"Rapid-fire Sweet Kiss, Roisel," I said quickly, hoping that this idea would actually work. I had never actually tested it and I felt anxious as the colorful beam of psychic power began to rush toward my little pokemon.

Roisel seemed unconcerned though as she stood back up on her hind legs, bringing her front paws to her mouth and throwing them out one, two, five times. Each time she moved her paws from her mouth a small pink heart was released and the five hearts sailed towards the Psybeam. It connected and burst them one by one, releasing the confusion-inducing hearts in a pretty cascade of smaller pink hearts.

The hearts weren't enough to completely stop the Psybeam though and Roisel leaped to the side just before the powerful beam could hit her. I released a breath of relief when Roisel was able to dodge and I decided being on the defensive was not going to be enough to get through this battle.

"Run towards Butterfree, Roisel," I instructed as calmly as I could. She whistled happily, instantly beginning to dash across the stage, faster than her small body looked capable of.

"Use Whirlwind, Butterfree!" Rebecca called out.

Butterfree beat its wings strongly and a large twister of wind burst into existence, rushing towards Roisel. Swallowing my fear, I gripped the fabric of my skirt in my hands to give them something to do and trusted in Roisel.

"Jump into the whirlwind, Roisel! Try to use Fairy Wind to guide yourself up to Butterfree!"

"Roisiiiii!" 

Without abandon, Roisel leaped into the whirlwind. Her small body was immediately snatched and sent spinning around the twister and one of my hands flew to my mouth in concern. But after a disorienting second, I saw a familiar sparkling pink wind that seemed to streak behind Roisel's body and she began to wriggle her body, looking as if she were swimming through the two competing winds. Her white body burst from the top of the whirlwind with an excited whistle and I cheered in excitement.

"Use Psybeam again!" Rebecca called out, sounding a little frustrated.

"Dodge it and land on Butterfree's back, Roisel!" I called out, hoping that my plan would work. With a happy squeal, Roisel spun through the air, dodging the Psybeam by a hair, before reaching out and grabbing onto Butterfree's back. Her small body fit perfectly on Butterfree's back and I smiled excitedly.

"Use Lick!"

A ghostly tongue appeared in front of Roisel as she stuck out her own pink tongue and the ghost version slurped the back of Butterfree's neck and head. To my surprise, after Roisel had completed her Lick attack, yellow sparks of electricity began to run up and down Butterfree's body and the two began to drop from the sky as Butterfree's wing's jerkily flapped out of synch with each other.

"Jump off, Roisel!" I instructed in concern. Roisel backflipped off of Butterfree as the bug type crashed to the ground, the electric sparks still going across its whole body.

"Oh no, Butterfree!" Rebecca called out just as a loud buzzer sounded. Looking up at the jumbo screens above us I was surprised to see that our five minutes were already up, and I was even more surprised when I realized that Rebecca's points were nearly all gone, while I still had half of mine left.

"That's it! Which means Serena and her Roisel are moving on to the next battle round! Congratulations!" Marian said with a wide grin.

I looked up at my enlarged picture in shock. Honestly, I probably would have been frozen with disbelief if Roisel hadn't chosen that moment to leap up my arm and scramble her way to my shoulder, rubbing her furry cheek against mine. I grinned widely and let out a shocked laugh before turning to Rebecca and bowing deeply to her. She smiled at me, although it looked a little sad, as she returned her Butterfree and left the stage.

A/N What did you think of the battle? I hope you enjoyed it! The continuation of the contest and a reappearance of our favorite hero will be in the next chapter! Thank you all for following the story! If you ever have a request for a pokemon you want to see in a future contest, please let me know :D