Pokemon: Remnants of a Forgotten past

Chapter 19: Victory and Defeat

Ash P.O.V.

"Guys, shhh, the free performances have started," Bonnie said.
"Where is Calem?" I said, wondering about the absence of the young boy.
"He's probably outside," Clemont said. "For now, let;s just wait and pray the best for Serena."
"Yeah," I said, seeing Trina come to the stage with her Mawile.

Serena was in the waiting room the entire time, feeling depressed and disappointed. Having everyone recognise you as the winner of the Hoenn Grand Festival definitely put a lot more pressure on her. On top of that, her results in the theme performances were downright disappointing. She had only just scraped by. 

Serena P.O.V.
"I can't beat myself down like this," I thought, sitting up. "I remember my first ever contest in Hoenn. I did not give up despite the embarassing loss I suffered.And either way, I did not lose here. I'll just have to do better in the free performance. I beat Wallace in that, surely I will win."

Even after all those words of appreciation and self-confidence, I still felt down in the dumps. On top of that they felt braggy. 

"I'll just have to wait and say what happens," I said, with a sigh, another thought towards the dark-haired and dark-eyed girl she was yearning to beat.

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"Espeon, use Psychic!" Marva told her pokemon.
Espeon used Psychic on the Psycho Cut and Razor Leaf making the Razor leaves spin like asteroids next to the psycho cut, then making them explode and spread out.

"What an incredible performance by Marva and her team fo Absol, Roselia and Espeon," Monsieur Pierre shouted. Give it up for them."

"Serena's got some competition," Calem said, joining the team.
"Yes," Clemont said. "That performance was absolutely spectacular. I would almost think that she's a long time veteran of this."
Ash was silent. He was afraid for Serena, if she could top this. The performance was so spectacular that even he was mesmerized. Even if her techniques were fairly straightforward, the way she and her pokemon carried it out made it astonishing.
"You can do it," Ash uttered under his breath.

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"Performer Serena?" the guide came. "You're up next."
"Alright, coming," I said. "Eevee, Fennekin and Clefable. You guys ready."
The three nodded, also not as excited as they were earlier in the day. Clefable and Eevee knew what happened but Fennekin did not. Confused, the fire fox followed them.

I was going along the corridor to the stage when I saw her. I stared at her going past me. Neither her or her pokemon gave me any notice, almost as if I was not even there.

"Eevee, Clefable, Fennekin, let's do this," I said.

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"Please welcome, Performer Serena! She might be a first-timer, but she's no slouch," Monsieur Pierre announced.

"I got this," I thought to myself. "She might be here, but that makes no difference."
I told myself this but I knew this to be a lie. Ever since what happened between us, I can't bring myself to act normally when she is around.

"Eevee use Swift, Fennekin use Fire Spin," I said.
Eevee started with a Swift towards the sky and Fennekin launched a Fire Spin to spin around the stars.
"Now Fennekin use Flamethrower, and Clefable use Ice Beam," I said.
The two elemental beams crashed into the swift creating beautiful lights from the sky.