Chapter 520: Quality Spirit

His psychic power traveled along the silk thread, seizing control of Beautifly with precision and speed.

"Screee—"

The latter, wrapped in a blue glow, let out a wail—only to realize halfway through that Chansey wasn't actually crushing its body, merely maintaining control while rapidly reeling in the silk thread.

"Happy~happy~"

Chansey's cheerful face resembled a fisherman who'd just netted a big fish, calling out something like a work chant as it pulled Beautifly right up in front of it.

Originally, Psybeam required targeting.

But with the String Shot serving as a medium for the psychic power, the targeting process—which was quite a headache for Chansey—was skipped entirely.

"Beautifly!"

May cried out in alarm, then thought, just as she'd suspected, that Chansey's reaction speed was absurdly fast, whether attacking or responding to the opponent's moves.

She hadn't even had time to order Beautifly to cut the threads.

"Send it into the water. Sing."

Baimu gave May no more time to think; following Chansey's Healer Warrior Egg set-up from the Contest, he prepared to sing Beautifly a sacred baptismal lullaby.

Once Beautifly's wings got wet, nearly half its combat power would be gone.

Add Sing on top of that.

The outcome was basically sealed.

After all, in a Pokémon Contest, as long as the opponent is hit by an appeal move, points get docked—absurdly friendly for a competitor like Chansey.

"Happy~"

Chansey's eyes glowed blue, still firmly controlling Beautifly's body, trying to drag it beneath the water.

However.

The instant Beautifly's wings touched the water's surface.

"Don't let it succeed! Fight back with Psybeam!"

May shouted at the top of her lungs.

Immediately after, Beautifly suddenly erupted with a powerful counter-force, its eyes flashing blue as well, clashing head-on with Chansey's psychic power!

Two Pokémon with no Psychic typing duking it out with Psychic-type moves—the sight looked rather comical.

But strangely enough, Chansey was actually losing its grip.

If it lost to a Psychic-type of the same level, he wouldn't have said a word—but a Bug- and Flying-type Beautifly, what right did it have…

No, wait.

Chansey hadn't lost!

Baimu's eyes narrowed as he realized Beautifly had actually concentrated all its resistance in its wings, completely ignoring its main body and letting Chansey control it freely.

The former had channeled its psychic power with precision down to specific body parts, so naturally it could resist—and even counterattack—the latter's power, which was spread across the whole body.

He glanced at the big screen out of the corner of his eye.

Sure enough, Mi Ke Li had noticed this too; even though the two were at a stalemate, his score was being docked in small increments.

…The will to resist, huh?

Baimu frowned. The special thing about Pokémon Contests was that being in the stronger position didn't guarantee your score wouldn't be deducted.

The core of the rules lay in showcasing the charm of Pokémon battling.

Undoubtedly, Beautifly's struggle and trade-off were also a kind of special beauty—at least the judges acknowledged it.

And an overly long stalemate had never been a point-gainer.

At this stage, since Beautifly had been the first to be hit by Psybeam, May's remaining score was much lower than his; only by maintaining an aggressive mindset while already ahead could he continue to expand the lead.

Want your wings back?

Then take them! All of them!

"End the hard control! Gravity!"

Baimu raised his hand and gave the order.

Chansey heard the command, the blue light in its eyes instantly dimming; then a layer of pink-purple light bloomed across its body like a flower bursting open. "Happy!"

May's face changed drastically. "Fly higher into the sky! Quick!"

The moment her words fell.

The Water Field was already completely enveloped in the pink-purple light Chansey had released, forming a massive hemisphere—then vanishing.

Silence fell all around for an instant.

Then.

A wordless crushing weight descended!

Beautifly, which had just relaxed and prepared to spread its wings and take flight, pupils dilated; as if struck on the head by a heavy hammer, it was forced to crash into the water.

Splash!

"Scree!?"

The gorgeous butterfly flailed about in the water in a panic.

Vivian shrieked, "Oh no! Beautifly still fell into the water!"

After all that calculation, it still couldn't escape the fate of its wings getting soaked—and even if they hadn't gotten wet, it still couldn't take flight under gravity, making it little different from a mere ornament.

The helpless struggle caused nearly a quarter of May's score to be deducted.

Her breath hitched, then quickly returned to normal.

As early as last night, she had obtained Baimu's Pokémon data from Masamune, which recorded nearly every move the opponent had ever shown in competition.

Naturally, she hadn't overlooked the move Gravity—in fact, she'd already been on guard against it.

Never expected the climb in altitude wasn't fast enough…

Fortunately, the opposing Blissey seemed to be affected by the residual silk threads, and the highly adhesive strands swayed in the wind and tangled around its legs, making it look rather flustered.

A chance!

"Full power! Spit silk in every direction!"

Haruka shouted, and the Frosmoth in the water hurriedly raised its head, firing countless pure-white, highly adhesive silk threads in all directions.

In an instant.

A massive String Shot web formed on the water's surface.

Frosmoth used this to escape the water, lying prone on the pure-white web to catch its breath.

Although it was a sorry sight, it had successfully escaped danger.

Haruka breathed a sigh of relief at this, but when she looked back at the opposing Blissey, she suddenly realized that at some point it had cupped its hands over its chest and was singing loudly.

"Happy~"

Colorful musical notes flew out, spreading to the Frosmoth on the web along with pale-white sound waves.

"Jii?"

It watched in panic as those notes sank into its body, and the next second its once lively eyes seemed to cloud over, closing of their own accord.

Frosmoth fell asleep.

"It worked! Blissey's Sing successfully put Frosmoth to sleep!" Vivian's excited cry echoed across the venue.

It was no wonder she was so worked up—the impact of sleep on a match was obvious.

Haruka also felt that Frosmoth had barely escaped the tiger's mouth only to fall into the wolf's den.

She fully understood the frustration Shun had felt during his battle: without being able to restrict the reaction speed of All Baimu's Pokémon, the opponent's offensive came like an endless flowing stream, giving her no room to breathe.

What to do?

What should she do?

The inner turmoil and frustration made her cry out passionately:

"Wake up!

Frosmoth!"

Her crisp voice rang out high and clear, seeming to carry a certain penetrating power.

All Baimu appeared calm on the surface but sighed inwardly.

Scattered moves were ultimately no match for a planned combo—if Blissey's opening "Perish Song" little performance had been completed, Haruka's score might have dropped to less than half.

And not like it was now…

Few points deducted, and it woke up instantly!

Frosmoth's eyes snapped open.

"Jii!"

"Sweet Kiss!" he shouted loudly.

"Happy!"

Blissey made a blowing-kiss motion, and a huge pink heart flew forward.

The opponent had gone from falling asleep to waking up in less than five seconds—at most one turn in a game—utterly outrageous.

Truly worthy of the Lucky Queen Haruka, who has repeatedly turned defeat into victory by relying on 【Borrowing】!

Vivian was equally full of admiration, her voice carrying through the microphone to the whole venue:

"Unbelievable! The Frosmoth that had just fallen asleep has immediately woken up! What kind of willpower is this!? I… huh?"

Before she finished speaking, Sweet Kiss struck Frosmoth on the forehead.

The latter didn't even have time to dodge.

Biu~

As if struck by Cupid's arrow, the Frosmoth lying on the web had hearts in its eyes, but soon the hearts turned into dots, and it wobbled its head as if drunk.

Points were deducted accordingly.

"Uh."

Having just escaped sleep, Frosmoth now entered confusion—even someone as tough as Haruka couldn't help being bewildered by these tide-like ups and downs.

When will this cycle of vengeance ever end?

This is the power of a quality Pokémon.

He sighed with deep feeling, still savoring the Frosmoth's instant awakening; he had originally planned to have Blissey use Heal Bell to cure its sleep state.

Who would have thought there was such a thing as instant awakening—waking up on its own just meant points deducted for him, didn't it?

All Baimu glanced at the big screen; his score had clearly dropped by nearly a quarter or more, and judging by the situation just now, he had clearly been in control of the battle the whole time…

Apparently Haruka's shout and Frosmoth's awakening were considered a manifestation of their bond… actually, was that really impossible?

However.

He glanced again at Haruka's score, which was less than half.

The sad part was that under the gravity field, even though Frosmoth used the web to stay away from the water, it still couldn't move quickly to dodge moves.

A pure living target, utterly powerless before a Blissey with so many varied moves.

"Snap out of it, Frosmoth! Use Silver Wind!"

How could Haruka be willing to give up here? As long as her score hadn't been deducted to zero and the time hadn't reached the last second, she still had a chance to turn defeat into victory!

Frosmoth was also fighting hard; although its expression was dazed and unsteady, it would occasionally become lucid.

It seized this chance with everything it had.

"Jii!"

In its cry, as Frosmoth rapidly flapped its slightly damp butterfly wings, silver wind blades mixed with sparkling scales shot toward Blissey!

Its power was swift and fierce beyond compare, as though it had triggered the Swarm Warning ability.

But what met the silver wind blades was a shimmering blue screen of light with irregular flowing edges.

Puff puff puff—

The wind sounds turned muffled.

"This is…"

Xiaoyao stared in astonishment at the pale blue screen, which the wind blades had dented inward like rubber into a massive drooping curve, looking as though it could tear open at any moment, unable for the moment to identify what move this was.

"Psychic."

All Baimu answered her question with a smile.

Immediately.

Blissey's eyes lit up brightly, and the dented screen of light suddenly transformed into a bow drawn to its absolute limit, bouncing every last silver wind blade back!

Attack as defense — Blissey edition!

Puff puff puff puff—

In an instant the wind blades sliced through the web in the pool, sending Huntail plunging into the water.

"Nani!?"

Xiaoyao's face was full of shock — bouncing a move back with another move… wasn't that Mr. Adam's technique?

The sight of Gyarados using Horn Drill to bounce back a Thunderbolt was still fresh in her memory; over the years she had not failed to try mastering it herself, but the progress had never gone smoothly.

Was All Baimu's move the same as Mr. Adam's?

There was no time to think further — what was more urgent right now was the Huntail that had fallen into the water once again.

"Use String Shot again—"

"Pull it up."

Xiaoyao and All Baimu's commands came one after the other, but compared to the choking, floundering Huntail, Blissey moved faster — after all, the screen of light created by Psychic had not dissipated.

The screen of light transformed into a great net and plunged into the water, ensnaring Huntail and hauling it up from the bottom to right in front of Blissey.

"Sing."

"Happy~"

Blissey showed a kindly smile at the dizzy Huntail, reached out to gently soothe its drenched body, and began to sing a lullaby.

The loving expression moved Young Lady Joy on the judges' panel to tears.

"Wake up! Huntail!"

Xiaoyao shouted in panic, wanting to try the same trick again, but this time the latter was sleeping more thoroughly.

All Baimu said, "Finish it. Heal Bell."

"Happy~~"

Blissey closed its eyes and, as if in prayer, released waves of pink light that rang out with the crisp chime of silver bells, encircling Huntail's body.

The latter's tightly furrowed brow immediately relaxed.

And on the big screen, Xiaoyao's score was less than a quarter remaining.

But the countdown had reached zero.

Beep—!

The whistle was rather shrill.

"The match is over!"

Vivian shouted, swinging her arm down. "The contestant advancing to the finals is — Mr. All Baimu!"

Clap clap clap—

A wave of enthusiastic applause rang out.

Xiaoyao stared at All Baimu and Blissey's portraits on the big screen, drew in a deep breath, and let out a heavy sigh.

What should she say?

Tough to deal with?

Indeed, tough to deal with — although Blissey had used Psychic, its purpose had never been to attack; with nothing but a pile of varied moves it had driven her into a corner.

Especially Gravity — she had assumed that as long as she climbed high enough in time, reaching a height beyond the gravity field's reach, it would be fine.

She hadn't expected not to make it in time at all.

"All Baimu-san, you're really amazing."

Xiaoyao shook hands amicably with All Baimu at the venue, speaking sincerely from the heart.

"Thank you for the praise — Huntail's willpower also left me in awe."

He returned the compliment in kind.

To be fair, during the match he had actually been worried the whole time that Xiaoyao would pull a sudden power-up like in the anime and produce some unreasonable scene.

But luckily, fate was on his side.

Letting Xiaoyao have one small power-up was about all it took to end things.

Hmm…

Perhaps it had to do with the dedicated power-up BGM being gone?

All Baimu, who knew the anime well, was aware that every major character in Pokémon had their own dedicated power-up BGM, with Ash as the series protagonist having the most.

But at a Van Gogh moment, the background music would appear and instantly be turned up to maximum.

Trying to win after that would be hard.

Of course.

There were also cases of losing to one's own BGM, but those weren't many — the basic law still held fairly well.

The two returned to the preparation room.

Xiaoguang and Miss Liuqi had already headed to the player tunnel to take their positions, and the first to greet them was, without question, Xiaosheng. After offering Xiaoyao a few words of comfort, the latter couldn't help but ask All Baimu what the deal was with that Psychic move.

The situation?

It's nothing more than yet another variant of a move.

The Psychic shield I secretly learned from Champion Dawu, combined with the concepts of trading offense for defense—power reduction, reversal, and counterattack—naturally gave birth to this rather odd form of expression.

But it's still a long way from Adam's trade-off-for-defense; Chansey's Psychic shield still can't take attacks from opponents of the same level, and can only bully "little kids."