EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Minara loses the match. She gets a surprise.
The match is decided!
The finish goes off without a hitch, when the red glow from Minara's retreating pxkemxn fades, everyone could see the outcome.
For her final pxkemxn, Minara unlatches her final pxkeball with trembling fingers...
... and Mega Gengar returns to the field!
With the end-game looking so lop-sided, there was not even a one-in-a-quintillion chance of her winning now!
"What a finish! This match is practically over now!"
"It's the last bit now, Minara, stay strong!"
Mistrál and House are casting their last lines, a buzz runs through the crowd, knowing that the curtain on an excellent match is about to fall!
"I was wondering," GOJIRAAAA- Hikari quips with Vamos Bravo and King at her side, "Why did you retreat Gengar back then?"
It was a good question.
That had seemed like a tactical error.
However, Minara's answer was...
"Isn't it obvious?"
Minara puts both hands on Mega Gengar's head, pressing down on its squishy, ghostly form!
"Mega Gengar is my favorite!"
That was all her favorite needed to hear.
When she says so, her ace raises both its ghostly arms, and energy starts focusing a ball right above the top of their heads!
Immediately, Vamos Bravo and King leap into action!
For one last time, a great monstrous roar sounds through the stadium!
Tweeeet!
When that final clash subsided, Referee No.1 signals the end of the match!
Piaccta chops her hand to the left side of the field, her other hand pressing against her earpiece,
"And the winner of this match... is GOJIRAAAAA!!!!"
The great lovable green kaiju goes around the ring, blowing flipper-kisses to the crowd, Vamos Bravo and King going straight into the crowd to greet the audience! While everyone is distracted, Piaccta kneels down to Minara lying on the floor, and passes a message with thumbs up!!
Quietly, so the audience doesn't hear,
"Good job Minara! You looked great out there~!"
The golden-eyed girl is lying flat across the center of the ring, her tongue sticking out much like her beloved Mega Gengar. Just as she was about to roll out of the ring, Piaccta waves her hand quickly in front of her. "Nonono, you have to stay for the surprise!"
Surprise?
This was not part of what she had been informed of.
Minara sits up on the floor, watching GOJIRAAAA's back, all attention drawn to the winner.
Piaccta had said that there was something special prepared for the loser, but she never said what? She watches the referee press down on her earpiece, receiving the go-ahead from the production room!
"That was a good match wasn't it, Master?" Fredrika claps for GOJIRAAAA on stage, while her black-haired companion abuses the all-you-can-drink clause tonight. Ayano glances over at the announce desk, where a flurry of activity is going on.
How... oddly... normal.
Don't get me wrong.
The match was pretty good.
Excellent, even.
But knowing who House is, this can hardly be the end of things.
The girl who had fielded Mega Gengar slowly gets up, and was now in the center of the ring with Referee No.1.
The ball of sunshine on skates leans down to ringside, and is passed a microphone.
There are small polite claps from the side for the girl, but none quite as enthusiastic as the referee herself!
"Minara! Are you prepared for your surprise?"
The golden-eyed girl scratches her unkempt blue hair, "Well, Piaccta, it depends on what the surprise..."
"THIS is the surprise!" Piaccta declares, hopping off the court with a spin of her skates!
When those skates touch the floor, the lights in the basement go out, to the 'oooohhhs' and 'ahhhhhs' of the crowd! A spotlight shines right onto the center of the ring!
Immediately, the battle court floor begins to rumble!
While Minara is wobbling precariously from the machinery-induced earthquake,
the stadium floor parts in two right below her!
A surprised gasp runs through the audience! A trick floor! Something like that had been set up in advance! Then, someone shouts out from the balcony!
"Look! It's water! There's water underneath the stadium!"
"Is that... what is that?! Something is hiding below the water?!"
Indeedeed!
As the battle court parts, those on the balcony were the first to see!
Hidden underneath the battle court all along was a clear pool of water!
And right in the middle is a single glowing red gem!
Those sitting at the front-row tables all stand up, to get a better look! As the stage parts, the girl in the center of the ring leaps up, avoiding being caught by the initial fissure, and lands precariously with her legs spread out in an inverse V! Her hands circle in tandem with her irises! Her body swaying forward and backward until...!
Splash!
The girl fell face-first into the swimming pool hidden underneath!
Or at least, she would have!
That splash came from GOJIRAAAA cannonballing herself into the pool!
Performed by trained professionals, by the way.
Kids, don't try this at home!
But...
... nothing happened!
At least, to the girls!
Then, ripples spread across the water.
Both contestants appear to be sitting right atop the surface, without sinking!
Between them, a long purple appendage rises out of the water!
Then another!
The water parts, revealing a purple star-shaped being with five long, bendy arms!
A red jewel, framed in gold, gleams at the center of its body.
Holding the completely dry Minara and GOJIRAAAA on its shoulders, it gives off a familiar...
[BRRRINNNME]
And now, we cut to the announce desk, where the shocking development is being covered by our casters!
"That's... that's gotta be MEGA STARMIE!"
"Mistrál does wonder whose pxkemxn that is," She says so with such an unmistakable mischievous smile!
"Never mind that, look at the middle of the stage, that's a dance pole, non?! Something like that was under the ring all along!"
"What a shocking development, it seems that Mega Starmie didn't want to feel left out and---"
"--- WATCH OUT WATCH OUT WATCH OUT!!!"
The Mega Starmie rapidly spins on the spot, throwing both contestants straight at the announce table!
Thankfully, announce tables are made of sturdy stuff, so Minara only landed in a heap right atop of House! Cushioned from the fall by the announcer taking a big bump, Minara recovers quickly, and twists her body around to watch the center of the stage!
Her golden eyes are practically bulging out from her sockets!
So THAT was the true form of the mysterious monster all along! [HtH129]
It now stands proud in the center of the stage, a platform with a long polished pole rising up behind it...
And now, it wraps one starry arm around the pole, while it extends another 'leg' out in an unmistakable pose...
It is... pole dancing!!?!
Oh, yes, yes, yes!
The dropped jaws turn into laughing cheers, and a charming and totally safe for work dance is performed onstage with impossibly bendy arms.
What a way to kick off tonight's tournament!
What a way to kick off the Fantastic Festival of Festivities!
Did you rike it?
Don't go away folks!
This is just the opening match!
We haven't even gotten to the actual tournament yet!
Hell's Theatre continues, AFTER this short break!
[End of Act 3, Scene 4 — The Theatre Continues]
Recall
[HtH129] - This isn't Mega Starmie's debut! It had appeared a long time ago in HtH129, albeit it was keeping itself hidden as part of the surprise!
We are trying something different! This is a simul-posting at the same time as the Scribblehub release! Go check out the entire series at this link!
