Chapter 604: The Pond Gathering

Despite the Three-Headed Dragon trying its hardest.

But the final effect didn't reach Shan Ren's expectations.

"Is it because I didn't go Super Evolved?" Baimu sat on the single sofa in his bedroom, rotating the Sun Coral, his phone resting on a small table beside him, showing an ongoing call.

Shan Ren: 'No, it's because your popularity has started hitting a bottleneck.'

More than two weeks since the grand, splendid celebration, promotional coverage about him never stopped; after this repeated mention, online reactions to his name had grown fatigued.

Many began paying attention to other contestants.

Like that girl from Dragon Village who saved a drowning little girl before the match and then climbed trees like a hyperactive Monkey to escape the scene.

Illima, a girl highly popular among female fans, whom he never met.

And a bunch of unknown but widely recognized elite Trainers.

Television called this year's Hoenn Grand Festival a blossoming of a hundred flowers; Baimu only hoped it truly lived up to that description.

'Bottleneck…'

Shan Ren: 'But your fanbase has stabilized—that's good. Just keep competing; the rest is up to me.'

Results are the foundation of all popularity.

So this kid only asked for improvements in the preliminary round's showmanship.

'You're more nervous than I am.'

Baimu faintly heard the faint anxiety beneath Shan Ren's reassuring tone and laughed: 'So you don't believe in my strength?'

Shan Ren: 'It's not that I don't believe in you… I just suddenly got nostalgic. When I competed in Grand Festivals before, I always thought I'd surely win—only to find out there's always a higher mountain.'

Recalling their first meeting at the Yellow Iron Arena, the commentator had said he'd achieved outstanding results in three regional Grand Festivals.

In other words, he hadn't won a single one.

Clearly, while Shan Ren was a specialist in Psychic-type Trainers, his battle talent wasn't particularly outstanding.

But his administrative abilities were incredibly strong.

Not only had he turned Yellow Iron Town into a thriving hub, he'd also managed to support Baimu's side, developing the Orre region from both inside and out—citing Galar Alliance Chairman Lutz as his model was no empty boast.

He laughed: 'Hahaha, rest easy, Town Lord—I'm way stronger than you!'

'…Thanks.'

After a few more brief words, Baimu hung up the call.

The long-awaited Three-Headed Dragon scurried over eagerly for praise, 'Shasong~ Shasong~!'

It had shouted itself hoarse—surely this met the Trainer's expectations now?

'Keep it up!'

Baimu grabbed its central head and rubbed it back and forth like playing with a dog, making the Three-Headed Dragon sneeze repeatedly with its head buried.

The Sun Coral on its knees suddenly felt as if it were being drenched in a 'rainstorm.'

Sun Coral: '…'

Clearly, normal Pokémon and livestock can't coexist!

Fortunately, the Trainer quickly cleaned it off, even applied polish—its surface gleamed like a mirror.

Looking at the Sun Coral's shell, now faintly reflecting his own image, Baimu nodded in satisfaction; after half a year of effort, he'd finally polished it successfully.

Tsk tsk tsk.

He ignored the Sun Coral's disgusted candle-like eyes, feeling a small sense of pride.

Shan Ren's call wasn't to report on the preliminary round's promotional results—he told Baimu that Da Zhuang and the others, originally scheduled to come to Hoenn to watch his match, had boarded the wrong ship.

They'd meant to take the direct ferry, but ended up on a luxury cruise that traveled toward Kanto while sightseeing along the way.

Hard to understand.

How could you board the wrong ship if the names were different?

These guys were as dumb as ever.

In short, if no other options arose, they'd probably make it just in time to see him win the trophy… which was fine; at least they'd get to see him outside Orre.

After confirming they were safe, Baimu stopped worrying about them.

Though nominally still their leader, such a stupid mistake by a group of adults—just not giving them a good smack on the head was generous enough; why go out of his way to ask Hu Pa to pick them up?

Let them learn from their own mistakes! Bad luck is part of any journey!

Since Shan Ren saw Baimu had no intention of sending that miraculous Pokémon to fetch them, he said nothing more—after all, the Rainbow Team's boss didn't care, why should he?

In the living room.

Jigglypuff was watching TV.

But no matter how many times it switched channels, the screen always showed the opening ceremony after yesterday afternoon's preliminaries.

'Kee-doh!'

It was annoyed.

Baimu walked over and patted its head: 'Enough. Go play with your phone—why would the TV station broadcast something like this?'

Hearing he could play with his phone, Jigglypuff immediately dropped the remote and ran into the bedroom.

This thing…

Baimu tugged at his lips, his gaze fixed on the TV screen showing the opening ceremony.

Yesterday afternoon.

Inside the Grand Festival's main arena.

Solemn symphonic music echoed overhead, countless colorful balloons and ribbons tore through the sky, and tens of thousands of spectators waited with bated breath.

Over two hundred contestants filed in one after another, basking in cheers from all directions.

Some nervous, some excited, some boldly waving to the audience, others glancing furtively left and right—each stepping onto the prepared stage with a hundred different emotions.

Suddenly.

Someone came sprinting out of the tunnel with the Sacred Flame held high, and the instant they appeared the stands erupted in thunderous cheers!

The runner was none other than All Baimu, the final torchbearer.

He ran up the long flight of steps with steady strides, all the way to the highest point of the central arena, and under the gaze of everyone present plunged the Sacred Flame into the colossal brazier.

Whoosh!

The towering pillar of fire that leapt up at once burst into radiance, illuminating the arena beneath the dusk.

Damarangy stood at the very front, delivering his address in measured cadences.

"Trainers chosen from among a thousand, the Sacred Fire of Moltres stands here to watch over you—give everything you have on this stage!

"Fight with honor, so that your lives hold no regrets!"

Wah!

Deafening applause swept across the entire venue.

All Baimu pulled his gaze back and glanced at his watch.

"Just about time."

The group assignments for the first round of the main tournament—also called the Preliminary Championship—were about to be announced.

The format was Doubles, best of three: choose two Pokémon for a doubles match, and winning all three bouts in a row secures the final victory.

And doubles happened to be the signature feature of the Hoenn League Conference—ordinary conferences never had it.

Beep!

A soft chime came from his phone.

It was unmistakably the group assignments from the Pokémon Center.

"Court Thirteen, huh…"

All Baimu glanced at his opponent and was about to have Porygon-II pull up that trainer's data from its database, when a rapid pounding came from outside the door.

He opened the door, and three little girls plus one boy as delicate as a girl were blocking the entrance, each holding or carrying a fragrant golden pineapple bun and clutching a big plastic bag in hand.

"We bought them back!"

Miss Liuqi thrust the pineapple bun under his nose like a prized offering.

"It does smell great—good work."

All Baimu nodded.

Among the many delicacies of Miare City, this Conference-limited pineapple bun counted as a rare treasure one simply had to try—May had eaten one and praised it highly.

Miss Liuqi had therefore risen early for once just to queue up and buy pineapple buns, dragging the others along; only All Baimu and Yamatsumi were on a call, so she hadn't disturbed them.

As for why five people went but only four came back…

The seller must have been a pretty big sister, right? Some narrow-eyed someone had fallen for her over there.

All Baimu said to Alice: "The group assignments just came in on my phone—remember to check yours."

"Eh? They're already out?"

Alice excitedly whipped out her phone and started scrolling, while Miss Liuqi and Kotone leaned over curiously, the three girls squeezing together.

Mitsumichi was curious too, but he couldn't bring himself to squeeze in—he could only look at All Baimu with eager, pleading eyes.

The latter was amused by his gaze. "Porygon-II! Cast it to the TV!"

"Pory!"

Porygon-II responded, and the long list of names instantly replaced the picture on the television.

The three girls shifted their gaze over as well—after all, a phone screen was still too small for three heads to crowd around.

Once they had found each person's battle court and opponent.

Miss Liuqi said with relief: "Good thing you two aren't competing at the same time!"

Although their original intent was to come watch the matches and have fun, Miss Liuqi and the others also hoped to help All Baimu and Alice in whatever way they could, so the two wouldn't have to worry about anything else.

"There's a half-hour gap between matches! That's plenty of time for us to run back and forth a few times! No problem at all!"

Miss No-Problem said cheerfully.

Mitsumichi offered no opinion on the matter—he was a little afraid of Miss Liuqi.

Because after yesterday's matches ended, All Baimu had looked at Miss Liuqi's group cheerleader outfit and suddenly laughed as he asked them to make one for him too, so the picture would look neater.

He thought All Baimu was joking, so he grumbled a couple of lines and didn't take it seriously.

But last night Miss Liuqi came over to measure his three measurements!

Mitsumichi was terrified out of his wits, fled downstairs in the dead of night and hid for nearly two hours before daring to come back up, and this morning when Miss Liuqi woke him to go buy pineapple buns he ducked into the bathroom and refused to come out.

He didn't show his face until Miss Liuqi apologized.

However.

He secretly felt Miss Liuqi's scheming heart had not died, and that she had even egged Kotone and Alice on to form a faction.

But with no proof he couldn't be sure.

——

Afternoon.

Court Thirteen, small arena.

Main tournament doubles, first round, battle one.

In just ten minutes, the vast arena was packed to the rafters, countless eyes fixed on the two preparing contestants in eager anticipation.

"So many people."

All Baimu rubbed his hands together—he had nearly been swallowed by the frenzied crowd when he came in.

Fortunately the Conference Secretariat's security was extremely solid, and they had safely escorted him into the arena to prepare himself and his Pokémon.

Obviously, the fans who had blocked the road so thoroughly were the regular fan group Shanren had mentioned on the phone. So how many of the spectators in the stands had come because of his reputation?

And how many had come for his opponent?

Baimu looked up toward the opposite side, and just then his opponent—a green-haired youth in close-fitting attire—was also gazing at him.

The two smiled readily, exchanging a friendly signal.

Based on Porygon2's analysis of the available intelligence, the strength this person had revealed so far could rank in the top fifty among all contestants—relatively a sturdy fish in the Fish Pond Tournament.

When Baimu served as gym leader, he had seen plenty of trainers like this, and he believed he could have a back-and-forth battle.

Mm…

Is that a bit arrogant to say?

He saw the referee take position with two flags, stood up and walked toward the trainer's seat, while his opponent also came to the designated spot, unable to wait any longer.

The referee looked at the two.

The commentator's voice came through the broadcast.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the first match in Arena Thirteen will be between Contestant Baimu from Iron Town, and Contestant Koibei from Katakuriko Town!"

Katakuriko Town is located in the Sinnoh region, appearing only in the anime, and is also where Princess Salvia, who bears a resemblance to Bai Guang in appearance, resides.

As in the preliminaries, the Pokémon each side chose were registered before entry; they were not allowed to be changed casually except under special circumstances.

So when the referee raised the two flags, both sides immediately threw out their Poké Balls.

Pop pop!

Four beams of white light flickered.

On Baimu's side, Porygon2 and Galarian Corsola appeared. The latter rolled many times before stopping, drawing waves of laughter from the stands.

What kind of Pokémon are these two? One looks like a toy duck, the other a stone full of holes?

Many people were seeing Porygon2 and a Corsola from the Galar region for the first time, and at a glance thought Baimu had accidentally released the wrong Pokémon.

Only after the commentator explained the origins of Porygon2 and Corsola, and Porygon2 floated up from the ground while Corsola extended its smoky tentacles, did they suddenly realize.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side.

Koibei released a fierce-looking Drapion and a Jumpluff that looked like a dandelion that had cultivated into a spirit. Staring at these two Pokémon he was completely unfamiliar with, he was stunned by the commentator's voice.

Not a single one of them had ever appeared before!

He had done his homework too. Plenty of people online had compiled a list of Pokémon Baimu had used, even making a detailed table recording the moves, tactics, and so on.

But that data didn't include Porygon2 and Galarian Corsola!

Inside the field.

Seeing Koibei's dumbfounded expression, Porygon2's round eyes immediately curved into two crescents.

Undoubtedly, the intel on the trainer and his companions had been actively leaked and spread by Baimu at Porygon2's initiative. Because it was excessively detailed and professional, the scattered data others had collected got very few viewers.

Everyone came to reference its version instead.

It was certain this human called Koibei had seen that data and done his homework.

"Pri~"

The trainer really is amazing!

Porygon2's delighted expression was captured by the camera and shown on the big screen, and many spectators couldn't help but feel this strange Pokémon was a little cute.

Meanwhile, Corsola glanced at the big screen, the corners of its mouth turning down in weary resignation.

It hated battling under so many people's gaze. Finish early, get off the field early, and grab a pineapple bun on the way—the trainer had bought quite a few.

Corsola thought to itself.

At the same time.

The referee lowered the raised two-colored flags. "Begin!"

Ding!

The sharp sound immediately jolted the stunned Koibei awake. He quickly issued commands, his eyes fixed on Baimu, who had given orders a beat faster in the distance.

"Drapion, use Vital Throw! Jumpluff, use Tailwind!"

Unfortunately, the arena was too noisy and his opponent too far away—he couldn't hear what command Baimu had given at all.

The instant the two trainers issued their commands, the four Pokémon began moving almost in sync.

The first to act was Jumpluff.

This Pokémon, which looked like a blue balloon with three dandelions stuck into it, floated into the air, and a faint, pure-white wind coiled up behind it.

Drapion swiftly plunged its front claws into the ground, and the claw at the tip of its long tail jabbed repeatedly at various parts of its body.

An orange-red airflow rose from beneath it, signifying that one of its stats had been boosted.

It was hard to tell by the naked eye which stat had been raised.

Fortunately, the Pokédex had the ability to detect the current status of registered Pokémon, and the tournament didn't forbid contestants from pulling out their Pokédex, as long as it didn't interfere with the match.

Koibei quickly glanced—

Speed! Nicely done!

He unconsciously showed a look of delight.

The next instant.

As Porygon2's eyes suddenly lit up, four azure beams of light rose from the edges of the field, constructing the entire arena into something like a transparent glass room.

【Trick Room】!?

Koibei was dumbfounded.