"I-I... c-call T-Team Keystone!"

Nick and Amelia both pop out from behind the backstage curtains, both looking slightly hesitant. However, the two walk up to the front of the stage together, and pose by holding out their Clover Guild badges.

"Oooh, nice outfit!" Shelby says while staring at Amelia's accessories. "But mine's cuter!"

"Thanks, and good luck. May the cutest Pokemon win," Amelia replies.

"Same to you! Now watch this!" Shelby runs in a circle and chases her tail, which gets most of the audience to focus on her. But then Amelia starts chasing her own tail, getting the crowd to shift their focus to Team Keystone. Shelby stops once she notices Amelia copying her. "Hah, guess you find my performance so cute you have to copy it?"

"We're still a bit new to this whole cuteness thing. Seems smartest to just copy the master," Nick says in an academic tone that makes it hard to tell if he's being sarcastic. If it was sarcasm, Shelby doesn't notice, and she just smiles in response. Shelby then faces the crowd again. She does a flip followed by a hand-stand with her front paws, which Amelia follows up and copies. Shelby then puts all of her feet back on the ground and does a yawn, followed by a cat-like stretch where she lowers the front half of her body while pushing out her front arms. Amelia copies it, but adds her own flair by curling up on her side, and pretending to fall asleep.

Nick walks over to Amelia and nudges her with his nose, only for her to mumble out "Mmph... five more minutes..."

"Ooh, I love sleeping! Time for me to copy you!" Shelby flops onto her back and closes her eyes with her legs sprawled out, then just like Amelia, pretends to fall asleep.

(Ugh, we're going to be at a stalemate if this keeps up. Shelby's sleeping pose is less dignified, but that makes it cuter... her snoring is taking off points though. Wait, snoring!?)

Shelby's snores grow louder, and a bubble of snot forms at her nose, that inflates and deflates with the rhythm of her snoring. The crowd murmurs among themselves. "I thought that Skitty was cuter, but that snoring..."

"Look, there's a snot bubble! How gross!"

"Hey, I think I see some stains on her dress..."

"I think the audience has decided on who they think should win," Beast says.

(Yep. You snooze, you lose... well, more like you snore, you're done for.)

"Agreed," Pika says as she gets up from the judge's booth. She walks up to the front of the stage and pokes the sleeping Shelby with her foot, but it has no effect. "Well, if she's too sleepy to continue to perform, I suppose there won't be any objections to declaring Team Keystone as the winner?" The audience cheers, which makes Shelby wake up and pop her snot bubble.

"Guh?! I... I lost?!" Shelby cries as she scrambles back onto her feet. "O-Oh... was I snoring again? Oh well, next time I'll win!" Shelby scampers off the stage, and disappears back into the crowd.

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Pub: 03 Sep 2024 08:39 UTC
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