Chapter 614: The Difference Is Clear At A Glance

Outside the competition venue.

A crowd had gathered.

The exchange between All Baimu and Yamei just moments ago had sparked a small wave of chatter.

After all, the latter had suddenly plopped down on the ground, while the former had walked off without offering a hand.

Did they have a fight?

What happened was certainly food for speculation.

Unfortunately, the spectator seats of the medium-sized venue were too far from the field, and the Rotom drone had been recalled, so they hadn't been able to hear the conversation between the two at all.

Miss Liuqi handed over the now-cold food and drinks, asking curiously, "What did you say to that person called Yamei earlier?"

"I cursed her out!"

All Baimu said with righteous conviction, "She mocked me and she mocked Mi Ke Li too — mocking me is fine, but mocking Mi Ke Li is not!"

Brock and the others, hearing this, stared at him in stunned silence.

Curse someone out?

You actually know how to curse someone out?

In their minds, All Baimu had always been the very embodiment of gentleness, composure, and doting affection toward Pokémon — someone who would never do something as extreme as cursing at another person.

Miss Liuqi, however, raised her brows at his words, turned around without a word, and headed back toward the venue.

Ash and Piplup hurriedly grabbed her, calling out, "Liuqi-chan! Don't do anything rash! Liuqi-chan! You're an idol of the Contest!"

"Pip-pip-pip—"

"How dare she badmouth my uncle! If I don't curse her out, I just can't swallow this!"

The girl said viciously.

Alice advised, "Don't lower yourself to that childish person — there are far too many unreasonable people in this world!"

"Right, right." Manchin nodded rapidly.

Brock, however, found it a little odd. "Why would Contestant Yamei mock Master Mi Ke Li? Master Mi Ke Li is the uncrowned king among Coordinators, the former Champion of the Hoenn region!"

All Baimu said, "Because she looks down on Coordinators — she thinks they're all just playing dress-up."

"What!?"

"Pip!?"

Ash and Piplup were shocked and furious, and stormed off toward the venue.

Alice and Manchin hurriedly held her back too. "Ash, calm down! Don't be like Liuqi! She's already gone!"

"Arguing with that kind of person is pointless — let's go watch the match instead, okay?"

After a bit of a ruckus.

The two angry girls plus one little penguin finally calmed down.

The group headed to Stadium A to watch Alice's match.

During the match.

All Baimu took out his phone and asked Porygon-II to help search for comments slandering Pokémon Contests and Mi Ke Li.

He certainly knew that nothing in this world could be liked by everyone — not even Pokémon and battles — but he was still very curious about how the two were regarded online.

So.

When Porygon-II laid the results before him, he wore an expression that said, "Just as I thought."

Ever since its inception, the Pokémon Contest had been mired in controversy — some people disliked it for copying the battle tournament format, while others thought it was absurd that victory or defeat depended on judges.

Others still felt the Contest was too superficial — that Trainers should be drawing out their Pokémon's true power rather than dressing them up to be eye candy, and so on.

Regardless of whether these people truly understood Pokémon Contests and Coordinators, similar comments did exist, and not a few of them.

The reason All Baimu had never noticed before was simply that the mainstream voices of support were too loud, while these people's voices were too faint — he had paid them no attention at all.

As for the points of controversy around Mi Ke Li — on one hand, the Pokémon Contest; on the other, the change of Champions.

The Champion's seat was the top position among all the Trainers of an entire region.

Back then, Mi Ke Li's abrupt resignation and the subsequent succession by former Champion Dawu had sparked a small-scale controversy.

A group of people and Trainers who disliked Pokémon Contests took the opportunity to snipe and stir up trouble — of course they wouldn't dare say it to the latter's face, but typing a few words online was easy enough.

Just like how Guzma got cold, mocking comments every time he lost to Champion Dan Di.

Later, when the Champion succession battle between Champion Dawu and Mi Ke Li was released, those slanderous comments were naturally drowned out by the cheers of supporters.

Even the net-surfing Trainers of the Pokémon world generally leaned toward positivity as the mainstream.

All Baimu had been online for so long and had never seen any popular internet term originate from sarcasm or insults — even professional critics didn't tend to be too sharp with their language.

An extreme Elite Four fan like Yamei was especially rare.

He hadn't expected to run into a "remnant."

Not worth mentioning.

He turned off his phone and put the matter out of his mind completely — this kind of person wasn't worth any more of his time.

But unlike the composed All Baimu.

Yamei's condition had steadily worsened since the match ended — even worse than that of her Pokémon that had been treated. At night, when she tried to sleep, the moment she closed her eyes she would think of that gaze, cold as if it wanted to devour her.

She had finally fallen asleep, only to dream of an especially terrifying scene and wake up in the middle of the night in a fright.

Early the next morning.

Nervously exhausted, she hurriedly boarded a ship and left Mele Island, not even waiting for the tournament to fully end — her only thought was to get far away from this nightmare-inducing place.

Post slanderous comments online to vent? Absolutely impossible.

Yamei trembled all over at the mere thought of that person, unable to eat or sleep in peace.

All Baimu probably couldn't imagine how much psychological shadow he had cast on his opponent — he had already put it out of his mind, focusing wholeheartedly on his new opponent —

Gao Mei.

When only sixteen contestants remained, he actually encountered an acquaintance—and right on the Water Stage.

Are opponents and stages truly assigned at random?

Suspicious.

——

Hall B.

Half an hour before the match.

Baimu and the eagerly awaiting Xiao Gang saw Gao Mei approaching gracefully.

The opponent also spotted them and walked over with a faint smile.

"Miss Gao Mei!"

Xiao Gang could no longer contain his excitement; he rushed forward, dropped to one knee, raised his right hand in a worshipper's pose, and said: "I am Xiao Gang. I once met you at the Whirlpool Island Tournament—do you still remember me? It's an immense honor to—Huh!"

"Gula~"

The right claw of the Badmouthing Frog precisely jabbed into his kidney, allowing the embarrassed Gao Mei to apologize to him before walking up to Baimu.

Gao Mei smiled gently: "You must be Mr. Baimu?"

"Yes, may I ask if you—"

"I'm sorry to intrude so abruptly—I deeply admire your performances in the Grand Showcases, and I'm also your opponent today, Gao Mei."

Gao Mei introduced herself.

She was extremely tall, wearing a silk-like long dress and high-heeled sandals, nearly level with Baimu's eyebrows.

It was almost exactly like her name.

Baimu was slightly surprised and replied politely: "It is my honor to be praised by such a beautiful lady."

"Thank you for the compliment. Your synergy with Meinas truly moved me—your performance and Grand Showcase battle were absolutely spectacular. I still often revisit them for study."

Gao Mei smiled sweetly, pulled out her phone, and showed it to him as if to prove her words weren't empty.

This time, Baimu was even more surprised.

She continued: "I've always looked forward to battling you. I never expected such good fortune—to actually meet you today. Please give me your full strength—I'll give you mine as well."

Gao Mei curtsied deeply, lifting her dress.

"Please don't say that—we'll just encourage each other," Baimu quickly reached out to gently hold her up.

Life truly is full of drama.

Yesterday I met a bizarre oddball; today I meet a gentle older sister like Gao Mei—beautiful, kind-hearted, and with such pleasant speech.

I remember in the anime she was very courteous to Azalea, even going out of her way to greet her.

He suddenly understood Xiao Gang's taste and turned his head to look at the guy.

He saw, to his shock, the man's face twisted with envy, tears streaming uncontrollably.

He quickly averted his gaze.

Afterwards,

Baimu chatted with Gao Mei for a while, took a photo with her, then parted ways. The arena audience had mostly taken their seats, and the referees and commentators had arrived.

Xiao Gang watched her retreating figure with reluctance and asked: "Baimu, please teach me how to attract older sisters!"

"I don't even know how to teach it myself. Stop it. Go to the spectator seats!"

He shoved the utterly unreasonable guy away.

Doesn't anyone like Xiao Gang?

It's not that he's unlikable—among women who like him, there are already famous ones like the Battle Frontier's Water Queen Xiao Ji and the Alola Island Queen Liza.

But for various reasons, all of them ended without result.

9:00 a. m.

The third round of the main tournament began on schedule.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for waiting! Please welcome Baimu from Huang Tie Town! And Gao Mei from Caky City on Red Rock Island!"

Baimu and Gao Mei each stepped onto their designated trainer positions.

Between them lay a vast blue pool, with several circular footholds scattered across it—but they were not floating platforms; they were pillars anchored to the pool's bottom.

This meant it was extremely difficult to destroy an opponent's foothold and force them into the water.

The referee raised his flag and signaled with his eyes for both sides to send out their Pokémon.

Gao Mei decisively threw her Poké Ball.

"Let's go! Sakura Fish!"

Boom!

A flash of Bai Guang.

A eel-like Pokémon with a long, needle-like mouth, vivid pink skin, and two shells stuck to its chest landed in the pool.

Sakura Fish—a Pokémon rarely seen due to its usual deep-sea habitat.

So far, Baimu had only encountered a live one in the Liusui Gym's ecological garden and had never battled one; Mi Ke Li preferred using its pre-evolved form, Pearl Shell.

The latter, when holding the Deep-Sea Fang, gained an extremely rapid Special Attack, and when its shell closed, its Defense became astonishing.

Baimu also sent out his Pokémon.

"Go on, don't be shy."

Boom!

"Lusuo!"

In midair, Dracovish shook its phantom tail, overwhelmed by the sea of adoring stares, and felt utterly uncomfortable.

For someone with social anxiety, this was about the deadliest situation possible.

But it didn't shrink back. It had spent all of last night psyching itself up, all so it could bring out its best condition for today's battle.

Don't look… don't look…

Dragapult took several deep breaths and finally managed to calm itself down.

Unlike its tense counterpart, the Dragoneggs in Kong Li were utterly calm, especially the little brother, who even had the mind to wave at the spectators.

"Hiyah~ Hiyah~"

The commentator caught sight of Dragapult and the Dragoneggs, gave a rough introduction, and laid out the special rules.

All Baimu heard what he was describing and raised an eyebrow.

Meanwhile, many spectators seeing this Pokémon for the first time were quite astonished, while those who had been to the Galar region to watch Champion Dan Di's Dragapult were getting excited.

"Dragapult?"

Gao Mei had also encountered it for the first time, and for the moment found it hard to judge what kind of abilities the opponent possessed.

The key thing was, in the intel she'd gathered on All Baimu, there was no mention of Dragapult either. The Pokémon he used in the Contest and the Pokémon he used in the League Conference were basically two completely different sets.

Successfully leaving many who'd been studying the Pokémon on his team completely in the dark.

The referee didn't give the two of them too much time to size each other up, and swiftly waved the flag down.

"Battle begin!"

Beep!

The whistle blew.

Gao Mei shouted without hesitation: " Bruxish, dive into the water!"

To open, she actually chose to have Bruxish avoid Dragapult. It seemed the previous matches where All Baimu had steamrolled his opponents had taught her she couldn't go head-to-head with him.

"Sha~"

Bruxish let out a delicate cry and quickly sank to the bottom.

"Dragon Dance!"

All Baimu's command came a beat late. He'd wanted to see what tactic Gao Mei would adopt, and hadn't expected her to be planning Mobile Corps Commander warfare using the water terrain, just as he'd guessed.

Far too by-the-book.

Dragapult circled overhead, a crimson misty halo swirling around its body, which then transformed into an orange-red aura of rising power.

It stared fixedly at the calm sea below.

Suddenly.

"Draining Kiss!"

Chirp chirp chirp chirp—

Amidst a fierce whistling, countless hearts burst through the water's surface and shot straight toward Dragapult.

All Baimu narrowed his eyes and waved his hand. "Dodge!"

"Lugia!"

Dragapult's slender body twisted, nimbly evading the hearts flying up.

The commentator immediately shouted, "What lightning-fast movement! Dragapult easily dodged Bruxish's sudden attack! Draining Kiss missed!"

"Dragon Dance one more time!"

He continued to give orders.

Since Gao Mei had told him not to hold back, he'd grant her wish.

But when it came to studying moves, Gao Mei was still quite outstanding. If he hadn't been listening to the commentator, he would have thought Bruxish was using Charm or Attract.

And while Draining Kiss was indeed a special attack, it should originally be a contact-type move. Turning a contact move into a ranged attack—did she have her sights set on the Contest too?

In midair.

Dragapult once again spiraled like a long dragon, its momentum climbing steadily, making Gao Mei's expression turn grave.

The speed was much faster than she'd imagined.

But she had no idea how All Baimu planned to let Dragapult hit the Bruxish underwater.

Ice Beam?

Or perhaps…

"Bruxish, use Coil!"

She decided to play it safe and have Bruxish boost its various stats as well.

All Baimu, watching the bottom intently, saw Bruxish strike the familiar pose and shouted without hesitation: "Phantom Force!"

Now!

"Lugia!"

Dragapult vanished in midair. Gao Mei froze.

Her expression changed and she shouted: "Bruxish, hide behind that Shi Zhu!"

Immediately.

Gao Mei's gaze swept across the field. Ghost-types mostly possessed the ability to appear and disappear at will—to vanish for a brief moment and then reappear.

Luckily, the duration wasn't too long. If Dragapult wanted to attack, it would have to show itself!

But what she never in her wildest dreams expected was that it appeared right behind the dodging Bruxish. The instant she caught Dragapult's silhouette in the corner of her eye, she immediately shouted: "Bruxish, use Agility now!"

Bruxish also sensed its opponent's presence and fled in panic.

But Dragapult was simply too fast. The crushing pressure of the deep water didn't seem to hinder it at all. Wrapped in a ghostly purple light, it slammed into Bruxish like a swordfish!

Boom!

A massive column of water erupted from the field!

Gao Mei sucked in a cold breath, staring at Baimu in shock. "Dragonite can swim!?"

The waves churned.

Countless droplets of water splattered down with a splashing roar.

The fainted Magikarp floated up to the surface. "Splash…"

"Magikarp is unable to battle!" The referee raised the flag without hesitation.

"It's down!"

The commentator screamed at the top of his lungs, "Dragonite has displayed extraordinary swimming speed underwater! Magikarp couldn't dodge in time!"

Information asymmetry.

The biggest and most effective card in the world.

If you have to blame someone, blame the fact that you never bothered to learn about every Pokémon, and that the commentator's introduction wasn't thorough enough.

Baimu fell silent, having heard that the commentator never mentioned Dragonite's natural habitat, while Gao Mei had used an underwater Mobile Corps Commander tactic without the slightest scruple.

He had already decided to use it for a surprise attack.

Facts proved that the information asymmetry tactic never goes out of style.