[Note: I know I'm about 30m late but I didn't start until 10pm site time tonight. Either way, though, I don't actually want prizes, just a score and the chance to place ICly (OOC prizes bumped down a place if I do, if possible; ex: if I were to place, OOC 3rd prize would go to whoever IC got 4th place, etc.) Hope that's all right. :x]

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Deep breaths, Sera. Stay calm. She had a million reasons to worry, but did her best to dispel them from her mind and focus on the task ahead. She'd need a clear head both to nail her own steps and keep up her Pokemon's telepathic cues, after all.

When the stage was cleared from the previous performance, it didn't take long before misty terrain spread out over the stage, and the music for Sera's performance began. Sera pushed open the curtain before her, revealing a strangely poofy black ensemble covered in feathers, especially long ones trailing from her backside and dragging slightly on the floor, and in something of a split cape that fell from either shoulder.

She sang a small "Oowa-aah…", and a flurry of energies emitted from behind her, swarming about the stage: Shadow Balls, Will-o-Wisps, Sparkling Aria bubbles. They drifted around at a slowish pace once they'd spread out, and Sera skipped the 'yeah' as she and her Braixen exchanged glances and nodded, stepping forward as the drumline picked up.

With a lively but cautious energy to their movements as they navigated and occasionally lightly dodged the floating hazards, Sera sang, "I’ll chase my dream, the race has begun. But in this forest where do I run?" She hopped back quickly as a sparkling bubble blocked her path.

She tried to push aside the sturdy bubble-- "A crystal clear spring challenges me--" but it only moved around to fuse with another behind her, the new bigger bubble looming imposingly. "--reflecting back a broken smile.." She looked back to it and gave an uneasy smile as she sang, which was reflected to the audience for only a brief moment before Braixen's Psychic shattered the entire image and pulled it apart and downward.

"I gathered up the tears I cried." The track echoed 'don't cry' as the psychic-held droplets were pulled back upward to and with the movement of Sera's hands, as if she was the one pulling them. "They couldn’t win me silver or gold." She tossed them away to either side one handful at a time.

"How many more tears must I cry…" She knelt by Braixen as they reassured each other, the track backing up 'fall from my eyes'. "..before I’m blessed by the heavens?" She looked up, then stood up, determined.

"There’s a dream I’m chasing! chasing! I won’t let it go!" They charged in a few bursts toward the front of the stage, stopping to 'fight off' a few Shadow Balls along the way. "I’m running into the unknown!" She ran to the very edge of the stage, enough that her toes tipped over the edge and she had to catch herself and stagger back.

"This life I’m chasing, chasing." A Will-o-Wisp darted in front of her, and she ran to the side to chase-- "Will it come true?" --and reach out to catch it. Not quite touching she guided it toward her chest to hold there, facing the audience again.

"Yes, my heart’s on fire." It hovered an inch closer, catching the point of a 'V' of feathers over her chest-- "With passion I’ll finally break through!" --and quickly burning the black off them, the fire extinguishing as soon as it had, leaving behind a glistening white V instead, its edges extending a good few inches past each shoulder up on either side..

"Na na na na na na na! Oh!" She ran with more of a jump in her step with Braixen to chase down more Will-o-Wisps, on the punctuating note jumping and reaching for one only to have it elude her. "Na na na na na na na Hey! Hey!" Sera stopped a moment to move her hips back and forth with those 'hey's while Braixen jumped for a wisp this time. "Na na na na na na na! Oh!" This time, Sera caught one again, and this time used it to burn a sleeve completely off, the special material disintegrating too fast to burn her skin, though she certainly felt the rush of heat as it passed."One day I’ll be a hero!"

"Na na na na na na na! Oh! Na na na na na na na! Hey! Hey!" They mirrored their performance before, except this time with their roles switched, Braixen doing more jumps and the hip bump. "Na na na na na na na Hey! Oh!" And this time, they both caught a wisp on 'hey' and 'oh' respectively. Sera used one to burn off her other sleeve. "This fire’s ablaze in my soul!" Braixen's was released to swirl up around them and build into a small Fire Spin as Sera twirled within it. Several tiny embers from it hit her outfit, but were not enough to catch it alight. Rather, they left a few flecks of bright revealed only where they'd hit, giving her dress a briefly starry/glittery effect-- not only in white, but many colors it seemed.

As that disspiated, Sera settled down and cooed, "My li-ife... Ye-eah~"

She moved toward center stage and closed her eyes in accordance with the following line. "If I close my eyes, listen for a sound, I can hear a voice calling out…" A faint voice sang a few wordless notes along with the melody.

Looking for it, Sera continued. "In this forest I saw no one around.." The curtain pulled back to reveal her other Pokemon, including the Primarina singer, her Skitty, and her Shiny Ribombee. "But you were with me all along~"

Sera looked back to them, the to the audience. "I’ll finally leave this place behind!" 'Goodbye. She bounded toward the front of the stage, her Pokemon rushing to meet her there. "Cause I’ll never be lonely with you by my side." Ribombee zoomed past the outer rim of the stage and spread Aromatherapy over the judges and first few rows. "The scent of flowers fills the air!" As the track sang 'Fill up the sky!' Skitty's Blizzard blew the scent out farther with a glistening wind, and Braixen launched another flurry of Will-o-Wisps out into the air all about for more of a light show. "We’re heading straight for our future!"

With a series of Psychics by all Pokemon, Skitty's Copycat-induced, the Pokemon all managed to levitate each other and Sera, save Ribombee who flew of her own accord. "Say goodbye, I’m changing! changing! into a new me!" On each 'changing', Sera 'flew' toward another Will-o-Wisp and collided rather than catching with them, burning off her leggings up to her pantyline and the tops of her boots, the flames stopped by more material only coated like her chest had been, creating a thin line of copper at each upper edge where her legs met her torso, and a white one at each lower edge on the rims of her boots.

"Till I’m the greatest I can be! Cause I am changing! changing! Now I found my smile!" She managed to burn away the black coating of her boots entirely now, revealing them to be a dark silver, not a huge change but a bit lighter and much shinier; as well as did a number of mid-air dance moves with her Pokemon.

"Yes, my heart’s on fire, I’ll keep reaching out to the sky!" Here, she did something a bit different, and-- locating two wisps that had been formed much hotter-- she lit the edges of her white chest V on fire. The material still was not consumed, but the ends flickered and smouldered faintly.

"Na na na na na na na! Oh!" She spun and twirled through the sky wildly, her Pokemon doing the same as they all tried to corral the wisps toward her, making an aerial display of it at the same time."Na na na na na na na! Hey! Hey! Na na na na na na na! Oh! One day I’ll be a hero!" She burned away the black on the rest of her one-piece-swimsuit-esque leotard, revealing it to be copper around the back and sides and white in front, save for the white V branching off and the copper V lining the bottom. Now only her cape, train, collar, and headpiece remained black.

"Na na na na na na na! Oh! Na na na na na na na! Hey! Hey! Na na na na na na na! Hey! Oh! This fire’s ablaze in my soul!" No more burning was done, but many wisps were gathered into one place by the Pokemon. As Sera posed in front of them, though, Skitty set Braixen down on Primarina's back, and Sera turned her attention to the audience as she subtly incorporated some very specific movements into her routine, a jewel on her collar faintly starting to glow.

Putting off entering the fire, she descended to not quite touch the ground, addressing an audience member. "Hey! Just saying, your heart’s a mess," Then float-"hopping" to another a few seats away, "You don’t know the reason you exist!"

Suddenly, a burst of darkness covered the sky, obscuring the stars above as well as the stage and its lights almost completely from sight, and dark hands began to form and claw through the air in all directions, scattering the gathered flames as well. "Wake! up! Come on, make up!" Sera sang as she took back to the sky, quickly darting to dodge the hands as they came. "All these endless days repeat and fade out! Can you break this nightmare?" Staggering their attempts, the Pokemon each briefly released their Psychics to launch another attack before quickly regrabbing whoever they'd let fall, but Braixen's Psybeam, Primarina's Moonblast, and Ribombee's Silver Wind all failed to dispell Skitty's Never-Ending Nightmare. "No way, baby!" 'No way, baby.'

The Pokemon huddled in seeming fear of Skitty, cringing together, but Sera remained upbeat as she lighted back down on the stage, looking up to them. "Only one way out--" 'Go gotta go now!' "--is to open up your eyes!" They all did so in unison, visibly trying to release their fear, and the darkness engulfed them completely for just a fraction of a moment. Then within it, a few quick changes before a burst of light timed with it finally dispelling, Braixen's Psychic still held Primarina aloft, but Skitty had been moved to her back alongside Braixen, and her Copycat mirrored Ribombee's Dazzling Gleam as both of those mixed with Primarina's Moonblast, covering them all in white briefly.

Raising an arm to half-shield her eyes, Sera sang, "I’m blinded by the dazzling sun, the world aglow with morning light~ In my mind there’s a future so bri-ight…" She took off running toward the front of the stage-- "I’ll run with arms open wide!" --and jumped off the front, volleying over the judge's table of her own strength before being caught and pulled back up into pseudo-flying. "O-o-oh!"

The Pokemon resumed their Psychic holds of each other as well, and all spread out. "There’s a dream I’m chasing! chasing! I won’t let it go!" Sera grabbed hold of Skitty as she passed her and twirled with her before continuing onward. "I’m running into the unknown! This life I’m chasing! chasing! Will it come true? Yes, my heart’s on fire! With passion I’ll finally break through!" She would have a similar bonding moment with each of them before heading back to around mid-height center stage.

One by one, the Pokemon began to bring her wisps as she floated upward. "Na na na na na na na! Oh!" She took one from Skitty and burned away the black of her collar, revealing it to be emerald green. "Na na na na na na na! Hey! Hey!" Another wisp from Ribombee revealed her headpiece to be gold. "Na na na na na na na! Oh!" One cape-wing was set alight by Braixen's gift-- "One day--" and then the other by Primarina's-- "I’ll be a hero!" showing them to be copper at the base with multicolor feathers on the outer edges. Braixen created and gifted Sera with a final Will-o-Wisp before the Pokemon floated down to the stage, while Sera continued to float slowly upward. Sera grasped the edges of her cape and moved them like wings in her mid-air movements, akin to the motions of a Hawlucha's cape-like wings, though this was not the bird she was mimicking.

"Na na na na na na na! Oh!" Her tail began to burn with the last wisp, taking longer for its length-- "Na na na na na na na! Hey! Hey!" --but gradually, it was revealed to be a brilliant iridescent gold, the light hinting every color of the rainbow as it reflected across the surface. "Na na na na na na na! Hey! Oh!" As the Pokemon moved into position to pose on stage, Skitty set up a nearly-invisible and very carefully placed Protect around Sera's skin and hair, but left select parts of her outfit exposed. "This fire’s ablaze--" Braixen called down a Fire Pledge, the pillar of fire seeming to engulf Sera even as she belted, "in my SOOUUL!" As it cleared, she remained unharmed, a serene expression on her face; but like the ends of her V collar, much of her outfit has caught fire and gently flickered and smouldered as she began to descend with the fading of the music, her feet touching down on the final notes.