Chapter 250: Swirling Fire Avoidance

3 PM.

The Kanaz City Contest, with over two hundred contestants in total, had finally come to an end.

But after Urarasu, only one high-scoring female competitor had appeared, using an Emolga to get 28.9 points, suspected to be from the Unova region.

The rest of the scores were honestly not great.

Those advancing to the second review were usually either eight or four.

All Baimu, combining the scores from all sides of this contest, estimated there would only be four advancers.

Sure enough, as the host on the big screen shouted that the results of the first review were now being announced.

The scene shifted, four black squares appeared, and as they flipped open one by one, the contestants' portraits were revealed — it was All Baimu and several other competitors who had scored above twenty-seven.

Three women and one man, a total of two rounds of battles would decide the winner.

In the rest room, many of the eliminated contestants sighed, or left with unwillingness or regret on their faces.

To many people, the Contest was even more cruel than the League Conference — if you couldn't pass the first round of review, no matter how beautifully you performed, you could only get a small burst of fame online, and would never be able to participate in a Grand Festival.

After a short while, the huge rest room was left with only the four people advancing to the second review.

All Baimu looked at Urarasu not far away, who returned a confident smile that said "I absolutely will not lose to you," then looked at the other two, whose eyes also seemed to contain a flame of refusal to lose.

... Without a doubt, he had become the common target of these three, just because his score was higher?

At this moment, the screen happened to divide up each person's opponent.

All Baimu and the Coordinator who used Wigglytuff were grouped into the first match, while Urarasu would face the suspected Unova Coordinator in the second match.

Second Review.

Showcase Battle.

The rule was to use flashy moves within five minutes to counter the opponent's attacks or defeat the opponent.

Everyone would have a fixed score; when an attack succeeded, it would cause the opponent to lose points, and when an attack was flashily countered by the opponent, even without suffering an attack, it would cause oneself to lose a large amount of points.

Directly defeating the opponent's Pokémon ended the match. If the opponent was not defeated before the countdown ended, the remaining scores would be compared; in case of a tie, it would go to overtime until one side's points were completely deducted or one side fell at a position.

Not particularly complicated.

In short, just make the Pokémon's moves flashy enough — that way, even if you're only scratching the opponent, the one who wins in the end is still you.

Kotone was able to use Emolga to defeat Urarasu's Gabite precisely because she flashily countered the latter's attacks.

——

3:30 PM.

Amid the host's passionate introduction of the rules, All Baimu and his opponent each arrived at their designated positions.

"First round, first battle — begin!"

He shouted, and quickly retreated to a relatively distant position.

And the two Coordinators on the field threw out their Poké Balls together!

Peng! Peng!

Cherry blossom petals and pink heart effects fluttered everywhere; Mawile and Wigglytuff landed one after another, looking at each other with high fighting spirit.

But in reality, both Coordinators were a bit confused.

All Baimu looked at his opponent, his face full of puzzlement, just short of writing the words "Why aren't you switching your Pokémon, knowing full well I used a Steel-type Mawile."

And the opponent was equally bewildered, with an expression that said "You know I know you used Mawile, so what's the meaning of you still sending out Mawile."

Both had assumed the other would switch to a different Pokémon, but in the end neither switched.

It was just that wonderful.

"Magnet Rise!"

All Baimu couldn't be bothered with so much — since he already had the type advantage, he might as well take the advantage in other aspects too.

"Chiyodo!"

Mawile leapt off the ground, but what it was performing now was not the previous Pirouette, but a war dance that maintained its own rhythm through adjustments from boxing footwork!

The nimble movements brightened the eyes of the judges and audience, who felt that Mawile had taken on a different temperament.

From an originally elegant and lovely lady, it had become a female warrior with edge fully revealed.

The opponent was slightly panicked, instinctively looked at her scoreboard, and only breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw no points had been deducted, but by the time her attention returned, Mawile had already closed in on Wigglytuff.

And Wigglytuff, having failed to receive its Trainer's command for a long time, was slightly flustered.

She hurriedly shouted "Use Flamethrower!"

"Puding!"

The anxious Wigglytuff steadied itself slightly, took a fierce breath, its body suddenly swelled several times in size before opening its mouth — the original cherry-like small mouth instantly became a doorway-like enormous cavity, and scorching fierce flames surged out, emitting a roar like a howl!

The flames transformed into a wall and pushed forward!

The audience cried out in surprise, not expecting Wigglytuff to be able to use its body to such a superb degree — using the large amount of oxygen taken in over a short period to enhance the power of the flames, creating a wall of fire.

They couldn't help but look at Mawile with worry.

However, the worry was actually unnecessary.

All Baimu and Mawile, upon seeing the wall of fire, were surprised and delighted rather than alarmed — if they had to say what they were most proud of among this past week's gains, it was neither the level nor the mental outlook, but the Swirling Fire Avoidance that, like Brock's Onix, relied on stirring and dispersing air to resist high-temperature fierce flames!

"Spin! Iron Head!"

He shouted loudly, and Mawile excitedly began manipulating its body to spin.

A silver halo enveloped its head, then spread all the way to its massive jaws that were comparable in volume to its body, turning the jaws into a silver heavy hammer, emitting a rushing whoosh as it spun, and turning its entire body into a silver energy mass.

The Reassuring Bell rang along, its急促 sound extremely like a death knell.

The audience saw the silver-gleaming Mawile plunge headfirst into the wall of fire, and before they could cry out, the wall of fire exploded with a peng, turning into countless scattered fragments that vanished into the air.

The opponent's score on the scoreboard had been deducted by nearly a quarter — quite exaggerated.

The host excitedly shouted: "The wall of fire has been countered by Mawile! Indeed, in front of this dancer, flames are nothing more than a toy she can shape at will!"

As his words fell, Bibarel had already slammed headfirst into Jigglypuff's forehead!

Bang!

Before Jigglypuff could even shrink back to its original size, its head took the hit and immediately went dizzy; the next second it flew backward like a balloon with the air let out.

*Sword Coming*

Just as it spun once in the air and was about to hit the ground, its panicked opponent shouted, "Use Heal Pulse!"

Unfortunately, All Baimu wasn't going to give it the chance.

"Playtime's over."

"Bibarel~"

Bibarel blinked its big, watery eyes, flew over to Jigglypuff, grabbed its two little hands, and started doing a "partner dance" as if they were just playing around.

Jigglypuff couldn't use Heal Pulse at all; it felt the world spinning, its vision blurring, and stars and moons kept popping out of nowhere to bonk it on the head.

A few seconds later.

It collapsed onto the ground.

The scoreboard was still deducting points, but at the same time, the lights in front of the three judges had all simultaneously turned into big red X's.

"Jigglypuff is unable to battle! Bibarel and Mr. All Baimu have successfully advanced to the finals!"

The host announced loudly, and the silver screen beside him also changed to show the avatars of All Baimu and Bibarel.

The opponent looked at their battle-incapable Jigglypuff and regretfully lowered their head. "Pokémon battles can really be this intense…"

"We won!"

All Baimu walked into the field and high-fived the beaming Bibarel in celebration. "Bibarel~"

The latter was growing to love the Pokémon Showcase more and more.