Chapter 522: A Perfect Victory!

Rumble rumble rumble—

The thunder roared down like a raging torrent, but unexpectedly did not spread across Galarian Rapidash's entire body.

Instead, it strangely stagnated upon its spiraling pitch-black long horn, and the bursting light obediently illuminated those eyes — calm, yet tinged with a hint of disdain.

【Attack in lieu of defense】!

All Baimu's brow furrowed slightly, and he ordered at top speed: "Mirror Coat!"

"Little LieLie! Bounce it back!"

Miss Liuqi's cheerful voice followed right after.

The words had barely fallen.

"Siiillll—"

The spiraling pitch-black long horn dropped sharply like a staff, and the dazzling thunder blasted downward toward the descending shiny Milotic, like a spear of lightning cleaving across the sky!

In an instant.

The serpentine body of the shiny Milotic was pierced by the lightning spear; the rampaging electric current spread over it like a great net, and the intense numbness and searing pain made it scream.

"Mikero!

"

Vivian clenched her fists and shouted: "Magnificent technique! Although the shiny Milotic converted all of Wild Charge's current into its own power, in the face of Horn Drill, it became a reversed blade that harmed itself instead!"

The judges were full of amazement, and Mi Ke Li wore a smile.

And on the big screen, All Baimu's score was immediately deducted by a quarter.

As a core technique of the Grand Festival mastered by Adam, 【Attack in lieu of defense】 has stood the test of time and is a high-level technique recognized by all lovers of glamour.

The result of a clean hit on the opponent was plain to see — losing points was only natural.

But after fully tasting the agony, the silver-snake-like lightning still had not faded; instead, it flowed into the shiny Milotic's body, which shimmered with seven-colored light, and gathered into a dazzling, enormous orb of radiance.

The energy rippling ceaselessly in the air, as its sharp gaze fell upon Galarian Rapidash, transformed into a pillar of light wreathed in electric serpents and shot toward it!

"Little LieLie…"

Miss Liuqi's voice was drowned out.

Boom—!

The destructive force instantly vaporized a great amount of pool water; white mist rose and shrouded everything, leaving Galarian Rapidash, which stood proudly atop the pool, with nowhere to dodge.

Crash!

A tremendous splash was blasted skyward, swallowing everything!

On the big screen, through the spray of water droplets, All Baimu and Miss Liuqi wore different expressions.

The venue fell silent for a moment.

Wow!

A tide of uproar rose in waves across the spectator stands.

Less than two minutes had passed, yet the fierce clash between the shiny Milotic and the shiny Galarian Rapidash left many in awe.

Too spectacular!

The two sides seemed to have rehearsed in advance, always managing to react to the opponent's offense in the shortest possible time.

Even the finals of a Grand Festival couldn't be much better than this, could they?

Especially the scenes that had just unfolded.

When Galarian Rapidash charged in, everyone assumed the shiny Milotic would be shocked into floating up — but instead, the latter not only absorbed all the current, but even burst out of the water to launch a counterattack.

Just as it counterattacked, the Galarian Rapidash on the other side was not to be outdone, miraculously using 【Horn Drill】 to force the current right back.

When the current struck the shiny Milotic, the audience all thought it was finally over?

Not over!

Mirror Coat was brought out!

The shiny Milotic attacked Galarian Rapidash once more, and even doubled the power of the awakening electricity it had fired!

Yet in such a fast-paced contest, the latter ultimately fell a step short, unable to pull off a second 【Attack in lieu of defense】 — otherwise the scene would surely have been terrifying.

This was also a shortcoming Miss Liuqi needed to grow past.

Mi Ke Li hummed a light, cheerful tune.

"Yaa~ Holding the Mi Ke Li Cup back in Hoenn is just wonderful~!" he said, beaming.

The spray settled, and the white mist dispersed.

The shiny Milotic and Galarian Rapidash gazed at each other, both panting; each bore wounds of varying degrees on its body, proving the struggle just now had inflicted considerable damage on them.

Their scores were nearly tied — Attack in lieu of defense truly scores well, but Mirror Coat was no slouch either.

Seeing this scene, Miss Liuqi only then realized that All Baimu had actually not been surprised at all by Galarian Rapidash's Attack in lieu of defense; the furrowed brow had merely been to deceive her.

She had truly fallen for it!

But fortunately, it had not led to any irreparable result.

Next… recover? attack?

"Water Ring!"

"Morning Sun!"

Both chose the former, and only issued commands once their Pokémon had caught their breath.

At present.

A sapphire-blue ring of water rippled around the shiny Milotic, and water droplets continuously sank into its skin, rapidly healing the external wounds.

On the other side, Galarian Rapidash neighed and raised its forelegs; its supple sky-blue and Bai Yu-like mane streamed in the wind, allowing bright sunlight to bathe its entire body, and a jade-green glow enveloped it completely.

【Morning Sun】, as a move for rapid recovery in a short time, was ultimately somewhat stronger than 【Water Ring】.

A short while later.

Galarian Rapidash's outward condition had basically recovered, but the shiny Milotic was in much worse shape — the clear gap in performance caused All Baimu's score to be docked.

Although the deduction wasn't large, it still left the latter quite dissatisfied.

Having no self-regeneration was fatal whether viewed from a battling angle or from a Contest angle.

Half the time was already gone.

It looked fairly ample, but in reality it might come down to a single chain of consecutive attacks; if there were any stalemates, those two and a half minutes might not even be enough.

Take down Galarian Rapidash in one decisive push!

He looked across at Miss Liuqi, and without a doubt Trainer Liu shared the same thought — her eyes burned bright, as if shining with divine light.

"Attract!"

"Play Rough~!"

The two issued commands in succession.

"Milo~"

The shiny Milotic blew a wink at Galarian Rapidash, and a pink heart, plump and wiggling, bounced high toward the latter.

However—

Facing such a dazzling charm attack, Galarian Rapidash's expression was utterly indifferent; it lowered its head slightly, broke into a stride, and charged straight at it!

Poof!

The pink heart was pierced by the horn and burst like a balloon.

With Attract missing, the Fairy-type energy transformed into pink streams of light that completely enveloped Galarian Rapidash's lithe body; it neighed loudly, and its four hooves striking the water's surface produced a dense clatter of crisp sounds.

At first listen it sounded like a cavalry charge!

"Waterfall!"

All Baimu raised his right hand; the shiny Milotic was wrapped in a glistening blue current of water, and with a booming sound it shot out of the water like a cannonball, leaping high into the sky!

"Neigh!"

Smoke drifted from the corners of Galarian Rapidash's mouth.

Its first charge having missed, it galloped all the way to the end of the field, quickly pulled off a hundred-and-eighty-degree turn, looked up at the shiny Milotic in the air, and stamped its four hooves heavily on empty air.

Then, it leaped up!

Clap!

Clap-clap-clap—

Amid the crisp clopping, Galarian Rapidash actually transformed into a wingless Pegasus, soaring up from the ground!

"Heart Flutter☆Sweet Dreams Come True~! Play Rough max~!"

Miss Liuqi danced in time with Galarian Rapidash's movements, drawing countless frenzied screams from fans; and on the strength of that alone, All Baimu's score was docked.

Without a doubt.

This was the judges observing and discovering that some kind of resonance had been produced between the Pokémon and the Trainer through dance or other forms.

Coordination was also one of the key points for a Coordinator Trainer.

All Baimu, however, was not flustered.

He stared at the shiny Milotic bathed in the water current; the instant the latter reached its peak and was forced to flip its body, and Galarian Rapidash had already caught up, he shouted: "Icy Wind!"

At the command.

The shiny Milotic's eyes blazed bright; an icy cold wind unconsciously burst from its mouth, and the exhausted but not-yet-dispersed water current and Water Ring around it were instantly frozen and solidified, turning it into a crystalline ice dragon.

Ice Waterfall!

Like an ice sculpture, the dazzling shiny Milotic displayed an incomparable beauty under the sunlight; amid the countless gasps of "Waaah!" from the audience, it crashed into the charging Galarian Rapidash!

The latter, with colorful stars trailing its long mane and tail, lowered its head, and its jet-black spiral horn collided with the very tip of the ice dragon!

Crack—

The ice shattered.

Galarian Rapidash's horn undeniably possessed a hardness that ice could not compare to, let alone with the Fairy-type energy locked in as a simple boost.

But…

"Got you."

The corner of All Baimu's mouth lifted slightly; the inexplicable smile made the originally confident Miss Liuqi tremble a little.

"Blizzard."

He pointed at the inescapable Galarian Rapidash.

Walking on water? Walking on air?

It was indeed a very cool pose.

But as a horse — even a Psychic horse — once it charges at full speed, turning to dodge isn't that simple, right?

"Mi—"

The shiny Milotic, its head emerging from the broken ice, took a deep breath: "Roo!

"

An endless blizzard of ice flowers blew from its mouth, forming a blizzard cold current that expanded from small to large, rushing straight at Galarian Rapidash's face and body.

"Use Dazzling Gleam!" Miss Liuqi's voice reached Galarian Rapidash's ears.

But it only made it flash slightly, and then it was completely frozen by the ice, turning into a horse of ice and snow that plunged heavily downward.

With a heavy splash it sent up countless sprays of water and sank beneath the surface.

The extreme reversal of fortunes left Vivian wide-eyed and slack-jawed; only after several seconds did she hurriedly shout:

"I-It's frozen! The shiny Milotic's Blizzard froze the Rapidash, making it fall beneath the water's surface! Could this be some kind of omen!?"

The excited voices drew countless eyes toward the big screen, where they saw Miss Liuqi's score had already dropped below half—and was still being deducted!

*Slap! *

The shiny Milotic followed it into the water, but didn't dare relax for even a moment, swiftly diving to the bottom.

"Little Lie Lie!"

Miss Liuqi kept calling out, trying to rouse the Rapidash Galarian at the bottom of the water. As a Psychic- and Fairy-type Pokémon, if it tried, it would definitely be able to hear her.

So she had no intention of giving up.

All Baimu likewise didn't think he had already won. He had to make sure Teacher Liu had no chance of a comeback. "Use Wrap to pull it up!"

The words had barely fallen.

*Peng De*—the water surface exploded with a bang, and the ice-sculpted Rapidash Galarian was sent to shore wrapped up by the shiny Milotic. The former was still frozen, its face covered in pure white frost, expression unreadable.

"Milo~"

The shiny Milotic coiled around its body like a snake, finding where its head was.

All Baimu said: "Let's give this naughty little horse a hand—Scald!"

*Puff! *

The shiny Milotic's cheeks flushed red, and a stream of scalding water immediately sprayed down, drenching the Rapidash Galarian's head and neck furiously.

Scald—if successfully released by a frozen Pokémon, it can thaw them out.

Hitting them with the move also thaws them.

White mist rose, the hissing sound making one's face feel scalded, and the Rapidash Galarian's white skin was indeed burned red like a ripe apple—frighteningly red.

"Sii-lu-lu…"

Once it came to, the Rapidash Galarian began to struggle, but All Baimu had already completely taught the shiny Milotic the serpent-binding technique he had learned from Brock and Adam.

So no matter how it thrashed, it couldn't break free, and could only passively receive the "holy water" baptism.

And so.

After being frozen, the Rapidash Galarian very smoothly got burned.

The constantly reddening areas on its face and neck made it show an expression of unbearable pain. Its key powerful hind hooves couldn't break free either, so it could only endure passively.

Miss Liuqi stopped dancing, but her shouting didn't stop, constantly cheering on her Pokémon.

Even if it was futile.

"Let's cool it down a bit, and put it out of its misery once and for all—Hydro Pump."

All Baimu's command completely took away the Rapidash Galarian's last sliver of hope.

"Milo~"

The shiny Milotic leaned its upper body back slightly, putting a little distance between itself and the furious Rapidash Galarian to make sure the move wouldn't hurt itself.

Immediately, countless glowing blue light points gathered before its mouth.

Then it blasted out fiercely!

*Peng! *

The glowing blue water column slammed into the Rapidash Galarian's face, completely shattering what little will it had left.

Miss Liuqi's cheering stopped.

*Beep—! *

A piercing whistle sounded.

"Time's up!"

Vivian excitedly waved her right hand and shouted to the wildly enthusiastic audience: "The match is over! The winner of this Mi Ke Li Cup finals is—Mr. Baimu and his Milotic partner! Let us congratulate this rising star on winning the Water Pillar Badge of the Mi Ke Li Cup at the Pokémon Contest!"

"

*Wah! *

Applause soared to the heavens, wave after wave of screams and cheers continuing deafeningly, declaring Baimu's victory.

"Milo~"

The shiny Milotic released the Rapidash Galarian and immediately plunged into the water, swiftly swimming to its trainer's side. Ignoring its wet body, it coiled up and pressed close.

"Milo~ Milo~!"

We won! We didn't lose! We won!

"Yes, we won again!" All Baimu smiled as he cupped the shiny Milotic's face, affectionately nuzzling it, completely not caring about the wet fur.

The shiny Milotic froze for a moment, then became even more excited. "Milo!"

At this point.

His five ribbons were complete. He no longer needed to participate in any event to step onto the official highest stage of the Pokémon Contest—the Grand Contest.

Even if it was only a regional-level event, it still possessed a prestige that didn't belong to the League Conference.

As for the Champion League…that was hard to say. Mi Ke Li's title of Master came from his own contributions to the Pokémon Contest; there wasn't any new event with Master as the final champion's title.

On the other side.

Miss Liuqi helped the exhausted Rapidash Galarian up, gently soothing its injured spots. "You worked hard, Little Lie Lie~"

"Sii-lu-lu…"

The Galarian Rapidash snuffed apologetically. It truly wanted to win this match for its trainer, thereby proving to the world the truth that the pupil surpasses the master.

…She had thought that not being interested in the shiny Milotic was half the battle won, but she hadn't expected that even without its Charm, the opponent was still this formidable!

"No shame in losing, and besides, we still have a chance to win it back!" Miss Liuqi giggled.

Yes.

There was still the Grand Contest!

She looked at All Baimu across the way, her gaze incomparably resolute.