Chapter 460: Maternal Love Tactics

Miss Xiao Feng undoubtedly possessed a certain talent as a Coordinator.

From Scizor's blade and the stump performance, it was clear she had put in a great deal of effort.

It's just that she, like Baimu at the very beginning, turned flashy battles into mere battles… well, even worse, because at least the latter knew smoke was a big taboo.

And Miss Xiao Feng feared nothing.

Running into him, someone who had just grasped the essence of flashy battles, losing was only natural.

"Wonderful performance, thank you for once again broadening my horizons."

The capable, mature-sister-type Miss Xiao Feng shook hands with Baimu, still without much regret for her loss on her face.

Which Coordinator has never lost? Reluctance is reluctance, but most people won't be discouraged by a minor defeat. Like how Kipchumba never won against Champion Dan Di and Meirong, yet every single time before battle he still provoked Dan Di with words.

The more setbacks, the more courage — nothing more to it.

As Miss Xiao Feng's debut battle, winning a Ribbon at the Pacifidlog Conference would naturally be best, but even if she couldn't win one, as long as she could learn something from the latter, she was already satisfied.

"Next time we get the chance, let's battle again!"

"Sure, sure."

Baimu's expression was as usual, but in his heart he thought that next time they met, who knew when it would be. Not to mention Kotohime he'd encountered in Cianwood City, just the pink-haired twin-tailed Ulala he'd met in Kanaz City — the two of them had already said they'd continue to spar at other Pokémon Showcase events afterward.

The Hoenn region was this small, yet they hadn't run into each other once.

Miss Xiao Feng pushed the door open and left; the second match of the second round on the TV screen had also reached its conclusion—

The winner was indeed the masked envoy Kimimaro.

Years had passed. Not to mention May, who was called the Hoenn Dancer; he too was a far cry from his former self. Not only did he have Dusknoir as his ace, he had just now revealed a rather powerful Florges.

Don't look at how this guy was purely filler for the Pokédex in the games, and basically no one besides true fans would use it. Kimimaro, relying on his current animated background plus the special nature of flashy battles, had forcefully used Florges to defeat his opponent's Delcatty.

The beauty of the various dazzling moves was astonishing, and it also served as a reminder to Baimu.

He couldn't be underestimated.

Kimimaro had started a year earlier than Kotohime. Baimu had also watched his previous two flashy battles. His combat power might not be that strong, but the variations in his moves were extremely brilliant, even worthy of being called stunning.

"We need to be careful."

He turned his head and said this to Blissey, who nodded her head in agreement.

After all the trouble of getting to the third round, a loss here would be troublesome, easily disrupting the rhythm originally planned.

——

A moment later.

Baimu made his entrance amidst thousands of cheers.

Kimimaro stood in the distance, looking dashing as he flicked his cape, which also drew in plenty of cheering voices.

On the giant screen, two enormous portraits and the circular score chart appeared together.

Vivian stood outside the field's boundary line and loudly announced: "Third round, first match — the finals! Time limit five minutes, no pauses mid-battle! Begin!"

Ding!

In a short, tremendous roar, the countdown began.

Neither side hesitated, simultaneously throwing their Poké Balls forward.

Bang bang!

Lively musical notes sketched out a melody, transforming into a Blissey wearing a leaf crown and a sash, solemn and dignified in bearing, hands clasped in prayer with eyes closed — like a goddess statue.

Dusknoir, meanwhile, appeared from faint, misty clouds, its crimson solitary eye shining enough to make hearts tremble, maximizing the sense of mystery and oppressive pressure.

The two Coordinators and their two Pokémon stared at each other, simultaneously thinking:

Up close, it really does have something!

Although it was the most basic entrance display, everything requires attention to detail. A Coordinator who can't even handle the entrance display that focuses on first impressions is definitely unfit for the job.

"Will-O-Wisp!"

"Psychic."

The two gave their orders in succession, and the two Pokémon each made their moves.

The one to strike first was undoubtedly Dusknoir. It spread its broad palms, and two ghostly purple flames ignited out of thin air, yet like flipping a switch to turn off the lights, they made its body grow dim, as if all the light had been absorbed by these two ghostly flames.

The next instant.

The two ghostly flames were flung out by it, splitting into four mid-air, four into eight, eight into sixteen… in the span of a breath, they had become a rain of fire across the sky, surging toward Blissey with terrifying momentum!

Many spectators couldn't help but cry out in alarm, and Baimu's score was accordingly deducted by a fixed amount.

But without a doubt, he, who excelled at defense and counterattack, had long been prepared.

One could see Blissey's eyes light up with blue light, invisible psychic force vibrating the air, suddenly a single point of glimmering blue light appearing before her, rapidly expanding outward in all directions. By the time the rain of Will-O-Wisp drew near, the blue light had already formed a resilient wall.

Daddadadada—

A light sound like raindrops on a lake reached the judges' and audience's ears. The dense Will-O-Wisp, like clay oxen entering the sea, merely rippled before vanishing without a trace.

Not a single bit of damage reached Blissey behind the blue wall.

Vivian couldn't help but excitedly commentate: "Look! Blissey's Psychic is like a wall of bronze and iron; the scattered Will-O-Wisp can't get anywhere near her!"

Psychic in defensive form!

Perhaps people from other regions weren't very familiar with this application, but Hoenn people knew that Psychic in defensive form was Champion Dawu's signature move. Countless powerful attacks had been blocked by this technique; unfortunately, the difficulty of this variation was too high, so ordinary people just clashed head-on.

Now that it was being used by Blissey, the Hoenn people present inevitably felt their spirits lifted, and their cheering grew even more vigorous.

On the other hand.

Blissey's composed response caused Kimimaro to have even more points deducted.

Catching a glimpse of the giant screen from the corner of his eye, his heart skipped a beat. Looking again at the effortless Blissey and Baimu, he inwardly thought things were not looking good.

He didn't know Baimu well, nor had he seen the flashy competitions that made the latter famous. Having only observed Miss Xiao Feng's match, how could he have known that Baimu was best at adapting to his opponent's moves? Caught off guard, he was led by the nose.

Now experiencing it firsthand, the experienced Kimimaro immediately realized he had been too rash.

What do we do?

The reactive counter-type is the hardest kind of Coordinator to deal with — a Showcase Contest only lasts so long, and if you don't attack you can't deduct the opponent's points, but if you do attack your own points get deducted even more.

How is anyone supposed to handle that!

Still, while the reactive counter-type looks invincible, it actually tests a Coordinator's skill to the extreme — after all, you have to block the opponent's offense while defending beautifully, which demands both strength and versatility.

And that strength doesn't only refer to the Pokémon's battle power; it also includes the trainer's eye and sensitivity to timing.

The moment a mistake is made, it can easily backfire.

The expression beneath Kimimaro's mask shifted again and again, and the Dusclops's single eye flickered along with it. Seeing that Baimu and Blissey still showed no sign of attacking, he finally didn't dare delay any longer.

Go for it!

I don't believe you can break every single move! There's no such absurd thing under heaven!

"Double Team!"

At his shout, the Dusclops vanished in an instant, and countless Dusclops appeared across the field like specters, surrounding Blissey from every direction.

Baimu raised an eyebrow and called out: "Don't panic, stay steady!"

"Happy!"

Blissey swept its gaze across the surrounding Dusclops clones, its face utterly solemn — not a trace of nervousness to be seen.

Great events require a calm heart — it was no longer the Pokémon that could only watch its trainer get its shoulder bitten by a Houndoom!

Make your move!

"Shadow Sneak!"

As Kimimaro's voice rang out, the Dusclops all sank into the ground at once, transforming into countless shadow clumps that flickered across the floor like tangled threads.

Blissey's eyes were nearly dazzled blind.

Vivian was also surprised as she commentated: "What nimble shadow play! Blissey seems unable to tell which is real and which is fake!? What should Mr. Baimu do?"

The moment her words fell, the shadow-clump Dusclops struck savagely — countless purple-glowing shadow spikes rose from the ground like a forest of thorns, strange and gorgeous in equal measure, eerie yet brimming with a unique beauty.

Baimu's score was instantly deducted by nearly a quarter.

Once the effect of the "Piercing" goddess was complete, even without dealing reliable damage, this epic-painting-like spectacle alone was enough to push his score below half.

Meaningless — Kimimaro had no intention of attacking to take out his opponent, which also conformed to one of the major features of a Showcase Contest.

No damage dealt, yet still a win!

And being able to combine terror with beauty, Kimimaro had to be counted as an extremely formidable Coordinator.

Yet facing the onrushing forest of shadow spikes, Blissey actually closed its eyes, pressed its hands together before its chest, looking as if it were offering its neck to the blade.

But before the audience could cry out in shock, an unprecedentedly intense flash of light — like a dawn halo tearing through the night — instantly illuminated the entire field, leaving the shadow spikes coming from every direction with nowhere to hide!

The sacred radiance came unmistakably from Blissey; its dauntless expression paired with that classical goddess outfit made it look as dazzling as dazzling could be.

Shas shas shas—

Countless shadow spikes dissolved into white smoke, and only the one coming from behind slowly melted away, stubbornly lasting nearly two seconds before vanishing.

The real body is right there!

Blissey's eyes opened slightly and it abruptly turned its head.

"Sweet Kiss!"

"Happy~"

It brought its little hand to its mouth, gave a slightly shy little kiss, and a pink heart immediately flew out toward that clump of shadow.

"Unbelievable! Dusclops's terrifying attack was dispelled so easily! Did you see that, dear viewers! This is simply a stage performance between a goddess and a demon king!" Vivian was beside herself with excitement, and the audience was utterly enchanted.

Blissey under the magical sparkle was just too beautiful!

How can there be such a perfectly matched combination of moves!

The large deduction to the opponent's score proved the judges shared the same thought.

Compared with the audience, however—

Kimimaro in the distance nearly had his jaw drop in shock; he couldn't imagine that the gorgeous move he and Dusclops had plotted so carefully was broken through so easily!

Impossible!

Broken again! And it was, it was Dazzling Gleam…

So the move used at the end of the performance was Dazzling Gleam!

Kimimaro belatedly recalled the move Blissey had used at the end of the first examination. This fellow clearly didn't have as good an eye as Baimu — if the opposing trainer didn't call it out, it was hard to recognize what the transformed move originally was.

"Dodge it, quick!"

Kimimaro knew well how dire the situation was; how could he dare trade blows with Blissey now? Not to mention there was only a minute and a half left on the clock, his own score was also in danger — taking another Sweet Kiss would basically mean the match was over.

The Dusclops, with nowhere to hide under the intense light, had already revealed its form; its crimson single eye seemed dazzled blind and had lost its luster, which made him all the more anxious. And the moment the trainer panicked, the Dusclops — already uneasy from its brief blindness — instantly fell into a fluster.

Feeling a surge of energy already closing in on it, it didn't hesitate and instinctively threw out a Shadow Ball!

"Dodge! Don't trade blows!"

Kimimaro was greatly alarmed. The Dusclops's punching stance stiffened abruptly — helplessly, the motion and the move were already done. And while the Shadow Ball did scatter the pink heart flying in at the start, it failed to block the pink heart that came after.

In an instant—

The Dusclops's barely-lit single eye flickered — it had clearly fallen into a state of confusion!

Kimimaro's score began to deduct at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Seeing this, Baimu knew it was time for them to take the initiative. "Sing!"

"Happy~"

Blissey stood its ground on the spot, ignored the swaying Dusclops before it, and calmly began to sing.

"Use Shadow Ball on your own head! Hurry!" Kimimaro tried to use a heavy hit to snap Dusclops out of confusion, but unfortunately, good idea as it was, not keeping up with the rhythm made it useless.

The opponent moved faster!

After a few breaths, the Dark Spirit fell backward onto the ground and sank into a baby-like slumber.

Blissey came to its side with a "loving" expression on its face, embraced its tall body, and began singing a lullaby as if soothing a baby to sleep.

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That's right.

What the audience and judges in the front rows heard was unmistakably a lullaby.

And upon seeing it open its mouth to sing, the audience in the back rows gradually quieted down as well; for a moment, the only sounds in the venue were Kimimaro's shouts and Blissey's heartwarming singing voice.

Not content with merely singing the lullaby, Blissey then deployed Heal Pulse, restoring some of the stamina it hadn't actually lost much of in the first place.

The Dark Spirit's entire body radiated rolling green light, looking brimming with vitality.

"What a moving scene. Truly, Blissey is the Pokémon most suited to being a Pokémon Nurse." Vivian theatrically dabbed at the tears in her eyes, putting on an act of being deeply moved by Blissey's deeds.

The corners of Ms. Qiao Yin's mouth on the judges' panel nearly stretched all the way to her ears; fortunately, her expression management was still decent, and she barely managed to maintain the appearance of a gentle and beautiful person.

If this were a Pokémon battle, Kimimaro would undoubtedly be thrilled to see the Dark Spirit's stamina restored, but this is a Contest! Where is this Heal Pulse a healing? It's clearly destruction!

He turned his head to look at the big screen beside him, and sure enough, his score was almost bottomed out! And time was almost up too!

The anxious Kimimaro wished he could throw his hat over to smack the Dark Spirit awake, but in the end, all he could do was watch helplessly as Blissey, like a saintly mother, unleashed Heal Bell on the Dark Spirit.

This move took effect extremely quickly; the latter immediately woke up.

Kimimaro's score was instantly deducted to zero.

Beep—!

"The match is over!"

Vivian, holding the microphone, suddenly swung her arm down.

On the big screen, All Baimu's and Blissey's portraits were unmistakably enlarged to fill the entire screen.

"The winner of this tournament is—Mr. All Baimu!"

Vivian's declaration drew countless cheers and applause.

Seeing this, Blissey smiled at the bewildered Dark Spirit and breathed a sigh of relief internally—the "Motherhood Tactic" was a great victory; it had finally not let its Trainer down!

The Dark Spirit scratched its head in confusion; from its perspective, its normal consciousness had vanished the moment it was hit by the pink heart.

It was the equivalent of closing its eyes and opening them again.

The match was lost.

What the heck was that!