This doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Could I step in to secondary-judge?
Actually that was just because I didn't get round to typing up the appeals until a day or two ago ^^;; Negrek and Chiropter have sent in their grades now, and I'm just about to post them, but thanks for the offer.
ANYWAY:
The stands are almost full with expectant spectators as a teenage boy hurries across the appeal stage and takes his place behind the podium between two sets of spectator-filled folding chairs. His co-judges stare at him scornfully as he finally takes his place; they've been waiting what feels like two months for this contest to get started. With a nervous apologetic smile to his fellow judges, he turns his attention to the four equally-bored contestants, and without wasting another moment of anyone's time, begins the appeal round.
Metallica Fanboy and Dexterous
Metallica Fanboy is first to take the stage, hurling a Pokéball into the appeal area from which Dexterous the Aerodactyl bursts out onto the grass in a flash of red light. The crowd "ooh"s and mutters at the rare and magnificent fossil Pokémon that has just entered the ring, and Dexterous takes a moment to enjoy their approval before getting down to business. Opening his enormous, powerful jaws, he summons a flame into his throat which spreads rapidly throughout his mouth, coating his jaws in a bright, crackling flame. He then rears his head back and lets out a mighty bellow towards the heavens, terrifying the other groups of trainers carrying out appeals in other sections of the lawn and letting loose a small plume of orange flame that drifts skyward rapidly before burning out. The crowd seems moderately impressed by the powerful beast's roar, and a light smattering of applause spreads through the stands, but Dexterous isn't finished being intimidating yet. With a cruel smirk, he flaps his arm-wings and takes to the sky, swooping at tremendous speed down towards the crowd and readying his talons to grab an unfortunate gentleman in the front row. The spectator cries for help as the Aerodactyl carries him off, and the rest of the audience stares in stunned horror. The captive's struggling manages to free him from the grip of his kidnapper, and the emergency medical team rushes onto the scene to lead the traumatised spectator off the site. Metallica Fanboy hurriedly recalls his Pokémon before anyone else can get hurt by his irresponsible commands, and the crowd simply stares in shock for a moment before a round of applause reluctantly rises from the stands, perhaps mostly from those who daren't do anything
but applaud. In any case, the appeal was an undeniably impressive display, and at least proved Dexterous is not a Pokémon to be messed with.
Mike the Foxhog: 5.0
The roar was nice, but didn't really mesh with the kidnapping part. That seemed an odd choice for an appeal in any case, since appeals are about looking flashy rather than threatening the audience. I can appreciate you were going for a tough, show-off-your-strength appeal but that was a bit much.
Negrek: 4.5
Generally it's not encouraged that you include the audience in your appeal. Have some respect for the fictional people, now. Other than that, while the fiery roar was kind of cool, there wasn't a whole lot pulling this appeal together. The agility didn't have a whole lot to do with what came before, and it wasn't hugely flashy or entertaining otherwise.
Chiropter: 7.0
Um… well, to be blunt, the ending really didn’t work for me. Pretending to attack the audience, sure, but actually doing so… eh. Plus it didn’t flow at all from the Fire Fang/Roar combo, which I thought was otherwise pretty cool - continuing with the fire theme established by that probably would have been a better bet.
Involuntary Twitch and Sarae
Dexterous' erstwhile captor returns to his seat, no obvious injuries having been found, as the next contestant, Involuntary Twitch, sends out Sarae, her Sheebit. A resounding "awwww" rises from the crowd, the cute, fluffy little bunny clearly having won their hearts right from the beginning. However, the contest is judged strictly on appeals, not appearances, so Sarae gets to work. She rears onto her hind legs and begins to hop rythmically, wobbling at first due to her inexperience in being bipedal but soon catching her stride. The crowd still fails to take her seriously, thinking she's just doing a cute little dance for them before a number of other adorable appeals, possibly including running on a little wheel and giving each member of the audience a hug. But Sarae is focussed on much less frivolous things; her eyes squeeze shut as she concentrates, summoning up all the strength inside her as she performs her dance. She finishes, warmed up, limber and ready to mess some stuff up. The crowd are completely unprepared for what will happen next as Sarae begins to thump the ground with her back legs;
aww, look at the cute bunny. What's it doing now? Something cute, I bet, their enchanted murmuring seems to say. Sarae puts paid to that with a mighty stomp which sends a group of boulders crashing free from the ground and shooting up into the air behind her. As the crowd look on, stunned, Sarae scurries to a boulder just as it's about to reach the ground and deals it a mighty thump with her front paw, shattering it instantly into a shower of pebbles. Without pausing she scampers to the next falling boulder and leaps into the air paw-first, cracking it into gravel as well. She lands and immediately flips into the air, dealing a very precise kick with her back feet to the final boulder, which is cleaved in two. The halves slam to the ground just before Sarae herself lands on all four feet, and after a short, shocked silence, the audience erupts into applause, completely taken aback by the tiny Pokémon's unexpected power. Her appeal was rather unoriginal, but seeing such a small Pokémon do it was very impressive indeed. Involuntary Twitch recalls her Pokémon, the crowd still going wild.
Mike the Foxhog: 8.3
A very standard appeal (I'm pretty sure every single block has at least one summon-boulders-then-break-them routine), but it was quite refreshing to see it done with a cute, fluffy little Pokémon that might otherwise have tried putting on the charm.
Negrek: 6.0
Pretty common appeal type, and one seen a fair amount in this particular contest, too. It was solid and worked well with the pokémon being used, but there's not much new to get excited about here.
Chiropter: 7.5
Really not much to say. This type of appeal’s been done. Sarae performed it well, but it didn’t have anything extra going for it to make it stand out.
Crazy Linoone and Heinkel
While the judges wait for the crowd to calm down, a League-owned Tangrowth shuffles onto the stage to repair the lawn for the next appeal, rolling the boulders back into the gaping pits they were called from, smoothing the terrain over and planting grass to cover the patch of bare earth. As it returns to the sidelines, a Linoone scurries onto the stage. The audience look around for its trainer, assuming it is the next Pokémon appealing; it is then they notice this particular Linoone is wearing a very dapper beret from which it pulls a Pokéball. Tossing it over its shoulder, the Linoone returns to the sidelines with the other contestants, a Gible materialising on the stage. Soaking in some adoring gazes from the crowd, the tiny dragon leaps into the air and brings its body down hard on the ground, churning up a heap of boulders which shoot into the air. The crowd gives an irritated moan; they can already tell what this appeal's going to be after barely three seconds. Heinkel's spirits fall slightly as he hears their bored mumbling, letting the rocks collapse onto him, but encourages himself with the notion that if he breaks free especially spectacularly, they may be impressed nonetheless. Confidently, he charges up an aura of dragon-type energy, and before the rock pile collapses and crushes him, dashes forward with a tremendous roar, shattering the heap from underneath. Despite having seen the same basic thing just before, the audience gives a polite round of somewhat underwhelmed applause. At least it was a less fluffy and harmless-looking Pokémon this time, and the fierce roar was a nice touch. A somewhat disappointed Crazy Linoone returns Heinkel to his Pokéball, clearing the set for the fourth and final appeal.
Mike the Foxhog: 5.5
As said before, an already-stale appeal routine, which I marked down further because it had already been performed in this very block. It didn't have the "oh em gee adorable bunny be smashing boulders" factor that I marked Sarae's up for either, since Gible is a somewhat tough-looking Pokémon anyway.
Negrek: 5.5
It looks like Mike interpreted this one as being more similar to Involuntary Twitch's than I would have, but it didn't work out quite as you had envisioned in any case. Nice and fiery, but again not all that novel.
Chiropter: 7.5
Pretty much the same as Sarae’s appeal. Nothing wrong with the execution, and I felt the Roar made the finish a little more dramatic, but ultimately it’s nothing we haven’t seen many times before.
RandomTyphoon and Cheshire
The last contestant to take the field is RandomTyphoon, and after the rather irritated groundskeeper Tangrowth lumbers off the stage after tidying up the mess it just fixed all over again, her Gastly, Cheshire, floats onto the scene. The Ghost Pokémon is rather nervous at first, but forces himself to overcome his shyness as he curls his lips into a grim smirk and begins summoning a light mist onto the stage. The fog gathers gradually, obscuring Cheshire's form as it grows thicker. As his body becomes harder to make out, the expression on his face becomes even more disturbing until the fog becomes completely impregnable and Cheshire lets out a horrifying chuckle. The audience is silenced by the creepy spectacle, anxiously wondering what's next. The fog seems to stir, as though something is moving inside it. Apparently Cheshire's still in there, rather than having actually vanished, but whatever he's up to, the audience can't see it. After a few more moments of silence, another loud, ominous cackle exudes from the fog before a tremendous explosion suddenly erupts from where Cheshire once floated, and the crowd jump out of their skins. The thunderous
BOOM half-deafens them all, and the more canny among them notice in astonishment that they can see not one explosion, but
three. Incredibly puzzled and creeped out, the crowd breathe a collective sigh of relief as the explosions peter out and the mist rolls away, having been blown away by the force of the blast, to reveal an empty space where Cheshire had once been. The crowd breaks into applause for the fourth and final time; they don't know what Cheshire was doing in that mist or where the other two explosions came from, but it was quite a trick.
Mike the Foxhog: 8.9
This appeal was pretty disorganised and unconnected, but it went off pretty well anyway. The Double Team was hidden by the Haze, but I'm not sure whether that wasn't the point so you could have two Explosions coming from nowhere to heighten the shock factor. In any case, the only appeal with nothing glaringly wrong with it, so well done.
Negrek: 5.0
I'm not quite sure what you were going for with this one, but it seems to have gone well enough. This is another case where there was little apparent connection between the attacks being used, but it was pretty explosive, I guess.
Chiropter: 8.0
Hmm. Not really fond of the big pause in the middle where nothing can be seen happening - though I guess it could be seen as building tension or such - but other than that… Haze is a good Gastly-ish move, and the triple Explosions were dramatic and unexpected… the whole thing did seem a little disorganized, but on the whole, I liked it.
An excited hush falls over the audience as the judges confer, tallying up their scores and working out who would pass through to the next round. The grades added, the head judge stands up to announce the scores...
4th place: Metallica Fanboy and Dexterous (16.5)
3rd place: Crazy Linoone and Heinkel (18.5)
2nd place: Involuntary Twitch and Sarae (21.8)
1ST PLACE: RANDOMTYPHOON AND CHESHIRE (21.9)
RandomTyphoon and Cheshire have won this block, and advance to the next round. Commiserations to the other contestants, but good luck in future contests.
