APPEAL STAGE – Round 1
Arena: Grand Festival Contest Hall
Contestants
Chris 2.0 and Jesse the Lickitung [M]:
"Begin using rollout to roll along and propel yourself up into the air! Fire down a coil of electricity (shock wave) and then send a fireblast sweeping down the center until it slams into the ground!”
Rollout – Shockwave -- Fireblast
Weasel Overlord and Lady Nocturne the Umbreon [F]
"Lady Nocturne, I want you to begin with a Sand Attack. Scrape up a nice big cloud of sand then use Faint Attack to disappear! Finish up by reappearing with a blinding Flash of light.”
Sand Attack – Faint Attack – Flash
TheBlueAvenger and Drivy Finn the Kabutops [F]:
"Drivy Finn, start with a wide-spread Bubblebeam. Next, freeze all the bubbles (and try to propel them up a bit) with Blizzard. Finally, make the frozen bubbles sparkle with light as they fall with Confuse Ray.”
Bubblebeam – Blizzard – Confuse Ray
aragornbird and Pelori the Porygon2 [X]:
"Give off a bright Flash, then keep on flashing while you create a swirling Blizzard to freeze the ground. Finally, show off your signature skill by using Conversion to so that your body becomes the same ice that is on the ground.”
Flash – Blizzard – Conversion
Dark Dragonite and Poltergeist the Gastly [M]
“Poltergeist, we're going to go with how scary ghosts can be, first, lay down a nice Haze. Next, I want you to start firing off Psywave around for a scary light show, then dart out of the fog with a Mean Look!”
Haze – Psywave – Mean Look
River and John Lafite the Surskit [M]
“Ok John, start with a Hydro Pump, aiming right above you. Not overly powerful please, so we make a nice fountain. When it is done, and we have a nice big puddle around us, (or go to the nearest, biggest puddle) skate around on it in a circle. Aim upwards and shoot off a Bubblebeam, while you skate in that circle. Then, while the bubbles fall, use a Psybeam. Skate side to side so we make a nice waving Psybeam in the centre of the falling bubbles.”
Hydro Pump – Bubblebeam – Psybeam
Elec Man.Exe and Hailfire the Glalie [M]
“Alrighty then Hailfire, lets make this good. I want you to start off by floating to about the center of the audience bleachers in height, and then use a mid-air Rollout, rolling vertically in the air. Then, fire off a nice Blizzard as you continue to roll, to create what should look like a floating ice wheel, with you spinning around and blowing out snow and ice. As you continue to spin and blow the Blizzard, surround yourself with a Safeguard, the aurora of lights associated with the move should make a nice light show in the center of the wheel, and finish the combo nicely.”
Rollout – Blizzard – Safeguard
Wolfsong and Aiko the Delcatty [F]
Aiko, I want you to start by using double team. Then I want you and your clones to roll around the stage with roll out. Finally, get rid of your clones with shock wave.
Double Team – Rollout – Shockwave
Chris Watarimono and Roy the Combusken [M]
Start by blowing a rain of Embers. Gather them all with a Fire Spin to make one nice fireball above you. Pop it with your Sky Uppercut and create a dazzling display of flames!
Ember – Fire Spin – Sky Uppercut
Appeal Stage 1 – Begins!
“Despite the numerous delays and problems along the way, it looks like it’s time to officially start the highly anticipated Grand Festival. Everybody seems to be showing up to view or participate in this huge event, with many very talented contenders that have already proven themselves in contests past. Hopefully we’ll be seeing dozens of dazzling appeals today, and no matter what the outcome, I wish everybody participating good luck!
Chris 2.0 seems to be the firs to take the stand, walking up confidently and staring the three judges in the eyes before releasing his Lickitung , Jesse, whose tongue could likely find the center of a tootsie pop in two licks or less.
The fat, pink creature bounds onto the stage, curling into a very lumpy ball. (How Jesse got that tongue to fit into his mouth? The world may never know.) He seems to be doing a fine job rollouting, though some Pokémon more spherical in shape would have done better. With a sudden, quick movement, the Lickitung tries to propel himself into the air, managing to lift himself up into the air by a few feet. Opening his mouth, hot pink tongue rolling, Jesse spits out a coiling Shockwave that hits the floor and fizzles to no great effect. Still, Jesse doesn’t seem deterred, and this time launches a Fire Blast at the ground, sending the flaming Kanji symbol into the center off the floor, where it quickly fizzles and dies. It was pretty, but perhaps not the best use for the move.
The Lickitung lands upon the hard floor, tongue wagging as he walks off to join his trainer.
The next brave soul to step up to the panel of judges is Weasel Overlord, a confident gal with one unique Umbreon – in fact, that seems to be the Pokémon she’s using in the first round of appeals today: the Lady of the Night herself. Lets see if the foxy lady can sweep us off our feet.
Lady Nocturne fluidly makes her way onto the stage, gathering a handful (er.. pawful) of sand in her front paws/. She scatters the sand into the air, helping to shroud her brilliant white figure. The sand drifts to the ground, and to the crowd’s amazement, she’s gone! With a sudden, bright flash of light coming from the left, Nocturne appears, shaking her white coat beforebefore running to her trainer, her appeal finally over. Very nice show of her abilities there.
Next up is TheBlueAvenger and his stern looking Kabutops, Drivy Finn. The crowd seems to be perking up now at this well-known coordinator, who has competed many times in the past. I swear his Mr. Mime has a cult following. Anyways… TBA seems to be giving his orders to Drivy Finn… lets see what he’s got in store for the crowd today.
The prehistoric Pokémon eyes the crowd once, before sending a barrage of rainbow-hued bubbles across the air. She waits for a moment for effect, then opens her mouth and blows a chilly blast of ice and air at the bubbles, successfully freezing them and propelling them upwards with the concentrated blast. The now frozen orbs begin to plummet to the ground, but Drivy Finn’s not finished! A sudden ray of light shines down on the falling spheres, making them sparkle and flash with pretty hues as they break into pieces as they hit the ground to an even prettier effect. The crowd’s certainly into this one, clapping and cheering at the display. It looks like the Grand Festival is starting to heat up!
With the Avenger now off stage (to the disappointment of a crowd of screaming fangirls over in some dark corner) comes aragornbird, and if he’s nervous about how his abilities will compare to the last appeal, he doesn’t show it. The Pokémon who he will be using today seems to be a rare Porygon 2. That makes the appeal a bit more interesting from the get-go.
The piece of man-made machinery hovers to the center of the stage. Its sensors click and thrum as it emits a dazzling piece of white light, soon followed up by a Blizzard attack that coats the floor in a nice layer of sparkling ice. The crowd is no doubt wondering what Pelori is up to as he lands on the frozen floor, closing its eyes and emitting a beeping noise. The crowd can’t help but gaps when Pelori’s skin begins to change color rapidly, quickly converting itself a very icy Porygon2 “statue” that successfully mimics the ice covering below it. Even I’m impressed with this unique display, and to say the crowd isn’t would be a severe understatement.
aragornbird leaves the stage with an obviously confident air. It seems to be infectious as Dark Dragonite arrives smiling, his ghost-type choice mimicking it – but to a more fiendish effect.
The Gastly quickly summons up a thick purple haze that clouds the arena. The crowd really can’t see anything that’s going on, save for a few odd, rainbow colored lights appearing here and there in the haze. The crowd eyes it oddly, before jumping a bit as Gastly pops out from the center of it, glaring and trying to cut a scary figure, though most of the audience doesn’t really seem to be that way… Poltergeist can’t help but frown in obvious disappointment that the crowd didn’t find him scary.
Dark Dragonite leaves in silence, replaced just as quietly by River. She releases a Surskit onto the floor, the cute little spider eying the crowd with confidence, as this hasn’t been his first contest.
Seconds later, the Surskit is shooting out a stream of water from his tiny mouth, making a mini fountain, the droplets of water fast forming small puddles about the arachnid. The water starts to coalesce together into a few singular puddles, and John skates to the nearest – and biggest – one, skating on the water’s surface on spindly legs. It’s a very cute display, and the Surskit adds to it by blowing sparkling, rainbow colored bubbles around as he glides across the surface. Now completely surrounded by bubbles, John Lafite continues move around, this time in back and forth motions as a Psybeam jets out into the air, popping some of the bubbles, while making the many others around it reflect the Psybeam’s hues a little. Nice!
The audience claps in approval – especially the younger of the crowd – as river and John gracefully exit off the stage.
Next up seems to be Elec Man.exe, now returned from his extended vacation. (*waves*) His giant, rather demonic looking Glalie seems to be accompanying him. The eerie ice-head floats up to the center of the stage, lights shining down upon him as the judges sit patiently, waiting for him to begin.
Hailfire begins with a rollout and, being a hovering Pokémon he is, the Glalie has no problem rolling about in the air. With no force or traction to aid him, he doesn’t increase speed very significantly, but the sudden icy Blizzard that comes next (though we have seen this move many times before) certainly makes up for it. Some of the ice and snow cling to the Glalie’s skin, while the rest whirls around him and he does, indeed, become something of an ice wheel. Hailfire finished off by surrounding himself in a Safeguard that glows with a variety of different colors that makes the snow-covered Glalie sparkle with a mystical light as he slowly descends to the ground, though the light show is somewhat muffled by the thick covering of snow.
Grinning, Elec Man.Exe recalls his prized Pokémon in a flash of red, leaving to join the other competitors with a wave.
It looks like we’re getting closer to the end folks with our second to last contestants, Wolfsong and her cute Delcatty, Aiko.
The lion-tailed cat begins by splitting into four identical felines, who start off with an apparently “popular” move in this tournament: Rollout. Aiko and her clones are a lot more graceful and quite a bit less clunky than Jesse’s appeal, and they manage to roll around the arena to a much greater effect. All rolling stops, however, as the Delcatty springs to her feet, electricity crackling around her fur. A big streak of electricity suddenly jets out of Delcatty’s body (which the clones mimic to perfection), and each wave jumps about, and the audience is left wondering which is real and which is not. There seems to be dozens of Shockwaves now! One by one, each of the four clones disappear after being touched by the real lightning, though Aiko has to quickly dismiss the Shockwave before getting shocked herself, breathing in relief at her close call.
Near miss aside, it was a good appeal, and perhaps we will see other displays from this two girl team in the future.
Last but not least Chris Watarimono (whose last name is hard as heck to spell) is our final coordinator. His choice seems to be a large, fighting Combusken, who struts in with all due confidence, despite the myriad of dazzling appeals that have gone on before him. No doubt the chicken is intending to take them all out in one blaze of glory.
An ember is his first choice move. The tiny bits of flame spurt out of Roy’s beak like a mini fire-type fountain. They seem to float in mid-air for the few moments, whirling and twisting, giving Roy the time he needs to begin his second move: Fire Spin. The said attack doesn’t form a ball of fire like Roy had hoped, and the ember attack seems to “meld” with it more than being “gathered”. Still, the crowd is sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting for Roy’s next move. Roy himself is watching the spinning cyclone with dismay, as it is not going as planned. Nevertheless, he follows forth with his trainer’s command, jumping up with a glowing fist and striking the Fire Spin with a dazzling Sky Uppercut, that rips through the tornado… though only for a few seconds, as the hole is filled by fire. The Combusken lands, disappointment written all across his features, as his last move did not break the fire spin as planned.
With a dissatisfied cluck, the Fire Spin disappears, and Roy heads back to his trainer, with a bit of applause from the audience for a good try anyway. It was still a fine appeal, just not what everyone expected.
With no new coordinators to take the stage, the three judges have gathered together. Now, all we have to do is wait for the results.
Results
Legend:
1st score – Saffire’s
2nd score – Vermillion’s
3rd score – Andrew’s
Chris 2.0 and Jesse the Lickitung [M]:
Score 1: 6.0
Comments: It was an okay appeal, but I agree that it wasn’t as good as it could’ve been.
Score 2: 6.0
Comments: Didn’t really grab me, but it’s was a good appeal. I believe more could have been done with the vast movepool of Lickitung.
Score 3: 5.1
Comments: As much as I love the creature, Lickitung really isn’t a “rolling” Pokémon, such as perhaps Voltorb or Phanphy. The attacks were all rather disjointed and didn’t show any particular trait off. The two attacks in one place was okay, but this is uninspired and seems more mediocre than anything. A rather disappointing start to the “Grand” Festival.
Overall Score 17.1/30
Weasel Overlord and Lady Nocturne the Umbreon [F]
Score 1: 7.0
Comments: A nice, standard appeal, though nothing extremely eye catching, save the flash at the end.
Score 2: 6.7
Comments: Mysterious, and a good show of Umbreon’s concealing abilities.
Score 3: 5.5
Comments: I personally feel if you’re going to be showing off in an appeal, try and make your Pokémon center stage, not fade away out of sight to pop up with a scare at the end. Still, the re-appearance with a flash was a nice touch. I feel it could have been better orchestrated.
Overall Score: 19.2/30
TheBlueAvenger and Drivy Finn the Kabutops [F]:
Score 1: 8.0
Comments: A very nice appeal that was very well done. I liked the idea of frozen bubbles being lit up as they fell to the ground.
Score 2: 7.6
Comments: I like light shows and this was done well.
Score 3: 8.7
Comments: Finally! The Grand Festival starts! A decent appeal which flows wonderfully! Dazzling and a pleasure to watch! But it just feels like we’ve seen this a couple of times before in previous contests which lowered the score a tad.
Overall Score: 24.3/30
Aragornbird and Pelori the Porygon2 [X]:
Score 1: 9.0
Comments: Man, I was thoroughly impressed with this appeal. The end conversion is what I liked best, and it really showed off the Porygon line’s unique abilities. I dunno what point the flash really did, but meh, it still worked. Unique and original – stupendous job!
Score 2: 6.4
Comments: Once Again, great show of its abilities.
Score 3: 9.1
Comments: Oh, Porygon eh? A nice appeal, I really appreciated the icy prowess. The final conversion, a great touch. Overall, original and an entertaining performance. The only mention I think you could fiddle with, is that of the whole flash concept… it seems a bit iffy.
Overall Score: 24.5/30
Dark Dragonite and Poltergeist the Gastly [M]
Score 1: 6.0
Comments: An okay appeal. The haze, I felt, would be so thick it wouldn’t show much, and be little but a purple cloud. Not really impressive, and like a fellow judge has commented, the Mean Look thing would rarely work well on crowds.
Score 2: 7.8
Comments: I like a little fear and unknown. Well done.
Score 3: 4.3
Comments: Oh dear, a smokey haze… then Psywave, which we’ve seen in multiple episodes (First Round Rumble, The Psychic Sidekicks) is only one white psychic hula hoop of psychic energy. Then the final Mean Look, I don’t think it works well on crowds, but in one on one situations, yes. This was just a real let down. As I mentioned to WO, I want to SEE your Pokémon for the appeal not hide it away! This was a jumble that wasn’t particularly interesting.
Overall Score: 18.1/30
River and John Lafite the Surskit [M]
Score 1: 8.5
Comments: Very nice job displaying Surskit’s unique water skating ability. The bubbles were a cute touch, and I was really dazed (in a good way) by the appeal. Nice job!
Score 2: 8.1
Comments: Awesome show you put on. I enjoyed it.
Score 3: 8.9
Comments: Ooh! It’s Surskit again, not evolving him are we? I rather enjoyed this appeal by using the hydro pump not only for show, but also to give Surskit an arena to skate around on effortlessly. Great work, I would only recommend finding a better finishing move than Psybeam, it was a tad disjointed, but still entertaining.
Overall Score: 25.5/30
Elec Man.Exe and Hailfire the Glalie [M]
Score 1: 7.5
Comments: A very nice appeal. Not much more to say, except everytime I think of Glalie, I think ‘Vikings’. >.>
Score 2: 7.9
Comments: Very unique appeal. I might just use it in battle, heh.
Score 3: 7.0
Comments: I liked the idea of a moving snowball, really went with the idea of a creepy ice thingie… still, I didn’t really like the Safeguard, I feel it didn’t have enough showmanship for a grand ending. A fairly middle of the road appeal. Not particularly interesting, but a safe appeal.
Overall Score: 22.4/30
Wolfsong and Aiko the Delcatty [F]
Score 1: 7.0
Comments: Though the other judges may disagree, I found the appeal to be very cute. Standard, but cute.
Score 2:5.9
Comments: Interesting. Could have been more.
Score 3: 3.0
Comments: WHY WHY WHY! You’ve already seen two previous contestants use a Rollout! WHY A THIRD!? And Delcatty is a… CAT not a ball! Watching a few cats roll around not very entertaining, but finally, using a shockwave which is a one target move to take out one clone was just daft! The only other way to get rid of all the clones would be for Delcatty to electrocute herself. Just atrocious.
Overall Score: 15.9/30
Chris Watarimono and Roy the Combusken [M]
Score 1: 6.2
Comments: The Fire Spin and Ember was cool enough, but your ending move really didn’t get off the ground, and the starting move didn’t flow into the second one that well.
Score 2: 7.9
Comments: Pretty…so pretty.
Score 3: 5.7
Comments: A firey display… but I really don’t think a Sky Uppercut could tear through a fire tornado… Whilst Fire Spin is a great move to work off of, the opening and ending moves could have worked more in sync with it. Decent, but not inspiring.
Overall Score: 19.8
Contestants Rankings
From highest to lowest
1. River – 25.5
2. Aragornbird -- 24.5
3. TheBlueAvenger – 24.3
4. Elec Man.exe – 22.4
5. Chris Watarimono: 19.8
6. Weasel Overlord – 19.2
7. Dark Dragonite –18.1
8. Chris 2.0 – 17.1
9. Wolfsong – 15.9
So, everyone but Wolfsong moves on to the Appeal Stage 2. Great job everyone! And a big hardy congrats for Wolfsong and Aiko for participating in this summer’s Grand Festival!
ASB Grand Festival: Round I
Originally Posted by Heald
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