"Flabébé, dance! Show them your charm with Attract!"
The battle had reached a fever pitch. As soon as my command left my lips, Flabébé didn't just use a move; she performed. She tilted her tiny head, gave a playful wink toward the charging Starly, and blew a shimmering pink kiss. A glowing heart of energy streaked across the stage, striking the avian Pokémon square in the chest.
Starly's wings faltered. Its fierce, determined gaze vanished, replaced by literal pink hearts in its eyes. It stumbled over its own talons, swaying back and forth with a goofy, lovestruck expression.
The strategy was simple, but in a Contest, it was lethal. I'd noticed Leo's Starly was a male during its earlier warm-ups, and in the world of competitive battling, gender-based status moves were the ultimate momentum-killers.
"Starly! No! Shake it off!" Leo screamed from his side of the stage, his face turning a frantic shade of red. "It's a trick! Focus on the battle!"
But Starly was in its own little world. It chirped happily at Flabébé, completely oblivious to the fact that it was in the middle of a stadium.
"Don't let up, Flabébé! Fairy Wind!"
Flabébé spun, kicking up a fierce, sparkling gale that slammed into the stumbling Starly. The bird was tossed backward, tumbling across the stage like a bundle of wet laundry.
"Oh! This is painful to watch!" Vivian cried, her hand to her cheek. "Leo's Starly is completely incapacitated by love! His points are hemorrhaging! If he doesn't find a way to snap Starly out of it, this match is going to be over before the three-minute mark!"
"I've got it!" Leo suddenly roared, his desperation turning into a gamble. "Starly! Use Quick Attack... directly into the ground!"
I raised an eyebrow. Not bad.
The lovestruck Starly, hearing the familiar command, tilted its head. It dove beak-first into the hard floor of the stage with a resounding thud. The sheer physical shock of the impact cleared its head instantly. It shook its wings, the heart-eyes fading as it hissed in pain, finally back in the game. But it didn't have time to celebrate.
"Too slow," I murmured. "Flabébé, another Fairy Wind!"
"Starly, Encore! Use Quick Attack to rush through the center!"
Leo had found his rhythm. Starly took off, its body glowing with white energy. It didn't try to dodge the pink storm; it put all its power into a straight line, piercing through the weakest point of the wind like a needle through silk. In a second, it was inches away from Flabébé's face.
"Excellent!" Vivian shouted, the crowd rising to their feet. "Leo has turned the tables! He used the pain to break the Attract status and now he's launching a devastating counter-offensive!"
On the big screen, my point bar took a sharp dip. The judges were rewarding Leo's "Fighting Spirit."
"Now! Wing Attack! Finish this!" Leo yelled.
"Did you think I was just watching?" I smiled. "Flabébé, Vine Whip! Catch him and use his own momentum!"
Starly was moving too fast to steer. It was a grey blur of feathers and fury. Just as its glowing wing was about to strike, two green vines lashed out from Flabébé's flower. They didn't hit Starly; they wrapped around its wings, anchoring themselves to the bird's high-speed flight.
Flabébé didn't try to stop him with brute strength. Instead, she spun once, a graceful, 360-degree pirouette. Using Starly's own incredible speed as a pivot, she swung the bird around her in a wide arc before slamming it with bone-jarring force into the stage floor.
CRACK!
The sound of the impact echoed through the hall. Starly lay in a crater of its own making, its wings twitching feebly.
"Unbelievable!" Vivian's voice was nearly a shriek. "She used him like a spinning top! Julian has turned Starly's greatest strength into its ultimate downfall! The elegance... the timing... it's simply masterclass!"
The Final Toll
Leo was shaking now. "Starly... please... get up! Break free!"
"It's over, Leo," I said softly.
Starly had taken too much. Between the self-inflicted Quick Attack to the floor and that massive Vine Whip throw, its stamina was spent. Even though Grass-type moves aren't very effective against Flying-types, the laws of physics didn't care about Type Charts. Moving at eighty miles an hour into a solid floor hurts, regardless of what element you are.
"Final blow. Fairy Wind."
Flabébé didn't even have to let go with her vines. She gathered a concentrated swirl of pink energy and released it at point-blank range. The explosion of sparkles obscured the stage for a moment. When it cleared, Starly was out cold, its eyes swirling in circles.
"Starly is unable to battle!" Vivian declared, pointing a theatrical finger toward me. "The winner of the first match is Julian!"
The crowd erupted. I walked to the center of the stage and offered a respectful bow to Leo. He looked devastated, picking up his fallen partner and sighing deeply. He'd gambled that I was just a "pretty performer" with no combat teeth. He'd lost that gamble in under four minutes.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur of light and noise. As I sat in the lounge watching the other thirty-one contestants, I felt a slight twinge of disappointment.
I realized that many of these Coordinators were missing the point. Some had incredibly flashy moves but no tactical awareness; the moment they were pressured, they crumbled. Others were decent battlers, but they were "ugly." They fought like they were in a back-alley brawl, losing points for every clumsy dodge and jagged command.
It's no wonder only a few names ever make it to the top, I thought, leaning back and watching the screen.
In the anime, the high-level Coordinators like Melissa, Adam, or the Champion Wallace were terrifying because they were both. They were master tacticians who happened to be artists.
I remembered Ash's battle against Adam's Milotic—it was a nightmare of beauty and power. Every time Ash landed a hit, Milotic would use Recover in a way that looked like a sparkling rebirth, draining Ash's morale and points simultaneously.
If I want to reach the Grand Festival, I mused, I need to stop comparing myself to these beginners. I need to look toward the elite.
"After hours of breathtaking matches and heart-pounding drama," Vivian's voice snapped me back to the present, "we have reached the final stage of the Jubilife City Contest!"
The lights in the lounge dimmed, and the two final portraits appeared on the large monitor.