CH73 (595), Disaster Relief (3)

Rose returned to the contestant hall after that, while we went to buy some snacks before heading to our seats. 128 coordinators made it to the main event, but there would only be 32 left at the end of the day. That equaled two rounds with a total of 96 performance matches. Yes, just like the preliminary rounds, the first two rounds of the main event also did not involve any combat.

The first round was a single performance, where both contestants shared the stage and they were given 5 minutes to outperform their fellow contestants. Just to make it clear, both competitors simultaneously performed during these 5 minutes, and the one whose performance the judges deemed as better, more showy, more attention-grabbing, or whatever you wanted to call it moved on to the next round.

The second round was pretty much the same, but instead of a single performance, it was a double one, meaning each contestant had to use two Pokemon during their 5-minute performance showdown. Considering that each performance showdown took 5 minutes, the first round was slated to go on for at least 320 minutes, which was 5 hours and 20 minutes.

However, that was the pure performance time. We still had to add the intro as well as judging to that along with everything else, so it would probably take closer to 7 hours to finish the first round. I made sure to stream the whole thing inside Utopia for those who wanted to watch it, though I doubted anyone would watch everything.

Thankfully, Rose's turn came way before that. She showed up 2 hours and 56 minutes into the first round. Don't get me wrong the performances were good and I was sure everyone had fun watching them, but I was starting to close in on my saturation point. I had no idea how the judges were able to keep their full attention/focus during each performance showdown and still maintain the same level of enthusiasm.

Anyway, Rose showed up on the stage along with her adversary, and we all cheered very loudly when she did. We managed to get her attention a bit and she gave us a mini wave in return to show that she had seen us. There was no time for more than that, and as soon as the starting signal was given, they both released their Pokemon.

On Rose's side Boom/Exploud appeared, while the other side called out a Dewgong. Sadly for the other side, they got overshadowed by Rose and Boom from the get-go. With Boom out, Rose began to sing while Boom not only provided the accompanying music/sounds and the special effects but also participated in Rose's dance choreography.

The Dewgong and its trainer were going for an ice show, but they were losing out against Team Rose. Heck, at some point, Boom's sound waves even made Dewgong's ice crack, impacting the beauty of the ice sculptures it made. It came as no surprise that Rose won that round, and our group cheered even louder when the judges announced the results.

After the results had been announced, Rose and her competitor cleared the stage of the next group. We temporarily left as well since it was lunchtime. Now that Rose had her turn, we were free to go out for lunch, but obviously not before heading to the competitor's entrance and asking Rose if she wanted to join us.

She happily agreed, and we strolled around the stalls set up in and around the stadium, buying anything we found appetizing looking or smelling. Rose told us that she had seen/heard us cheering her on and thanked us for the support. We talked a bit about how she was feeling and thankfully she was feeling good.

Rose admitted that she had been "a bit" nervous but that settled after her successful performance, and she was now looking forward to winning the whole thing. We had to laugh good-naturedly at her confident declaration. Naturally, all of us told her to go for it and that we believed in her.

Nevertheless, Rose was still a contestant and she wanted to observe her possible competition, so close to an hour into the lunch break, she thanked us for our support before returning to the contestant zone. With her gone, we returned to our seats as well to watch the rest of the competition.

Well, everyone else did, and while I was there physically, my focus was somewhere else namely Utopia. I let one of my thought streams keep an eye on my surroundings while keeping up the live stream, and I focused on materializing in Utopia through an Earth Clone. Frankly, at this point, I only really focused on the performances if a truly good one happened, other than that I was in a semi-mediational state.

Truthfully, I did not need the earth clone since I was only planning to keep an eye on things and I could do that without a body as well, but I just felt better this way, even if it was just in a second-grade earth body. Anyway, while I was going around and observing the situation in Utopia, including the tribes and families that lived here, the first round finally came to an end.

At this point, it was already 4:48 p.m., meaning that we'd probably be here until 8 to 8:30 p.m., or a bit later than that seeing how they just announced an official 30-minute break. They did not say it explicitly, but I was pretty sure that the break was for the judges since they were the only ones who had to "work" throughout the whole time so far.

I honestly felt quite a bit of admiration for the dedication they were displaying since I could not have done what they were doing, at least not with the passion and spirit they were displaying for each performance. Heck, I could hardly believe that those in our group had stuck around for each performance aside from the ones we missed during our lunch break, indirectly forcing me to stick around as well.

Regardless, we stocked up on snacks during the break, while those who had to visit the lavatory did before we returned to our seats. I saw no reason to change my approach for the second round, so before Rose made another appearance, I only ended up truly focusing on the stage thrice.

Still, now that it was Rose's turn I stopped what I was doing and watched her performance while cheering her on. The second round was a doubles one, so both Rose and her competitor released two Pokemon. Rose called out Batsey/Golbat as well as Jolta/Galvantula, and the two put on a struggle-for-survival kind of performance where one of them was the hunter while the other was the prey.

After the first minute, the "story" moved on to the next phase where Rose got involved as well. She seemingly stumbled upon the confrontation and accidentally saved Batsey/Golbat from being caught in a trap Jolta/Galvantula prepared. This made Jolta "angry" at Rose and had her target Rose instead, which caused Batsey to return the favor and save Rose. It was a short play on an unlikely bond forming between a human and a bat to beat a common foe.

Obviously, a mere 5 minutes was not enough to tell a whole story, but everyone was able to tell the gist of the performance, and it looked good as well, which was just as important, if not more important than the story part. Regardless, the other side's performance appeared a bit lackluster compared to Rose's side, and it came as no surprise, at least in my opinion, that the judges voted in Rose's favor once the 5 minutes were up.

With this victory, Rose was officially part of the 32 participants who would be "fighting" for the Ribbon Cup tomorrow. The "fighting" part was appropriate since the format for the last day was coordinator battles. Still, even though Rose had already qualified for the next day, our group chose to stick around for another two hours until the end of the second round, though we made sure to visit Rose first since congratulating her on making it to the Top 32 was our priority.

Anyway, after the last performance showdown was over, we met up with Rose and went out for dinner. We found a nice restaurant, booked a private room, and celebrated Rose's success so far while eating. We went our separate ways shortly after 10 p.m. once Rose shared that she was leaving. She had to prepare herself for tomorrow and she needed to sleep a bit early to be at her best for the competition.

The others left for their hotels/motels, while I accompanied my parent to the hotel they had booked a room in, before searching for a remote place and entering Utopia to sleep. The next morning, everyone including Rose met up for breakfast. Rose looked pretty calm and collected which was a good sign. Once we were done eating, we naturally accompanied Rose to the contestant-only area and wished her good luck before heading to our seats.

Unlike the 5-minute performances yesterday, the coordinator battles had a time limit of 10 minutes. Moreover, the Minor Festival had a silver stage strength ceiling, meaning that contestants were not allowed to use gold stage Pokemon even if they happened to have some, which was advantageous to Rose since some of her fellow competitors were repeat participants of the highest grade.

One of them was even a fourth-timer, which was pretty much the "regional limit" set for the Minor Festival. Well, it was not explicitly set at 4 participations but there was a 12-year limit starting from the beginning of one's journey, so if one was "lucky", the theoretical maximum number of times one could take part in the Minor Festival was 4, at least that was the case if one stuck to the regional/Kanto Festival. Those that went around regions to take part in other Minor Festivals there, could exceed that number.

The current favorite was someone who stuck to his own region's Minor Festival, and as a four-timer, it was not impossible for him to have one or two gold-stage Pokemon. Honestly, in my opinion, someone like that should have long moved on to the Major Festival circuit, but those were the rules so whatever.

Anyway, back to the situation at hand. Rose and her current opponent were the fourth pair to head onto the stage, and we naturally instantly expressed our support by yelling/cheering and waving around our signs. Luckily for Rose, but less so for her foe, the other party happened to be a fellow "rookie", and the Miltank Lidia called out was only at the (mid) bronze stage, giving Rose and Princess/Ninetales a rather large advantage.

Still, Team Rose fought quite "sportswomanly", and held back a bit on the power, focusing on the appeal, which allowed Lidia and her Miltank to actually "perform" for close to 8 minutes before Miltank ended up getting knocked out. That victory made Rose the fourth contender to make it to the round of 16.

It took slightly more than 2 hours before Rose's second "battle", and this time she got to face a man who was participating in the Minor Festival for the third time. Ivy/Leafeon got to face a (mid) silver stage Jolteon turning the battle into a showdown between Eeveelutions. While Ivy still had a slight strength advantage, the difference was not big and Rose's side went all out.

Nonetheless, despite giving her best, Ivy failed to knock out Jolteon within 10 minutes, though she still won due to putting on a more impressive battle performance. The usage of Grassy Terrain and Sunny Day certainly helped tilt the ambiance in her favor, earning her some bonus points. Regardless, we cheered for Rose's deserved victory and cheered some more while she was leaving the stage to show her our support.

Just an hour after that, it was time for Rose's quarterfinal battle, and she used Boom/Exploud to face her opponent's (low) silver stage Wigglytuff. There was no way around it, that was a somewhat bad match-up for the other party, and I was not talking about the fact that Boom was stronger than the Wigglytuff by two substages. I believe no one was really surprised when Boom ended up winning the confrontation by exhausting Wiggglypuff's point pool with 4 more minutes on the clock, and with that victory, Rose made it to the semifinals.

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