𝒯 𝒽 𝑒 𝒲 𝒶 𝓎 𝒲 𝑒 𝒲 𝒾 𝓁 𝓁 𝐵 𝑒

Chapter 19: Shop Till You Flop

Laurier Maison

"Serena?" Miette asked, staring at the disguised Aria with curiosity. "Who's she?"

"Oh!" Serena gestured to Aria, who gave the other Performers a friendly little wave. "This is Ariana! I met her after the Coumarine Showcase. She's the one who helped me out of my little slump."

"Oh, don't say that, Serena!" Aria replied. "You helped yourself out. I just gave you a little helping hand, that's all."

"Either way," said Shauna, "it's nice to meet you. I'm-"

"It's alright, I already know your names. I've seen you all in prior Showcases. Let's see." Aria pointed at each Performer in the group in turn. "You're Shauna... You're Miette... You're Nini..." When those three Performers nodded in affirmation, the redheaded girl continued. "Blanche, Kazalie, and..." She paused for a moment when she settled on Shulin. "Shulin, is that right?"

"That's right!" Shulin cried as she rushed forward and shook her hand. "It's so nice to meet you, Ariana! So, so nice!"

Aria sweat-dropped a little at the green-haired girl's enthusiasm. "O-Okay..." Then, she spotted Yancy and blinked. "Wait a minute, I've never seen you before. And who would you be?"

"Y-Y-Yancy!" the pink-haired girl stuttered, overwhelmed by the presence of her honorary aunt's past self. Indeed, even if she was in disguise, Aria's beauty and grace were on a whole other level. "I-I-It's s-s-such an honor to m-m-meet you!"

"N-Nice to meet you too..."

Aria stared at Yancy with suspicion, but before she could think about her physical appearance any further, the redheaded girl suddenly felt an intense gaze on her. Craning her neck by an inch, she was greeted by Shulin's grayish-blue eyes.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Aria exclaimed. "You're kinda invading my personal space there, Shulin..."

Shulin giggled and took a step backward. "Oh, I'm so sorry about that, Ariana! It's just, for some reason...you've got this really fine aura about you..."

Serena could easily see Aria's throat strongly pulsate once in her throat as the Kalos Queen gulped. Remembering that she was in disguise and didn't want the public to know her true identity, the honey-blonde abruptly slung an arm around her friend's shoulder and chuckled loudly.

"Well, it's 'cause she's a Performer too!" she replied, thinking on the top of her feet. "And all Performers need to have a, uh, fine aura about them!"

"Wait, Ariana's a Performer too?" Blanche asked, surprised by this revelation. "How come I did not see her in any of the PokéVision coverage videos for this season?"

"I-It's because I decided not to participate for this season!" Aria exclaimed in response, the Kalos Queen thinking on the top of her feet as well. "I-I've never had the best winning streak lately. B-But I do follow the Showcase coverage closely, regardless! There's no way I'd miss out on any of this year's competitions!"

"Oh, I think I know what you mean by that," replied Shauna, the tan-skinned Performer smiling sympathetically.

Then, Aria noticed Tierno, Trevor, Grace, Meyer, Calem, Layla, and Moose. "Oh! And I assume you're all Serena's family?"

"Nah, me and Trevor here are just friends here to support Serena and Shauna," Tierno replied. "The name's Tierno."

"And I'm Meyer, Clemont and Bonnie's father," Meyer introduced. There was a toothy, ear-to-ear smile on his face as he patted Clemont's shoulder and the top of Bonnie's head, much to the former's embarrassment and the latter's irritation.