[center]The March Pokemon Contest
Hosted by Chris 2.0
Appeal Stage: 1


It is March, and as the biting winds sweep away for another year, spring begins arriving in the form of warmer weather and flourishing flowers. In the contest hall of ASB, an excited crowd awaits the next contest, having witnessed the fantastic February fray which consisted of a frantic match between The Blue Avenger and Weasel Overlord.



The first contestant emerged. It was The Blue Avenger, who received a hearty cheer from the crowd – TBA had participated in many contests and was known for not only winning the February Contest, but coming in the final three for the January one.

Releasing Mr Mime, TBA was surprised when a chanting crowd, on the front row, began singing an all-too familiar tune:
“ Person Man, Person Man,
Hit on the head with a frying pan;
Lives his life in a garbage can,
Person Man, is he depressed or is he a mess?
Does he feel totally worthless?
Who came up with Person Man?
Degraded man, Person Man!|”
Smirking, TBA commanded his appeal. Clicking his thin-fingered hands, Person Man caused a huge burst of leaves to pop into the air. Each individually began charging through a series of colours – a beautiful appled red, a golden yellow, a mesmerizing blue…each leaf flashed like this as Person Man used his psychic powers to grip them and levitate them above him. When the multicoloured leaves, sparkling in the light were hovering at a suitable angle, Person Man, using his spare hand (for only one was keeping the leaves in place) fired off a thin beam of rainbow energy, piercing through the leaves with beauty. The shreds of leaves began falling gently to the ground, a sparkling array of colours in the area.

TBA’s score: 9.1
Judge’s Comments: The Appeal was executed very nicely; not too much went on at any one time. The use of magical leaf and psybeam created a nice colour contrast which was even more beautiful when the leaves were shredded. Very good.



Next up was Vermillion. Vermillion was also very familiar with contests, having done exceptionally well in the December Finals with Grumpig and Psyduck. Releasing the ugly, troll-like Nuzleaf (by the name of Tokijen). Straight away the Nuzleaf blasted a white-hot beam of powerful energy, which went up at an angle. As it began to fall, it curved down like a rollercoaster, heading towards the very front of the stage (for Nuzleaf was near the back). Wasting no time, Nuzleaf darted across the stage, white steam blazing behind him. Leaping up and twisting around (his back to the audience), Nuzleaf unleashed a slicing wind to collide with the beam and spray its solar energy all around the arena in a widespread pattern.

Vermillion’s Score: 7.5
Judge’s Comments: Also a nice appeal. It was rather complex, but there was a certain thrill factor with it, as the attack was aimed at the audience. Nuzleaf leaping up and separating the attack was very nice, almost ‘protecting’ the audience. However there was a high margin of error involved, and Solarbeam was not fully charged. Altogether a nice appeal



After Vermillion’s appeal, Darth Skrusti stepped up. The crowd had seen of Darth before, but he had not the reputation of his predecessors. Releasing his Pokemon, the crowd opinion of Darth grew in regard as they saw a beaituful, rare shiny Girafarig. The Pokemon gave a soft ‘neigh’ and began the appeal. Concentrating hard, Finwé created a soft, plush doll of himself. The plush was then levitated high into the air, glowing with an ethereal light. Many of the audience were intrigued, as substitute was rarely used in contests. Soon, the psychic energy began tearing at the plush, ripping the seams and causing it to shred. As the fluff and stuffing rained on Finwé, the giraffe leapt up and let out a cry, astonishing the crowd.

Darth Skrusti’s Score: 6.0
Judge’s Comments: This appeal had potential, but creating a life-size plush drained Finwé severely. Furthermore, while levitating it was no problem, you asked for it to be levitated and torn with psychic. This should have taken two actions. Finally, astonish wasn’t good as Girafarig simply leapt into the falling fluff, emitting a noise. It was a bit messy but the overall idea was quite nice, and was given credit.



After Darth recalled Finwé and went off, Charles Legend walked onto the stage. Alf, the Janitor, cleared the mess from the plush doll, and Charles released Lax, his Snorlax. The big glutton began groaning its name and pounding its thick fat. A gentle drum beat was slowly reverberating around the room, intriguing many. The rhythm was disrupted when Lax slammed his feet into the ground, causing a huge tear to open up in the floor. A deep fissure ran through the ground, causing panic and confusion. Many left the hall screaming loudly. Charles looked undeterred as he asked Lax to cause a huge earthquake, further ripping up the arena.

Charles Legend’s Score: 3.4
Judge’s Comments: The rhythm created by Belly Drum was very nice and set the appeal off nicely. However, the cataclysmic aspects of fissure and earthquake (being literal in their names) caused confusion and panic among people and destroyed the arena. Contests show off the artistic style of Pokemon and attacks. Maybe try using more visually-based attacks to get a better mark.



It took some time for the stage to be repaired. Luckily TBA and Person Man came back on stage, singing a collection of They Might Be Giants songs. While this went on, Andrew, a popular coordinator (who was in the finals of the August Contest) came onto the stage. TBA left, disheartened, while Andrew released his Jynx, OzWhore, to commence. Jynx placed her hands together, closing her heavy-lidded eyes and singing a slow, soothing chant. Sparkles of white dust swept around the stage as Jynx rallied herself on, already looking simply beautiful in the hall. After this, Jynx opened her eyes and summoned a sweeping collection of icy particles, hail and snow to flourish around her body. The snow sparkled, mixing with the wish sparks and looking stunning. To finish the appeal, Jynx began rising up through the spinning snow and the wish dust, looking peaceful yet omnipotent and ending a fantastic appeal.

Andrew’s Score: 7.9
Judge’s Comments: The different colours in the powder snow and wish were nice. Psychic was used in a much different way than usual (on the user rather that on projectiles) so some credit was given there. Very nicely done.



Next was DarkTyranitar, who sent out a rather vicious-looking Zangoose. The varying array of Pokemon in the Contest so far was exciting the crowd, ranging from smart and cute Pokemon to tough and cool ones. Zangoose opened his mouth and fired a swirling mass of thick icy particles. As they raced upwards in a gust, the weasel fired off a blast of water, slicing through the wind and smashing much of the particles, sending a sparkling, crystalline dust shimmering down on the Pokemon. Among this, Slayer swung a shiny tail around and slammed into the ground, ending the appeal.

Darktyranitar’s Score: 6.2
Judge’s Comments: Your appeal didn’t work as you’d asked. If you had used blizzard following a water pulse, the blizzard would breeze the attack, but it didn’t work the other way around. Instead, the water broke up the wind and broke some of the ice, which still made a nice appeal. Iron tail also was quite nice, too. You would have scored higher if this was your planned appeal. Nevertheless quite impressive.



After DarkTyranitar, The Arbiter emerged on stage with Valhalla the female Golduck. Golduck, in the center of the stage, charged a pearly-white beam of icy energy in her beak, before spinning on the spot and firing the beam, creating a crystalline structure of thick ice. Soon, Valhalla was trapped securely in a freezing tomb of perpetual ice. While everyone watched in awe, Valhalla was concentrating hard, emptying all negative thoughts. Not too long after, a pinkish glow engulfed the entire structure. Cracks slowly deepened into the ice and soon the whole thing was bursting. In a loud smash, psychic energy from the inside caused the tomb to simply smash open, sending shards of thick ice everywhere, Golduck masterfully standing in the middle.

The Arbiter’s Score: 7.6
Judge’s Comment: The appeal was interesting, but the only problem was that we could see very little of Golduck. Since calm mind (and some of Psychic) was within the tomb, the audience only really sat there staring at an icy enclosure. However shattering the tomb was effective and very good visually.[/i]



Our final contestant for the appeal stage was Chris Watarimono. Chris has been absent of late, but the frantic music-lover sent out Meliadoul the Grovyle alongside him for the appeal. Straight away, Meliadoul summoned a collection of ghostly swords to surround herself, transparent and spooky looking. They began spinning around Grovyle, causing a smooth, full movement. The crowd was impressed by the attack. As the swords slowed down and died away, Meliadoul leapt up high and dealt a powerful uppercut above her, before green energy accumulated around her wrists. Blades of energy formed from her wrists, and as Meliadoul swept down, a double whammy of leaf blades flew forward and smashed into the ground.

Chris Watarimono’s Score: 8.5
Judge’s Comments: A very nice appeal with very little wrong. It was executed in a nice fashion. More of the same please!



The crowd all applauded and the Judge announced who would be proceeding to the next round.


The Blue Avenger and Mr Mime

Chris Watarimono and Grovyle

Andrew and Jynx

The Arbiter and Golduck



Well done everyone! Commiserations to those who did not get through! Now, you four (mentioned above) PM me your next appeals (remember you are using the same Pokemon) and I will post them up when I have all four.