THE STRANDED SCOUT TROOP CONTEST!
‡ Pre-Round ‡
‡ Round 1 Appeals ‡
Ash0011 and Sketch are randomly selected to go first! A crowd of other Scouts gathers round to see what the Coordinator and his go-to Smeargle will do. Following her trainers commands, Sketch trudges over to the nearest log and hauls it over to the centre of the clearing. Because she's not even four feet tall, it's slow going and takes quite a bit of effort to pull off. She then goes to get another heavy log... followed by leaves and twigs, oh goodie, some even heavier rocks! All of this physical labour drains her energy and begins to bore the crowd. However, the appeal takes a turn when she starts painting. She conjures a magnifying glass that concentrates the sun's light and causes the accumulated materials to begin burning. The crowd watches with interest as Sketch, growing increasingly more weary, draws up a generator and casts lightning into the sky while also loading up the fire with more materials so it smokes. Finally, Sketch draws up a barrier that stops the fire from spreading. She begins panting heavily as the crowd claps.
BTPoke and Sake take to the field once everything has been reset in the wake of Ash's appeal. The Mienfoo saunters into the center of the clearing and does a little spin, causing four little helpers to materialize out of nowhere! The crowd murmurs in amusement as Sake and his clones form a circle. Sake concentrates his thoughts into a concentrated sphere of crackling blue Aura that hovers before him while his clones follow suit. Suddenly, Sake snaps his fingers and causes the clouds to part, allowing the sun to blaze with astonishing force. The crowd is forced to shield their eyes as the clones start to shift and fizzle in the sunlight. The little troop of Mienfoos fire their Aura Spheres skyward. As the sunlight strikes the energy balls, they blaze like five little suns. Dazzling! The appeal gets some oohs and ahhs from the other Scouts.
Ayeun and Pachi prepare to wow the crowd. Pachi curls up into a ball and rolls around playfully in the middle of the clearing, eliciting some giggles from the onlookers. What a goofball. She snatches up some sticks and twigs before darting back to the center without missing a beat. With impressive nimbleness, Pachi places the sticks in a triangular formation and then starts to sizzle with electric current. The Pachirisu scrunches up her eyes and Discharges in a rhythmic sequence which also ignites the sticks and creates three blazing beacons for everyone to see. The crowd seems to have taken a liking to Pachi and her cheeky ways and applauds her for her efforts.
DarkestLight and FemmeFetal get ready for their appeal. FemmeFetal, who would win this entire Contest right away if I was judging on the strength of nicknames alone, glows with a brilliant red corona as she Telekinetically plucks flowers from the ground. The flower petals dance and flutter about in the wind in a way that sharply contrasts the previous appeals. Femme blazes with a brilliant white light that keeps the crowd's interest as she starts psychically manipulating the flower petals. They begin to form letters that spell out the word "HELP" clearly. The audience applauds.
Firepokemon and Zofis round out the first set of appeals. The Dratini begins dancing around energetically (doing the worm, of course) which causes the onlookers to whoop and cheer in delight. After a minute, Zofis puts a halt on the dancing and summons a gargantuan meteor to rain down upon the clearing. The crowd looks up in terror at the approaching meteors, but no fear, Zofis is here! The Dratini fires off a brilliant white beam of energy, the sheer strength of which reverses the direction of the Draco Meteor before it can hit the ground. The blazing comet shoots off into the sky, creating a dazzling display. Their momentary terror notwithstanding, the audience is relatively pleased.
‡ Round 1 Scores ‡
Ash0011 and Sketch: Your appeal was certainly elaborate and definitely caught the crowd's notice. That said, I think you may have been expecting too much of Sketch. All that heavy-lifting really tuckered her out and the fact that her panting was visible didn't really endear Sketch to the crowd. On top of that, the gathering took a while and bored bajeebuz out of the crowd. However, you're mostly redeemed by the fact that you made sure your distress signal didn't turn into a full-on forest fire; for that, your Scout Leaders would be very, very proud. 8 / 10
BTPoke and Sake: A solid appeal. The Aura Sphere/Sunny Day combo would make for a magnificent distress signal and definitely caught the crowd's notice. However, the Sunny Day broke the Double Team's illusion and sort of marred the aesthetic of that part of your appeal, so that cost you. Also, the appeal maybe worked a little too well: the audience had to shield their eyes what with all that harsh light and you ran the risk of blinding any approaching aircrafts, which definitely would not be in your favour. That said, good work. 7.5 / 10
Ayeun and Pachi: A subtle but surprisingly effective appeal. Because Pachirisu is a natural forager (and even has Pickup as an ability), the gathering of materials suited her personally very well. This part of the appeal could have easily been boring for the audience but the Rollout/Quick Attack combo made it fun and amusing for everyone watching. Finally, you get bonus points for arranging the sticks into a triangle, which is an official, internationally recognized distress signal. That, combined with the S.O.S. Discharge, makes you a smart Girl Scout. Well done. 9 / 10
DarkestLight and FemmeFetal: The flower petals certainly made for a pleasant display for the audience and contrasted some of the flashier appeals nicely. I think there was room for you to add another layer to your appeal: had you arranged the flower petals into the word "HELP" with the first Telekinesis, you would have had an extra move to do something else. However, what you did certainly worked, so it's not too major of a concern. 8 / 10
Firepokemon and Zofis: You certainly provided a very aesthetically pleasing appeal. The Draco Meteor combined with the Hyper Beam was visually arresting, though the Dragon Dance seemed slightly out of place. It was entertaining for the crowd to watch, of course, but didn't really gel with what you were doing, especially because Dragon Dance boosts Attack but Draco Meteor and Hyper Beams are both Special moves. Also, the sudden appearance of the meteor really freaked out the crowd (and not in a good way) and there was definitely a major risk factor involved with such a dangerous and volatile move. That said, you still pulled it off. 7.0 / 10
‡ Post-Round ‡