Chapter 457: The Garden of the Gods

Bang!

The Poké Ball opens.

An azure-blue sheet music drifts out, circling the central orb like a ribbon of light, slowly sketching out a round, pink figure.

The light dims.

A Chansey dressed like a Muse makes its entrance.

The moment its adorable yet gorgeous outfit caught the eyes of the audience and judges, it drew praise and laughter.

Decorating Pokémon with all sorts of accessories and outfits is very basic in a Contest — at the rough end, a headpiece or a scarf; at the extravagant end, even the fur and skin can be dyed other colors, making them look like a Furfrou from the Kalos region.

Right now, this "officially" certified Chansey outfit perfectly hit the aesthetic of most people present. Especially Miss Qiao Yin — her eyes shone like searchlights, and the hands that had been sitting primly on her lap were now raised onto the table.

She was clearly looking forward to Chansey's performance.

All Baimu didn't disappoint them either. At some unknown point a guitar had appeared in his hand; seeing Chansey gently close its eyes and cup its little hands before its chest as if about to sing its heart out, he immediately began to play.

Strum~

A melody as gentle as a light breeze rises, followed by a lilting voice.

In an instant.

Everyone in the venue felt an invisible, gentle hand touch their ears like a dragonfly skimming the water; the slightly restless lake of their hearts, stirred up by anticipation, instantly became calm.

An ethereal voice…

The voice Chansey had painstakingly trained to this day effortlessly captured the hearts of nearly every audience member and judge.

Although it wasn't a Pokémon born with a naturally excellent voice like Jigglypuff or Gardevoir, the experience gained from day after day of practice, combined with the sleep-inducing effect of the move 【Sing】, was enough to elevate its singing to an extraordinary level.

Like a kingfisher skimming the water, like an oriole singing.

How absolutely magnificent!

The audience… no, the listeners' gazes grew hazy, their heartstrings rising and falling with Chansey's song. Many were just about to close their eyes and listen carefully, when they saw countless essence-like golden notes mixed with neon-like ribbons of light, appearing like sprites.

They swirled around the singing Chansey like sheet music; the colorful, glimmering soft light added a few more touches of gorgeous sheen to the notes — dreamlike, accompanying the tranquil song, making one unconsciously fall drunk within it.

"It's the Second Concerto: The Garden of the Gods!"

A knowledgeable audience member recognized the piece and couldn't wait to share it.

"Shh!"

The person beside him glared at him — they were treating the Contest like a concert, unwilling to miss a single note of the singing.

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Suddenly.

The melody swells, the singing gradually grows louder.

Like the dawn breaking, the vigorous vitality of all things awakening spreads through the clear singing around everyone's ears,

A gentle wind comes from nowhere, stirring those sprite-like adorable notes, sending them before the audience and judges, where they tremble slightly as if alive.

Debei sitting in the front row looks at the golden notes within reach and can't help reaching out her hand — but the instant her finger touches a golden note, the scene before her eyes undergoes an earth-shattering change.

She can clearly see, within that ethereal singing, a miraculous, magnificent garden unfolding before her like a painted scroll — ivory-white garden architecture stacked layer upon layer, a statue of a Pokémon deity seated at the garden's center, its majestic face revealing a hint of peace.

Lovable Pokémon frolic within, clear spring water irrigates the verdant plants, reflecting crystalline flowing light under the bright sun.

"The Garden of the Gods…"

Debei's voice trembles; for some unknown reason tears slide down from the corner of her eyes. Such an exaggerated scene draws sidelong glances from those beside her, who can't help but reach out toward the golden notes as well.

At once.

An equally beautiful garden appears before them; the lifelike scene enchants them utterly, making them wish they could step inside and never come out.

Nearly the entire venue shared this same feeling. The three judges had long since been transported into that divine garden, enjoying the ethereal song and frolicking with their beloved Pokémon, unable to extricate themselves.

Unfortunately, such a scene did not last long.

The once-swelled melody gradually grows low; the golden notes before the audience slowly fly toward the sky, and the audience's dreamlike feeling is punctured along with them — some gaze longingly, some reluctantly watch the notes drift away.

As if the angels who were to escort them to heaven were about to leave.

Why so brief?

If only it could have lasted a little longer…

Countless hearts harbor this feeling, eyes fixed unblinkingly on the notes flying far away.

In a daze.

Seven-colored radiant light blooms; the golden notes, like fireworks in an instant, shatter into gorgeous flowing light, forming fragments of golden powder that drift down in a grand shower — like an extravagant golden meteor shower, beautiful and stunning alike, symbolizing the ending after glory, the curtain falling on everything.

Shattered into dust-like specks, they lightly land on the audience and judges, casting a hazy spell that drowns one's thoughts in rapture.

The singing and the gentle melody come to a stop together.

The song ends, finished.

"Happy~"

Chansey turns and exchanges a look with All Baimu, and together they bow to the audience and judges before them.

But the response was slow in coming.

The two raise their heads and find everyone still savoring the lingering aftertaste of the singing and the notes, looking as if they cannot forget it for a long time.

Some had even closed their eyes, trying to keep the scene just now in their hearts.

This put All Baimu's heart at ease.

Unfortunately, Chansey couldn't quite read the situation, and couldn't help feeling a little anxious, worried that it had failed to do some things properly just now.

The key point of today's performance was singing while using Psychic to summon a breeze to stir the notes, then using Dazzling Gleam to detonate them and turn them into a golden meteor shower…

The difficulty was several times that of Mawile dancing while using moves — now that the performance was over, its legs had started trembling.

"Don't be afraid, listen."

The trainer's voice sounds beside its ear.

Then came applause — applause filled with reverence, congratulations, admiration, and excitement, applause that could have flipped the entire venue upside down!

Without anyone needing to shout, the entire audience was already on their feet, wishing they could use every ounce of strength in their bodies to let the coordinating Trainer and his partner below hear their voices. The judges had likewise risen early, clapping with either fanatical expressions or barely contained excitement, and the smile on Young Lady Qiao Yin's face had nearly crumbled.

Blissey stared blankly at this scene, clear tears welling up from its eyes.

These were tears called happiness.

It knew that its hard work and anticipation had all found meaning, that it had achieved the result it deserved, and had not embarrassed its Trainer and Mawile.

It had succeeded!

Battle, performance, life! A triathlon Pokémon!

Blissey was the ace!

"Happy!" The pink giant egg raised its right hand high, expression solemn, as if it had finally proven itself.

And its action drew cheers from the audience seats.

The audience, having finished applauding, could no longer hold back, loudly shouting All Baimu and Blissey's names, soon falling into perfect unison — just like a solo concert for the latter two.

Don't even say it.

There really were people shouting "encore," leaving even Vivian beside them completely at a loss.

What encore are you shouting for at a Pokémon Contest?

"Blissey, you…"

And All Baimu looked at Blissey, whose entire body radiated a heroic air as if transforming from the Muse Goddess into the Athena Goddess, and felt a touch of helplessness.

He remembered that when it had first evolved, Blissey had also worn this "I alone reign supreme under heaven and on earth" look — but unfortunately, after just a few days, it had reverted to form, returning to being that slightly insecure big egg.

And now it was happening all over again; there was no guarantee it wouldn't happen again next time.

Insecure — confident — insecure — confident. Honestly, you are one awkward fellow.

He rubbed Blissey's face, and the latter froze for a moment, then laughed "happy happy."

No more time was wasted.

Under the host Vivian's guidance, they smoothly entered the commentary segment.

Patstein remained standing, holding the microphone with deep emotion as he said: "Following Mawile's world-shocking dance, Mr. All Baimu has once again brought us a song that made my very soul feel as if it had been baptized. Performances that use illusions to let the audience experience all manner of feelings are not unheard of, but something like Blissey's — please forgive my ignorance — this is at least the first time I have ever felt it.

"So please allow me to describe this performance as 'unprecedented and unrepeatable.' The only slight imperfection might be that the viewers before their television sets cannot feel the power of Blissey's singing, which is truly a regrettable thing. Such a performance should be experienced by people all over the world! However…"

"Thank you for your commentary, Mr. Patstein. Indeed, it is truly a pity that this performance cannot be shared with our friends watching before their television sets." Vivian stood before him with a beaming smile, blocking the camera lens, and handed the microphone to Yanase beside her.

"Please invite Mr. Yanase to give us his commentary."

Having said that, she covered her ears.

But Yanase did not shout and scream as he usually did. Instead, with a dashing flip of his bangs, amid the gasps of Vivian and many audience members, he directly tore off his shirt and turned around to reveal the four large characters pasted on his back.

S! Pa! Ra! Xi!

He looked proudly at the camera, completely unaware that he had done anything perverted, and this silent review perfectly conveyed whether or not he was satisfied with this performance.

The smile on Vivian's face nearly broke, but fortunately she was a professional host and managed to hold on. "P-please… ahem, please invite Young Lady Qiao Yin to deliver her evaluation of Blissey's performance."

Young Lady Qiao Yin held the microphone, gazing at All Baimu and Blissey on stage, and only lowered the microphone when beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads. She bent her hands at the Hukou and made a heart shape at her chest: "I love you, Blissey!"

Unbelievable!

Young Lady Qiao Yin, who had always praised the Trainer in the past, had this time only praised the Pokémon!

Vivian and many audience members wore faces full of astonishment, and were endlessly curious about the upcoming scoring — what kind of score could possibly match this "world-shocking" evaluation?

"Please give your scores!"

She gestured with an open palm.

Beep beep beep.

The scores appeared before everyone's eyes, causing an uproar.

A total of 29.8 points! Blissey had broken the highest score set by Mawile!

There might have been the reason that the Grand Festival was about to begin, but it could not be separated from Blissey's brilliant performance either — the two complemented each other, achieving this exaggerated number!

It was not as if there were no Trainers who had scored full marks in the anime, but that era and the current one were different.

All Baimu hugged the overjoyed Blissey, and while happy, began to worry about what kind of performance Milotic should put on at the Mi Ke Li Cup to win Mi Ke Li's heart.

Tough.

Logically speaking, Blissey's performance this time was already very difficult. Don't be fooled by the fact that it was just singing combined with moves — in reality, that was merely the surface. The core of this performance was —

Illusion.

Borrowing the power of Sing, using the melody and the audience's and judges' own imagination to drag them into a phantom realm, constructing a beautiful courtyard like a mirage, then letting it fade away like a flower reflected in water or the moon in a mirror, evoking a sense of reluctance in everyone's heart.

Without a doubt, this was a more stream-of-consciousness performance than Mawile's dance; audience members who did not come to the venue to observe could not experience its essence at all.

Hence why Patstein had made that remark.

The internet was probably already in an uproar, right?

At first glance, this kind of performance might seem to have an element of taking shortcuts or being clever, but in reality, using Sing to create the illusion of a divine courtyard was nowhere near as easy as one might imagine. The most direct evidence was that All Baimu and Blissey had begun entertaining similar ideas back in Meteor Village, and had actively devoted themselves to it — their practice time was far longer than the "last-minute cramming" of the previous few times.

The big egg clearly had talent in singing, far more than its cooking talent that could learn to produce Toxic moves — the Altaria teachers in Meteor Village during Tanabata had all praised it.

All Baimu had also taught Blissey the soprano techniques he had learned from Jigglypuff. Although he himself didn't understand them much either, judging from the fact that the latter had learned Hyper Voice in Fortree City, it had most likely mastered them.

"Star Singer Blissey."

He rubbed the curved curls on top of this fellow's head, then asked: "Do you want to take off your tiara?"

"Happy!"

Blissey shook its head decisively — this was its battle outfit, how could it be casually removed!

——

Just as the judges and All Baimu had predicted.

On the blogs, regarding his performance, corresponding entries quickly appeared —

【Rising Star Coordinator Achieves New Success — How Should the Illusion Performance Be Judged?】

Inside, the impressions brought by Blissey's performance are described in exhaustive detail, from the very first auditory hallucination to the mental-plane hallucination produced after touching the notes — the content is terrifyingly thorough.

It was clearly written on the spot by some audience member present; unpolished, yet more than enough to set off an enormous uproar.

As everyone knows, a certain rising star Coordinator's in-person performance experience is utterly different from the online one — hints of this had already appeared since the second Kaina Conference, and this time at the Water Silence Conference it has been pushed to the extreme!

Unlike the live audience, who felt as though they had wandered into an immortal realm under the influence of the singing, the viewers in front of their televisions only felt two things—

One, the singing was quite pleasant.

Two, the move performance was passably executed.

They simply never experienced the subtle brilliance of the two combined, and for the final Golden Meteor Shower, they could not summon that wistful, lingering sense of desolation.

This left many viewers unable to understand why Patstern and the others could give such high scores, sparking heated debate.

Once the controversy began and more and more people learned about it, All Baimu's fame started climbing like mad.

Just like the news from his previous life — no controversy, no buzz.

And by the time All Baimu returned to the rest room, his phone had already switched from silent mode to vibrate, buzzing nonstop like a little motor.

Absolutely terrifying.