Chapter 517: Dragon Flame Reverse Scale

Is Milotic's fighting style barbaric?

Not at all.

Being able to shift the surging tide between a massive wave and a water wall—advance to attack, retreat to defend—the use of Surf in this alone is enough to earn the word "clever."

Not to mention the added bonus of its own beauty; whatever move it uses is a feast for the eyes.

Harley lost without a shred of injustice. His choice of Pokémon and tactics can't be called wrong either; the only mistake was that he himself was too weak.

If his strength were sufficient,

Seed Machine Gun wouldn't have been blocked by the water wall.

And a single Slash could have cut the iceberg Surf froze into harmless ice chips.

This is also a major reason why All Baimu primarily studies the gorgeous battles of Mi Ke Li and Adam rather than other equally outstanding Coordinators.

Back in the prep room.

The defeated Harley finally couldn't hold it in any longer and bitterly threw a fit, deeply dissatisfied at losing so badly and so quickly.

"I will definitely get my revenge for this!"

He shouted in a fury.

Revenge is fine, but he has to find the chance first.

All Baimu smiled silently, shifting his gaze to the slightly solemn-faced Bingshan beside him.

If nothing unexpected happens, the next opponent should be this one.

And sensing the gaze he sent over, the wariness on Bingshan's face quickly faded, returning to his usual confident faint smile.

As the saying goes, lose the battle but not the bearing.

Bingshan, who regarded All Baimu as a "kindred spirit," absolutely would not allow himself to lose in presence to the other; moreover, until a battle reaches its final moment, no one dares to declare their own absolute victory.

The opponent's strength is strong—does that mean his own is weak?

There's no such logic.

Bingshan gradually steadied his wavering mindset, and All Baimu likewise shifted his gaze back to watch the match.

The first round of the Gorgeous Battle continues.

Baimu and the others took the stage in turn; there wasn't the fatal oversight of focusing too much on the strong enemies nearby and neglecting the other contestants.

There were minor hiccups along the way, but they ultimately won smoothly—congratulations.

Unfortunately, as the competition intensified, the harmonious dining scene from yesterday was gone forever. Bingshan and Uranari each had their own plans and ideas, and refused Brock's invitation.

As for Harley… the moment the morning's first round ended, he vanished without a trace—seemingly the psychological落差 was too great.

Baimu and the other girls couldn't hide their disappointment, but they couldn't interfere with others' thoughts either, so they could only silently finish their meal and use the lunch break to adjust their condition.

Although the afternoon only featured the second round—with the semifinals and finals pushed to tomorrow—any Coordinator who made it this far was no easy mark.

They had no desire to fall at the quarterfinals.

——

Afternoon.

The sun was no longer vicious.

The rested audience burned with enthusiasm.

The morning's matches had already proven the brilliance of the Mi Ke Li Cup, making them greatly look forward to the Gorgeous Battles ahead.

"Without further ado, next up is the first match of the second round of the Gorgeous Battle! Let's welcome the contestants, Young Lady May, and Uranari!"

Vivian shouted in her sweet voice.

And on either side of the Water Field, May and Uranari stepped onto their contestant platforms, gazing at each other from afar.

Familiar faces facing off in the quarterfinals was inevitable; it just happened to be these two paired together.

For Uranari, winning this match would let her smoothly face off against All Baimu, turning her defeat at the Kanaz League completely into history.

Of course.

She was also well aware that May, who could execute water-fire fusion techniques, was absolutely not easy to defeat—she had to give one hundred percent of her focus to the battle!

"Go! Garchomp!"

"I leave it to you! Yin Bu!"

A blue meteor and crystalline bubbles—the colorful patterns formed two Pokémon, one fierce and one cute.

The vast difference in size made many in the audience worry for May.

Although type-wise Yin Bu did have the advantage, Pokémon size sometimes needs to be taken seriously too—it's absolutely not as simple as it looks in performances.

Inside the prep room.

Masashi was deeply worried. "Sis…"

"Relax, doesn't May look like she's sure of winning?" All Baimu patted his shoulder, his gaze lingering on Garchomp.

As Uranari's ace Pokémon, Garchomp had shown impressive attack and defense back in the anime's Diamond & Pearl arc; unfortunately, All Baimu's last battle against Uranari had been against Fire Yin Bu, so he had no practical combat experience with it.

No matter how complete the intel, it's still just paper data, inevitably mixed with the writer's subjective impressions; firsthand体感 strength is undoubtedly more accurate.

Since Garchomp was so stunning in the first审查, there's no reason it would show zero growth in actual battle…

Hopefully May's Yin Bu can force out its trump card.

That way, regardless of whether Garchomp ultimately wins or loses, it would be helpful to him.

If it wins,

him beating Bingshan first and then fighting Uranari would give him a few extra points of certainty.

If it loses—

Uranari still has to participate in the Grand Gorgeous Festival!

Gathering more intel is definitely never wrong.

On the television screen.

Two Pokémon, vastly different in size, had already launched into a heated showdown.

Although the field was a pool environment, it had no effect on either of them.

On one side was Garchomp, a Ground- and Dragon-type that could swim freely; on the other was Glaceon, who, having no ground to stand on, simply created her own.

"Looks like there hasn't been much change…"

All Baimu watched as Garchomp ferociously shattered the ice with its fin blades.

Other Pokémon were fine, but whenever commanding Garchomp, Ursula always seemed to be influenced by it, making her orders grow rougher.

Single-mindedly choosing to attack, as if she meant to take down her opponent through battling rather than trying every way to chip away at their score.

That wasn't to say her choice was wrong.

All Baimu himself had employed similar tactics.

The key was that her opponent's defense was virtually airtight, and unlike him, Ursula couldn't seize a single opening and instantly amplify it.

She was simply attacking wildly.

This was also a major reason she had ultimately lost to Dawn in the Sinnoh Grand Festival — the latter's Pokémon were far too durable, and she always monotonously repeated the same attacking move.

The judges couldn't bring themselves to dock Dawn extra points even if they wanted to.

He had thought that after Ursula's temperament had matured, her commanding style with Garchomp would have changed too, but now it seemed…

Hmm?

All Baimu's brow furrowed slightly, because when the camera cut to Mi Ke Li's side, the latter's face subtly showed an emotion called "anticipation."

Was Mi Ke Li anticipating Glaceon?

No.

His intuition told him that the Contest Master was anticipating Garchomp.

At that moment the camera cut back to the field, and what was happening there gave All Baimu a great shock: at some unknown point, a layer of deep blue flames had ignited around Ursula's Garchomp, its twin fins crossed as it took Glaceon's Ice Beam head-on.

Then—

With a Peng De explosion, the Ice Beam shattered into a skyful of crystalline shards, and Garchomp, which had taken the hit directly, appeared completely unharmed!

"Gaaah!"

A thunderous roar.

Its exceptionally dashing performance directly caused more than an eighth of May's score to be deducted.

"This is… Outrage!?"

All Baimu's eyes widened slightly. It was accepted fact that the same move used by different Pokémon could produce different manifestations, and even Pokémon from different regions using the same move would show differences.

Take Hyper Beam as an example — regional differences gave it as many as four or five different colors.

But an Outrage like this Garchomp's, he truly was seeing for the first time. Azure-blue flames… was this the result of Dragon-type energy being highly condensed?

Looking closely, it was indeed different from the azure-blue energy wave of Dragon Rush.

The flames did not completely cover its body; they merely clung to parts of its skin — the two pairs of fin blades, the top of its head, both knees, and its back, among a few other spots.

It looked like the lingering embers of a blaze released by someone else, not yet extinguished.

But when Garchomp took a hit head-on, these flames would flow along its body, reinforcing the defense at the point of contact.

As if alive.

Seeing it once again easily shatter the Ice Rocks Glaceon fired off, this effortless appearance was exactly like a Super Saiyan state.

All Baimu suddenly felt that this trick might be worth teaching to Hydreigon?

That thing knew Outrage too.

But would Ursula be willing to teach such a trump card?

On the television, Garchomp's bearing was wild and arrogant, yet exceptionally dashing, undoubtedly causing May's score to keep dropping.

Glaceon seemed to have no way to deal with the former?

Controlling the situation with a single move.

Ursula and Garchomp's overall style hadn't changed, but clearly it had shifted from pure reckless assault to a careful, step-by-step advance that was rough yet meticulous.

Not only was May's score being deducted, Glaceon was also being driven by Garchomp into a position where it could no longer dodge.

"Go for it, May!" Ash (small victory) watched the television screen worriedly.

All Baimu also felt May was in some danger.

Ursula had clearly tested Glaceon's output first before choosing to play this trump card — otherwise she would probably have used it from the start, right?

However.

He had ultimately underestimated the mastery these people who had hung around with Ash had attained in the art of "acting recklessly."

Seeing there was nowhere left to dodge, May actually had Glaceon dive straight into the pool beside them.

Does she think she's a Vaporeon?

Ursula naturally wouldn't let her off so easily, hurriedly ordering Garchomp to plunge in after her. No matter how agile Glaceon was, in the water it could only dog-paddle.

Could it compare to Garchomp, the triphibious master of sea, land, and air?

But just as it lunged into the water, Ursula's expression changed.

"Get out!"

Her voice came through clearly from the television's speakers.

Ash (small victory) was still a bit confused, but Brock, who had served as Gym Leader for many years, immediately understood. "I see! May is deliberately luring Garchomp into a trap!"

As his words fell—

Glaceon beneath the water suddenly spun and blasted out countless snow particles, instantly freezing the entire pool solid — and naturally Garchomp couldn't escape either.

"But isn't that freezing herself too?" Ash (small victory) said instinctively, just as the ice surface suddenly shattered and Glaceon dug her way out of the completely frozen pool.

Clearly, when it froze itself, it had used some method to leave itself a little room to move, so it could dig its way out smoothly.

Xiaosheng watched Ulala's deducted score on the big screen and shouted excitedly, "It's a comeback!"

"No, it's not over yet."

All Baimu shook his head; on the TV, the frozen pool water began to shake violently.

Boom!

With a tremendous roar, a Sharpedo wreathed in blue flames burst out of the ice, a hint of frenzy in its eyes.

Xiaosheng's smile froze on his face. "Ah…"

"Now it's over."

All Baimu laughed, which made the former pull a long face.

"Baimu-ge, that's not fair~"

"Look carefully — whose score is being deducted now?" He pressed down on Xiaosheng's head, forcing him to look closely at the live screen on the TV.

Clearly visible: even though Sharpedo had broken free, Ulala's score was being deducted again.

"Confusion status."

Without waiting for Xiaosheng to ask, Xiaogang stated plainly: "Once Dragon Rage ends, the user falls into confusion. Xiaoyao had Yin Bu dive in and freeze the water mainly to buy time."

Status conditions are undoubtedly point-deductions in a gorgeous contest.

On the TV, Ulala tried to snap Sharpedo out of it, but unfortunately, there was no time left.

Beep—

The whistle sounded.

"Time's up!" Vivian's shout made Xiaoyao and Ulala freeze for a moment, then their expressions quickly relaxed from tension.

And on the big screen, the one with more remaining points…

Was Xiaoyao.

Ulala's initial probing had cost her too many points. Even though her counterattack had briefly drawn level and even surpassed, she carelessly walked into Xiaoyao's "trap" in pursuit of more chances to win, resulting in further deductions from being trapped and from Dragon Rage ending.

"A bit of a shame."

All Baimu shook his head regretfully. Sharpedo's Dragon Rage was indeed cool and powerful — that much was obvious from the audience's reaction.

What a pity.

What she lacked was a flash of inspiration and luck.

Xiaoyao's fortune had always been excellent. For instance, Beautifly's assistance had helped her countless times, letting her defeat opponents who seemed utterly unbeatable to onlookers.

As for this special Dragon Rage… All Baimu decided to find a way to study it himself first.

"Time to take the field."

He rolled his neck and looked at Xiaoshun behind him, only to find the latter already walking toward the player tunnel with his hands in his pockets.

"Ha."

All Baimu grinned, asked Xiaosheng to help him congratulate Xiaoyao, exchanged a quick gesture with Miss Liuqi and Xiaoguang — the former silent with fists clenched in a cheering pose — and headed off to the arena for his match.

——

The arena.

The spectacular performance of the first match of the second round satisfied a few appetites.

But a large portion of the audience had already begun looking forward to the battle between All Baimu and Xiaoshun.

After all, both were extremely good-looking. Strong and excellent male coordinators were rare to begin with; handsome ones were even rarer.

No wonder both of them had more female fans.

Of course.

A large share of the girls on All Baimu's side, led by Kitayone, liked the gorgeous-contest combination of him and Mawile together.

You could tell from how most of them liked to cosplay as Mawile, raise Mawile, and wear clothes printed with Mawile designs.

In other words, they fanned the person and the Pokémon both — even the Pokémon a little more.

All Baimu didn't care either way.

He and Mawile were an inseparable whole, partners who lived and died together — fanning either one was the same.

Besides, he personally followed the battle route; he took part in gorgeous contests purely because the latter was interested, yearning to step onto the stage and perform, to be admired by ten thousand.

Kitayone and the others liking Mawile actually suited his own intentions perfectly.

And swapping out the performer — not stubbornly sticking with Mawile as the core every single time — was also a careful, win-oriented choice.

Mawile itself had long since accepted this and actively took part in training its fellow Pokémon.

All in all.

It only proved Mawile's iron determination to take the Mi Ke Li Cup.

So…

"Mawile!"

Spinning cherry blossom petals formed the cute Mawile. It landed lightly in the field, gazed at the Flygon assembled from countless green leaves in the distance, and glanced at the big screen.

Five minutes?

No need — three minutes would be plenty.

It lightly clenched its tiny fists, its smile blooming like a profusion of flowers. "Mawile~"

'Begin.'