Chapter 572: The Pinnacle of a Goose's Life

The pale blue diving orb flew high into the air.

Bang!

Amid a crisp sound.

Clear water flowed out from the opening, rushing down like a waterfall with a splashing roar, forming a pale blue curtain of water.

In the haze.

An illusory serpentine shadow danced behind it.

The dreamlike scene made the audience hold their breath, afraid to miss any detail, which gradually caused the venue to fall silent.

And when the azure curtain of water fell, the shiny Milotic flicked its fan-like long tail like a peerless beauty fresh from the bath, revealing a figure that radiated a resplendent golden brilliance before everyone.

"Milo~"

A languid bearing, gorgeous colored scales, eyes like rippling autumn waters, and hair-like fins as clear and pure as spring water.

Countless constituent elements ultimately combined into this Pokémon that many have hailed as the Goddess of Beauty.

Exclamations of wonder rose one after another.

With just its entrance, the shiny Milotic captured the hearts of a great number of the audience; even the judges' eyes lit up, gazing at the center of the stage with the look of people beholding a rare treasure.

As a special invited guest, A-Mi was full of amazement, her fair jade hands folded beneath her chin, clearly captivated body and soul.

In that instant.

"Rain Dance."

"Mii—lo—"

The shiny Milotic raised its upper body high, lifted its head with closed eyes, and sang a melodious long cry.

As deep and resonant as a whale's song, as clear and bright as a sparrow's chirp.

It made one unable to resist being lost in it.

Whoo~~

Moist winds, as if summoned by the song, came rolling in; wisps of white mist gathered from nowhere, ethereal as clouds and smoke, encircling the center of the stage.

Pitter-patter…

Cool, fine rain fell gently.

The raindrops flowing across every part of the shiny Milotic's body instantly made it seem like a statue released from petrification; it let out a pleasant cry and leaped sharply, rolling into the already low-lying clouds and mist.

Flickering and graceful.

"Mi~lo~"

Wandering freely within the clouds and mist, the shiny Milotic fully displayed a beauty that was both gentle and elusive.

The next instant.

The clouds and mist swept around the shiny Milotic's body.

The instant it landed, they transformed into countless tiny, crystal-clear water droplets that shot out in all directions, forming a dazzling curtain of light beneath the sun.

As well as a rainbow bridge beneath the azure sky!

Wow!

Countless audience members excitedly broke into applause, with praise and admiration flowing endlessly.

Some were overjoyed, some were reluctant to part, and in the end, all were guided by the Munchlax fan club to call out one name in unison—

"Milotic! Milotic! Milotic!"

The shouts of tens of thousands of people pierced the clouds!

The judges beside the stage exchanged glances, all smiling and nodding in approval, briefly offering their comments and pressing in their scores.

Patstein: "To be able to present the subtle, hazy beauty to such a degree—Contestant All Baimu's artistry is as superb as always."

Yanase: "Hmph! Hiss—"

Miss Miss Qiao Yin: "Although the Coordinator and the Pokémon appear to interact very little, in reality their eye contact is extremely frequent—you can tell their hearts are connected~"

A-Mi: "In just one move, Milotic's appearance, dance, and singing voice were each displayed; the falling rain also makes Milotic, a Water-type Pokémon, look even more vibrant! Being able to see a performance like this, the trip was truly worthwhile~"

Beep beep beep beep.

Amid All Baimu and the shiny Milotic's courteous bow.

His score came out—

98.

The scoring rule for the Gorgeous Grand Festival is a total of one hundred points, but all judges score based on one hundred; after averaging, if there is a decimal, it rounds up regardless of the value.

In other words.

The shiny Milotic's exact score range is greater than 97, and less than or equal to 98.

But whether 97 or 98, All Baimu is currently the highest scorer, standing at the peak overlooking all the contestants below.

And Miss Liuqi, who had used "about to take the stage" as an excuse to avoid Coach Ge Man, was actually ranked two places behind him.

Therefore, after All Baimu finished, he didn't leave, but stopped at the exit to wait for her to appear.

The preliminaries were quick.

All Baimu had waited less than two minutes when the previous contestant had already come off the stage nervously holding a score of 77, her hands clenched tightly with a tense expression as she passed by him.

According to data compiled by Gorgeous Contest enthusiasts online, a score above 80 is needed for a high probability of advancing to the main tournament; 77 was undoubtedly a very dangerous score.

Miss Liuqi took the stage smoothly.

As the Gorgeous Contest idol of Hoenn, the cheers she received upon appearing were far more than All Baimu's; she didn't even need the fan club to lead, as a large number of audience members had already put on jacket-like cheering outfits, holding up colorful cheering sticks and shouting with all their might.

"Liuqi! Liuqi! Liuqi!"

"Mama Liuqi loves you!"

"Liuqi, you must get a perfect score!"

Some people were even dancing as they shouted, and together with the others dancing around them, they were so perfectly in sync it looked like they'd rehearsed it.

Unfortunately, the preliminaries' restrictions didn't allow Miss Liuqi to sing her full solo album, which for someone who loves interacting with Pokémon and the audience counted as a certain kind of nerf.

That said, Miss Liuqi's ability hadn't fallen to the point where she couldn't score high without singing.

"Release our ☆ radiance!

"Jigglypuff—"

A shiny Galarian Rapidash with a mane like a fairy's hair appeared amid a dazzling burst of colored light. Miss Liuqi, wearing a kimono jacket over a short skirt with an inner lining, leaped up and sat sideways on its back, opening her mouth as it took soaring steps into the sky.

No lyrics, no accompaniment.

Miss Liuqi displayed her foundation as a performer—humming.

As white clouds happened to veil the sun at just the right moment, the shiny Galarian Rapidash transformed into a bright moon high in the sky, and Miss Liuqi became the 【Heavenly Maiden】 who appeared alongside it.

Hmm…

That title was spammed by viewers in the livestream chat of the grand festival.

"Her popularity is real—if this were the previous life, winning without enough brilliance would've gotten her flamed to death."

All Baimu had to be grateful that the people of the main region were of higher caliber. In the previous life, anyone famous but lacking results would get flamed no matter how dazzling they were, and saddled with all sorts of mocking nicknames.

Of course.

That didn't mean the internet was so harmonious there wasn't a single voice of criticism.

Not just in games—in the anime world too, Guzma, who was likewise promoted as possessing strength rivaling a regional Champion and had repeatedly provoked Champion Dan Di in public yet never won, drew plenty of criticism.

Though he himself didn't seem to mind much, still posting selfies as always, plenty of people did have complaints about him.

All Baimu just hoped that in the future, those who had complaints about him wouldn't flame him too harshly.

Otherwise…

He wouldn't dare say about anything else, but Porygon-Z would definitely follow the internet cable over to beat someone up if it saw it, just like how it resented others flaming its Pokémon partners.

Porygon-Z also absolutely would not allow anyone to insult its Trainer.

While he was thinking.

Miss Liuqi's score came out.

96.

Two points lower than him.

All Baimu pricked up his ears to listen to the judges' reasoning for the score—incomplete environment and a lacking explosive entrance.

The environment issue was that the Galarian Rapidash simulated the moon with 【Moonblast】 during daytime; although the effect was already very strong, the routine was better suited to an enclosed or semi-enclosed venue.

And the entrance not being stunning enough was due to the influence of All Baimu and his shiny Milotic.

Had she gone on stage earlier, her score might've been 97 or even 98.

"What a shame."

All Baimu raised his right hand.

"Hmph, you brat! Consider yourself temporarily in the lead!" Miss Liuqi laughed and raised her hand to high-five him, completely unaffected by her lower score.

The two returned to the prep room.

Since preliminaries had to be decided within a single day, time was tight.

They didn't even have time to exchange words with Dawn before the latter forced a wry smile, waved her hand, and left the prep room to wait for her turn on stage, while Lillie was nowhere to be seen at all.

Coach Ge Man, however, seemed to have something more to say, but before she could get close, All Baimu repelled her with a smile.

"Gck…"

That face, horrifying enough to make one tremble, was identical to the expressions of the lackeys from Iron Town who'd opposed him after their defeat.

"Surprisingly effective."

He lowered his head in thought.

During his training at the Ecruteak Gym, Teacher Adam had briefly taught a lesson on having Pokémon channel their aura, and as it turned out, Mawile and the others hadn't been able to master it in the short term.

Instead, he as a Trainer had inexplicably picked it up.

Sure enough, some things weren't only usable by Pokémon—or rather, humans really had once been Pokémon themselves.

"What's wrong?"

Miss Liuqi looked at him curiously.

"Nothing, just wondering how much knowledge Teacher Adam crammed into me during that one month," All Baimu replied softly.

She had completely ignored Coach Ge Man, so naturally she hadn't noticed what had just happened either.

Miss Liuqi said proudly: "Of course it's knowledge that'll benefit you for life! Great-granduncle-master is amazing! He used to be invited to be a judge at grand festivals all the time—he just declined these past two years."

"Oh? There's such a thing!"

"Would this master of yours lie to you? Let me tell you…"

Miss Liuqi began quietly recounting Adam's glorious past in the Contest world, looking just like a little child bragging about how impressive their parent was.

——

Time flowed away like running water.

The first day of the Hoenn Grand Festival.

The preliminaries concluded successfully before five in the afternoon.

Close to the advancement score predicted online, the 64th-ranked contestant advanced with a total of 81 points, while over a hundred Coordinators who had earned five ribbons departed in dejection.

Such fierce competition only made the audience look forward to the main competition tomorrow all the more.

And in the preliminaries.

All Baimu sat at the top with the highest score of 98, followed by Miss Liuqi with 96, and after her—

Dawn, with 94 points.

His partner Pokémon Pachirisu, relying on 【Charge】, sketched a simple lightning drawing on the ground.

93 points for Urara.

His partner Pokémon Jigglypuff, relying on 【Disarming Voice】 and the Aroma Veil ability to float into midair and compose a seven-colored musical score — the expressiveness had to be said, was wonderful.

If paired with a Pokémon skilled at soprano, the score might have been even higher.

What a pity.

Even if one is born with the conditions to sing high notes, without dedicated practice it's mostly very hard to master them to a usable degree, let alone bring them out at a grand festival.

While watching Jigglypuff perform, All Baimu couldn't help but regret that if it had obtained the high-note memory from that musician's Jigglypuff, it would surely have been a better fit than Blissey and the shiny Milotic.

Don't be fooled by the shiny Milotic's voice being slightly stronger than the former — in reality both are only at the level of barely being usable.

Moving on.

There were still five contestants above 90 points.

Among them only one was an acquaintance — Mira, 90 points, partnered with a Lumineon whose fins resembled butterfly wings; she was clearly planning to bring Milotic to the main tournament.

The rest, like Coach Ge Man and Ayajuang and others, were basically around 85 to 87.

Did his smile-scaring have any effect on him?

All Baimu glanced at Coach Ge Man in the corner, clearly very unwilling, recalled the expression and state when this guy sent out Medicham to perform, and figured probably not.

Night.

A big dinner with acquaintances.

Not only were there Ash, Brock, and Urara, All Baimu had also brought Hu Pa and the Balza siblings, who had just arrived in LaRousse City that afternoon.

At their first meeting, Mei Mei Yali had been exposed by Hu Pa as his fan, and later said she would come watch his matches; he had always assumed it was just polite talk.

He hadn't expected her to actually come to the Mi Mi Ke Li Cup.

This made All Baimu a bit ashamed — Hu Pa and Mei Mei Yali had helped him so much, he should have been the one to take the initiative and invite them.

So for this Hoenn Grand Festival, he had not only covered the tickets but also arranged the hotel.

The Balza siblings and Hu Pa gladly accepted the invitation.

"Little white—"

Just as All Baimu had imagined, Hu Pa, transformed into a face-hugger, quickly locked eyes with the shiny Gengar, whose prankster talent had not yet awakened.

The two Ghost-type Pokémon stared at each other, then simultaneously revealed brilliant smiles.

"Hee-hee-hee-hee~"

"Kyah-hee-hee-hee~"

Not far away, Mei Mei Yali broke out in a cold sweat. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this."

"It's fine, there's a Dragonite keeping an eye on them."

All Baimu waved his hand.

The hidden Dragapult was speechless — it actually didn't quite understand why its trainer had so much confidence in it. Setting aside the shiny Gengar, was Hu Pa something it could stop?

Secretly filing little reports was already its limit.

Dragapult nimbly avoided all the people and Pokémon, quietly watching the shiny Gengar and Hu Pa.

On the other side.

Piplup was in a dilemma.

"Pip—"

On the left was the object of its secret crush — the world's cutest Mawile.

On the right was the shiny Milotic, one extra glance and its heart would race; it was probably already in love, but it absolutely dared not admit it.

"Kyun~"

"Milo~"

Both Pokémon showed it smiling faces; Piplup felt it had reached the pinnacle of its goose life, yet was also tangled in inner turmoil.

Who should it choose?

Piplup, torn, amiably chatted with Mawile and the shiny Milotic.

In the kitchen.

Dawn withdrew her gaze from it and said with a grin: "Piplup is really popular — it might just get a girlfriend!"

Hearing this, everyone simultaneously looked over in that direction.

"You're probably overthinking it. Mawile and Milotic clearly don't show any romantic interest in Piplup at all." Urara snorted lightly.

Miss Liuqi nodded along. "That's right. When a Milotic meets someone it likes, the long whiskers on its head will form the shape of a heart."

"Eh—"

Dawn couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed at this. "Then isn't Piplup just being one-sided?"

Brock, holding a ladle, said in a low voice: "Love… is sometimes this cruel. One-sided devotion often goes unrewarded."

Someone who's never even had a first love shouldn't talk like such a veteran of the romance battlefield.

All Baimu looked at this guy speechlessly, then looked again at Mawile and the shiny Milotic.

The former clearly still regarded Piplup as an interesting friend; for a Pokémon with few friends, the long-awaited reunion with Piplup naturally called for a good chat.

The shiny Milotic's interest in Piplup was out of curiosity — its trainer had told it that this little fellow's strength was extraordinary, and it very likely would compete with them for the final championship.

Speaking of which.

Whiskers bending into a heart shape?

He shifted his gaze to the Aggron that was chatting with Mamoswine, Garchomp, and other large Pokémon — had the shiny Milotic ever bent them for it?

He hadn't paid attention to that sort of thing.

Why didn't Teacher Adam teach breeding-related knowledge? Did he think he wouldn't need it?