A Journey's Link

Chapter 49 - Achievement

"Come on, Serena," Chloe whispered as the Performer and her Pokemon made their way to the center of the stage. "You can do this." Goh said nothing as he stared at the stage with a determined look on his face, almost as if he was the one performing.

Down on the stage stood Serena, dressed up in a well-made pink dress, her Pokemon complementing her attire with Braixen wearing a similar skirt-like pink outfit and Pancham donning a pink suit with a white bowtie. "Ready, you two?" Serena whispered as she stared at the hundreds of people anxiously waiting for her to start her performance.

Braixen and Pancham both nodded towards Serena, ready and willing. As she stared at the audience, which was hard to see due to the bright lights shining directly on her, she thought about the last time she had performed. It was the final round in the Showcase that pitted her against Aria, the still current Kalos Queen. She had lost by a good margin, but she felt as though she had won simply because she was able to compete against the Kalos Queen herself.

She began the performance by commanding, "Pancham, use Dark Pulse, and Braixen, use Flamethrower!" The two Pokemon both charged up their moves, waiting for the signal from Serena that they had practiced. "Now!" Serena exclaimed, projecting her hands forward as both Pokemon released their move.

The Dark Pulse and Flamethrower combined, creating a black and red combination of swirling energies around each other. "Oh wow!" Chloe exclaimed, staring in awe at the combination of moves. "It's so pretty!" She couldn't take her eyes off of the beam of mixing colors making its way around the stage and towards the center, where it circled Serena as she danced in the middle of it, her Pokemon right beside her.

"That's such a cool way to use those moves!" Goh yelled. He grabbed his Rotom Phone and snapped a quick picture. While taking pictures of things he witnessed wasn't usually his thing, the sight before him was too breathtaking for him to not take a picture to capture the moment in time forever. As he put his phone away, Chloe tugged on his shirt and pointed back at Serena. "Look!" She exclaimed as she stared at the center of the stage. "What's she doing?"

Goh looked to where Chloe was pointing and saw something unordinary. Pancham had jumped out of the ring of colors and was now sending what seemed to be a small and weak Stone Edge towards Braixen and Serena, who were still dancing together in the ring. "Does she not know it's coming towards her?" Chloe asked worriedly. Goh, on the other hand, had a feeling that it was part of the routine and said, "Just wait. Let's see what happens next."

Chloe was slightly concerned with Goh's lack of worry for the move headed for Serena but reluctantly turned back to the stage. Just as it seemed that the Stone Edge was going to hit the two, they both jumped and landed directly on the rising stones. "I knew it!" Goh exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air, Ash style. "That's amazing!" Chloe shouted as the two continued dancing while on top of the Stone Edge.

The audience roared as Pancham hopped onto the stone that Serena and Braixen stood on and danced alongside them. The beam that contained Dark Pulse and Flamethrower began to falter as it continued swirling around the huge stone. "Ready for the finale?" Serena whispered to Braixen and Pancham, who smiled and nodded. Serena winked at them and said, "Here we go!"

Serena gave them their cue, so Pancham jumped off of the stone and used Arm Thrust directly on it. "Why is he attacking the stone?" Goh whispered to himself, watching curiously as Pancham continued pummeling the stone, raising dust everywhere. Braixen jumped down as well and began using hidden power on the stone as well, leaving only Serena on the stone, dancing alone.

She winked at the audience and jumped off of the stone in front of Braixen and Pancham, who stopped using their attacks on the stone and turned around and posed alongside Serena. The audience held their breath as the dust settled and revealed that the stone had artistic-like etchings in them that Pancham had created using Arm Thrust.