"We can't do it." Hikaru's sudden discouragement rang across the clearing that served as a practice stage, ruining Haru's good mood and focus.

"We'll do fine." She wasn't so sure if they would be, though she tried her best to keep a happy face. Haru shot a glance at Kirlia, who looked just as doubtful as she felt."Right, Kirlia?"

Kirlia tensed, her pink eyes nervous. "I suppose."

"Let's just continue practicing!"

The night sky was bustling with bright stars, but none were bright enough to match the lights that illuminated the wooden stage. The stage that Floette's group were just about to take.

Haru expected that their village have more performers, but it seemed most Pokemon in the village either had their sights set on battling or getting ribbons. Haru was determined to take the stage and dance as perfectly as a quadruped could. Aside from her impulsive behavior, she had two left feet, onstage and off, but wasn't about to let anyone call her out here.

"We can do it, you guys. We can do it." As she began reciting her preparation mantra that fell on deaf ears, Haru watched Floette's movements closely.

Even if she pleaded with Florges to let her daughter be her friend, the results would be the same. Florges made her daughter's existence for the sole purpose of accomplishing everything she herself ever wanted to in life, even if Floette had any objections, which were entirely evident in the young Fairy-Types eyes, eyes that were frequently placed on her expectant mother.

"Swirlix! Spritzee!"

"Right!" Floette's two partners, obviously both of the same type and gender, nodded to their leader simultaneously as they both then used individual moves.

Swirlix stood on her tail in the middle of the stage, shooting off thin, white and probably sticky strings into the air from her mouth, while Spritzee circled the oval shaped web with Sweet Scent.

Floette, hovering right above the web and the pink glittery fog surrounding it, brings out her sharp vines from her back to combine the two, creating a large ball in the middle of the stage that she plunged herself into.

Haru was enthralled to say the least, and was unsure of whether or not her own team's combinations would be enough. Not only that, they had a bad reputation, or at least, she and Hikaru did. As for Kirlia....

"I hope this goes well," said her friend, who was tugging on her small purple top hat with a worried look on her face.

"You were born dancing," Hikaru said to her with a mixed look of disbelief and sarcasm. "I had to learn."

What Haru knew he meant to say was that out of the three of them, Kirlia was the only one who could truly excel at the task. Both Hikaru and Haru had to learn, while Kirlia was the daughter of Gardevoir, the one whose graceful movements onstage long ago gave the village its name.

"I guess that's true." Yet instead of seeming glad, Kirlia's expression suggested the opposite, and her next sentence confirmed it."I wish my father were here to see."

Haru didn't have anything to say. She herself didn't have a father she knew of, and Hikaru was the only one that did. Kirlia's, however, was Gallade, who was off probably exploring instead of staying settled in with his family.

"Haru, Eevee, and Kirlia?" Pulling her out of her mixed thoughts was Ms. Leavanny waiting outside their dressing quarters. Already dressed and ready to take the stage, the three young Pokemon emerged from under the leafy curtain to greet their teacher.

"So you three are taking the stage?" Ms. Leavanny asked with crossed arms and a shaking head, but it was almost in an amused tone. "Let's see how it goes."

Haru narrowed her eyes at her teacher. Ms. Leavanny, just like most everyone else in the village, doubted Haru and Hikaru, and Kirlia choosing to be friends with them was almost enough for her to be dragged down to the same status. However, Ms. Leavanny's comment was directed towards the first two, since they were the ones out of the three that everyone seemed to have lower expectations of.

"You're on," Ms. Leavanny opened an arm out towards the stage, a "let's see what happens," look planted on her face.

Cheers from the audience from the previous performance began to die down and eventually stop as Haru's group stepped onto the stage. On the way to the middle she passed Floette, who gave her a slightly worried glance before floating away towards the dressing room with her companions.

Haru didn't have the time nor the heart to look back. She and Floette were rivals. There was no way, no matter how much they had gotten to know each other, could they be friends. Not while a bitter and close minded mother like Florges still roamed the Pokemon world.

Just before there cue came on, Haru tapped Kirlia lightly with her tail."Don't worry about Gallade. There are so many other Pokemon, including Gardevoir and Delphox and even Braixen out there supporting you."

Haru noticed a small smile creep its way onto Kirlia's face, but right before the spotlight came on she saw a strange blankness. The blank expression disappeared before Haru could make sure she wasn't imagining it as the light from a Volbeat showered them, and Kricketune's music began.

Hikaru started his dance without needing a command from the dazed Haru to do so, while Kirlia spinner away on her own, a profession smile on the both of them.

Right! Haru did a backflip towards Hikaru, and stayed waiting for him to use his Swift move. From his head he crated a single large star, wide and golden in color. Kirlia hopped onto it with another spin, and now it was Haru's turn to lift her up.

Directly under the huge star, Haru used her Flamethrower move to propel it into the air, trying hard not to overdo it but to make sure it was powerful enough to push the star up.

Luckily, everything proceeded as planned, and seeing as how Kirlia then twirled from her spot high in the air, everything was just perfect. Haru caught the relieved smile on Hikaru's face, and as they began to dance together she realized that there really was nothing to worry about.

In cartwheel like movements, Haru made her way across the stage, the flames that came from her mouth keeping place in the air she passed by, creating an even zigzagged ring around the stage.

With a single flip Hikaru's Swift zoomed out in front of him, allowing Haru to jump from each to meet her friend in the sky.

Tipping her hat with a smile at her best friend, Kirlia showed no sign of the strange one she'd been before their performance began as she smiled and twirled off the star.

With an extended paw Haru reached the star and took a moment to stand before flipping back into the air. The star, with each amount of pressure having been applied, continued to weaken, and it was probably weak enough for Haru to actually go through it rather than just eradicate it with Flamethrower and then be caught by Kirlia.

This time she took a risk that shocked both her friends as well as the audience, who for once seemed amazed by her. To ensure that the feeling last even after her group left the stage, Haru decided to surprise everyone with an impulsive move.

With her right paw extended in front of her face she plunged herself into the star with her eyes shut, and when she slowly opened them she could see her paw as well as her whole body enveloped in a golden light, with tiny stars bouncing off it.

It was then that she heard the crowd gasp in shock, and assuming it was the excitement from before she grinned as she came closer and closer to the stage floor. However, as the brown wood was getting closer her breathing hitched, and her heart flooded with panic.

At the fast rate that she was falling, she wouldn't land perfectly on one paw like a Glameow might. She'd break it, or worse her neck.

Kirlia! With frantic eyes Haru looked at her friend, and Kirlia was quick to react. In a panicked rush she forced out psychic energy that landed on the wrong Pokemon, tripping over her own two feet.

"Whoa!" Hikaru slides across the stage from the force of Kirlia's Psychic, but luckily got back to his feet okay.

Haru, however, wouldn't be. Her eyes automatically clenched shut just as the stage was right before her eyes, and just then she felt something tight wound its way around her body.

She slowly opened her eyes to see the stage floor in front of her. Her paw still out, she gently tapped the stage floor until what felt like vines wrapped around her loosened and allowed her to place all of her paws on it. She was safe.

The audience, who seemed to have been holding their breath, burst out in applause, cheers and whistles. Both Hikaru and Kirlia quickly retook their original spots to receive the praise from the crowd, and all three of them kept it professional with a simultaneous bow. Out of the corner of her eye Haru saw Floette floating next to the stage, before abruptly hovering away as their eyes locked.

"Take the piece of bark by your seats, ladies and gentleman, and vote for the group you thought did best!" Kricketune was enthusiastically explaining to the audience what he did before the show even started. "You'll find colors next to your seat. Use them to stamp your piece of bark, and once you're finished hold it up to vote!"

Haru and her group weren't sure of if they'd even win, seeing as how what seemed to be going good for then onstage was quick to become performance fiasco of the year.

"Such quick decisions!" Kricketune chirped."The results are now in! "

That's our cue to get back up there, Haru thought with a lingering feeling of hopelessness. Our cue to continue showing everyone how much we suck at this.

Haru didn't know why she didn't just run away instead of going back to wait for what she already knew would happen. Floette's group would win and her own would have another contribution to their already poor reputation.

"Our winners....."

Floette, right? "The orange group! Put those hands, paws, and stems together for.... Haru, Kirlia, and Eevee!"

What? Was this all a dream? Did Haru die and open her eyes to a whole new reality? Pokemon were cheering for her, smiling at her, for once approving of something she did!

"Here is your Royalty Key that Klefki made himself!" Kricketune happily grabbed the beautiful key from his partner Klefki and presented it to the winning trio.

"What!?" Hikaru couldn't believe his ears, and Kirlia was so overjoyed tears began to form in her eyes.

We saved the stage! Haru's mind was full of triumphant thoughts, but the most dominant was the idea that they could be heroes of the stage, almost as good as Meloetta! "Yay!!"

But not all was well. On her way home, Haru noticed Floette by herself instead of being inside her own home. She must have gotten kicked out for that.

It wasn't hard to figure out who saved her. Floette meant well, but her actions may as well have been a betrayal in her mother's eyes.

"I messed up." Now Floette was alone, or so she thought.

"Who cares? We can talk to Florges in the morning, but I thought that what you did was amazing!" Haru couldn't keep her happiness to herself anymore. Floette was her savior, and she always knew to give credit to where credit was due.

"I'm not amazing, really," Floette muttered, looking away to avoid showing her tears. "Not if I screwed up."

"Then join my crew!" The words were just flowing out of Haru's mouth, but she had no desire to stop them. If she knew anything about screwing up, then that was that being with others like you made you feel better no matter what! Or is that just having friends that accept you?

"Will you join?" Haru smiled, walking closer to Floette before holding out the paw she landed on. "Please?"

Wiping her eyes, Floette hesitantly held out a hand with her prized flower in the other. "But what if I ruin everything? So we don't come out on top? Perfect?"

Haru shook her head. Perfection was an ideal that differed from Pokemon to Pokemon, but it had no words in her book that mattered. "Then just screw up."

And with that, Haru found another member of her ragtag group that would soon prove to the world that not every hero is perfect.