"Aw hell yeah, we finally did it!" Gabriel cheered as he and Seb strolled out of their last Gym, the former brandishing a completed badge case and the latter smiling politely. "We can finally challenge the Pokémon League!"
"That's nice, Gabe, but I'm here for something else," Seb reminded him.
"Oh, that's right. Isn't today your audition? Good luck."
"I'm gonna wow the judges on Kalos's Got Talent and emerge as the next big star!" Seb declared. "Can you be there? I need you in the audience cheering me on."
"Sure thing, man."
As the hours of the day passed and the sunlight faltered, Seb's excitement didn't. He confidently walked out onto the stage of the show he'd watched since childhood and took his place at the microphone, barely containing his emotions. This was it. Gabe had attained his goal of collecting the region's badges. Now it was time for Seb to achieve his.
"Hello," greeted the head judge, the notoriously hard-to-please Simon Growl. The boy heard that Simon possessed the ability to lower Attack with his condescending eyes and unimpressed frown, but he'd turn that upside down soon enough. "What's your name, where are you from, and why have you entered this competition?"
"I'm Sebastiano Sixton from Vaniville Town, and I'm gonna be the greatest singer in the world!"
"I like that," the judge replied. "Well, I look forward to hearing your song. Off you go."
An encouraging wave of applause rose through the auditorium, and when it died down, a powerful medley of drums, electric guitar, and repeatedly struck keys consumed the set. The intro played for a few seconds, the instruments escalating as Seb's nerves subsided, a series of steps providing a clear path for the smooth insertion of his voice.
"I WANNA BE THE VERY BEST, LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS!"
It was anything but. One of the stage lights exploded overhead, and a judge jerked back in his seat.
"TO CATCH THEM IS MY REAL TEST! TO TRAIN THEM IS MY CAUSE!"
Sebastiano had always been the kid who admired the singer, not the trainer to whom the tune paid tribute. Now, it was the audience members who were paying, with their lives, as their ears absorbed the foul fruits of his inspiration. Some fled their chairs and evacuated. Others stayed and tried to drown his voice out with a salvo of impassioned booing. What was unfolding in the concert hall was absolute chaos.
"I WILL TRAVEL ACROSS THE LAND, SEARCHING FAR AND WIDE! EACH POKÉMON TO UNDERSTAND, THE POWER THAT'S INSIDE!"
Three out of four judges were incessantly banging their heads on the table. One cracked her skull open and bled all over her makeup. Another shoved his index fingers so deep into his ears that he stirred his brains. A third had fallen out of her seat and was writhing about on the floor like a woman battling a demon for control of her body. Simon Growl's face was contorted beyond recognition into a disapproving grimace that stifled a river of vomit. He manned up and swallowed it as fast as he could, because he'd be damned if he let Seb utter another word. Simon raised his hand, stopped the music, and silenced the kid, leaving him confused and frantically scanning his surroundings. Gabe was his sole remaining spectator.
"W-what's going on?" asked the stunned boy. "Did you not like my performance?"
"Sebastiano Sixton, you are..." the surviving judge paused, carefully selecting his words like the sharpest knives, "...by far the worst singer I have ever heard in my entire life, which you nearly ended. The twisted cacophony that whips from your mouth like a tentacled monster is easily the most disgusting, repulsive combination of noises that has ever been forced into my ears. You will never be a great singer, a good singer, or even a mediocre singer. You must never again step onto a stage or touch a microphone in all the years you have left on Earth. I daresay that your voice is as destructive to the senses as a storm is to a ship, as a plague is to a community, as a war is to a country, as climate change is to the planet, as armblades are to noobs. No, even more so. Never, and for the love of Arceus, never, open your maw to sing ever again."
Seb was floored, his eyes wide and trembling with tears, his bottom lip shaking as if it might fall off at any second. His next words trickled pathetically from his mouth only for Simon to close the dripping faucet with a swift jerk.
"I c-could t-try... another s-song, or-"
"No! You will leave the microphone where it stands and get out of my sight this instant!"
This was the sharpest of the judge's verbal knives, and it popped Sebastiano like a water balloon, tears pouring from his eyes and snot dribbling from his nose. He couldn't hold them in anymore. His childhood dreams of appearing on Kalos's Got Talent and establishing himself as a career artist sailed to the ground like shreds of his rubber self, his future blurred through his flooded vision. So as he ran offstage, he couldn't clearly see where he was going. All he knew was that he needed to be away from here.
"Seb, wait!" Gabe called, springing from his seat and reaching after his hurting friend. The Gardevoir had done everything he was supposed to, respectfully watching Seb's performance and not disrupting it until the very end. But he just couldn't leave him alone now.
"That's nice, Gabe, but I'm here for something else," Seb reminded him.
"Oh, that's right. Isn't today your audition? Good luck."
"I'm gonna wow the judges on Kalos's Got Talent and emerge as the next big star!" Seb declared. "Can you be there? I need you in the audience cheering me on."
"Sure thing, man."
As the hours of the day passed and the sunlight faltered, Seb's excitement didn't. He confidently walked out onto the stage of the show he'd watched since childhood and took his place at the microphone, barely containing his emotions. This was it. Gabe had attained his goal of collecting the region's badges. Now it was time for Seb to achieve his.
"Hello," greeted the head judge, the notoriously hard-to-please Simon Growl. The boy heard that Simon possessed the ability to lower Attack with his condescending eyes and unimpressed frown, but he'd turn that upside down soon enough. "What's your name, where are you from, and why have you entered this competition?"
"I'm Sebastiano Sixton from Vaniville Town, and I'm gonna be the greatest singer in the world!"
"I like that," the judge replied. "Well, I look forward to hearing your song. Off you go."
An encouraging wave of applause rose through the auditorium, and when it died down, a powerful medley of drums, electric guitar, and repeatedly struck keys consumed the set. The intro played for a few seconds, the instruments escalating as Seb's nerves subsided, a series of steps providing a clear path for the smooth insertion of his voice.
"I WANNA BE THE VERY BEST, LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS!"
It was anything but. One of the stage lights exploded overhead, and a judge jerked back in his seat.
"TO CATCH THEM IS MY REAL TEST! TO TRAIN THEM IS MY CAUSE!"
Sebastiano had always been the kid who admired the singer, not the trainer to whom the tune paid tribute. Now, it was the audience members who were paying, with their lives, as their ears absorbed the foul fruits of his inspiration. Some fled their chairs and evacuated. Others stayed and tried to drown his voice out with a salvo of impassioned booing. What was unfolding in the concert hall was absolute chaos.
"I WILL TRAVEL ACROSS THE LAND, SEARCHING FAR AND WIDE! EACH POKÉMON TO UNDERSTAND, THE POWER THAT'S INSIDE!"
Three out of four judges were incessantly banging their heads on the table. One cracked her skull open and bled all over her makeup. Another shoved his index fingers so deep into his ears that he stirred his brains. A third had fallen out of her seat and was writhing about on the floor like a woman battling a demon for control of her body. Simon Growl's face was contorted beyond recognition into a disapproving grimace that stifled a river of vomit. He manned up and swallowed it as fast as he could, because he'd be damned if he let Seb utter another word. Simon raised his hand, stopped the music, and silenced the kid, leaving him confused and frantically scanning his surroundings. Gabe was his sole remaining spectator.
"W-what's going on?" asked the stunned boy. "Did you not like my performance?"
"Sebastiano Sixton, you are..." the surviving judge paused, carefully selecting his words like the sharpest knives, "...by far the worst singer I have ever heard in my entire life, which you nearly ended. The twisted cacophony that whips from your mouth like a tentacled monster is easily the most disgusting, repulsive combination of noises that has ever been forced into my ears. You will never be a great singer, a good singer, or even a mediocre singer. You must never again step onto a stage or touch a microphone in all the years you have left on Earth. I daresay that your voice is as destructive to the senses as a storm is to a ship, as a plague is to a community, as a war is to a country, as climate change is to the planet, as armblades are to noobs. No, even more so. Never, and for the love of Arceus, never, open your maw to sing ever again."
Seb was floored, his eyes wide and trembling with tears, his bottom lip shaking as if it might fall off at any second. His next words trickled pathetically from his mouth only for Simon to close the dripping faucet with a swift jerk.
"I c-could t-try... another s-song, or-"
"No! You will leave the microphone where it stands and get out of my sight this instant!"
This was the sharpest of the judge's verbal knives, and it popped Sebastiano like a water balloon, tears pouring from his eyes and snot dribbling from his nose. He couldn't hold them in anymore. His childhood dreams of appearing on Kalos's Got Talent and establishing himself as a career artist sailed to the ground like shreds of his rubber self, his future blurred through his flooded vision. So as he ran offstage, he couldn't clearly see where he was going. All he knew was that he needed to be away from here.
"Seb, wait!" Gabe called, springing from his seat and reaching after his hurting friend. The Gardevoir had done everything he was supposed to, respectfully watching Seb's performance and not disrupting it until the very end. But he just couldn't leave him alone now.
I wanted seb to give up on his dream and become the most powerful trainer like any sensible person would do...