Chapter 302: Rain, Mist, and the Thunder Tree

Not long after.

On the big screen, Xiaoguang made her entrance in a pale blue gown.

She raised her right hand with absolute confidence and hurled the Poké Ball in her grasp!

"Pachirisu! I'm counting on you!"

Poof!

A white light appeared, and two perfectly smooth aqua-blue ribbons of light drifted straight up, spiraling around glittering white points of light into a beautiful helix.

Then—

The aqua-blue ribbons twined and swayed, transforming into a huge bow that shimmered in mid-air.

Pachirisu tumbled at the center of the bow-shaped ribbons, and the moment it stopped spinning it raised its tiny paws and let out a spirited cry to the audience!

"Kyaa!"

Crash!

In an instant, countless bolts of blue lightning spread outward with its cry, instantly shattering the blue ribbons and forming an enormous, dazzling blue firework!

Crack-crack-crack-crack—

A skyful of fireworks rain—how beautiful!

And the tumbling, falling Pachirisu used its soft, fluffy big tail as a cushion, landing nimbly and perfectly.

"Pachii!"

It smiled and waved its little paws.

"Look! Pachirisu's electricity brought out the effect of the sticker perfectly!"

Vivian spoke up in praise.

The audience also broke into expressions of pleasant surprise—this was far more interesting than those earlier interactive performances.

At the very least, the visual effects were thoroughly satisfying.

Xiaoguang's smile widened as she gave another command:

"Angel's Kiss!"

"Pachii~"

Pachirisu blew a light kiss into the air; several hearts flew out and rapidly swelled, then it began swinging its big tail to bat them up into the sky!

Boing~ boing~ boing~

Accompanied by rather cute sound effects, the giant hearts split into many small hearts that drifted up into the sky like balloons!

As the small hearts rose, they collided with one another, bursting apart to spawn even more—and even smaller—hearts, nearly filling the entire sky.

"Now—use Discharge!"

"Pachii!"

Blue current leapt across the electric sacs on Pachirisu's cheeks in an instant, and then it threw back its head and shrieked, as countless thick blue-white bolts of lightning surged wildly toward the sky!

"This is—"

Vivian's eyes lit up as she watched the snake-like lightning catch up with the hearts high above; the flickering current instantly shattered the many small hearts, turning them into a multicolored rain of fireworks!

Boom-boom-boom—

But the performance wasn't over yet.

As Pachirisu kept releasing current, the lightning across the sky formed branch-like veins, gradually taking the shape of a towering, glowing-blue great tree. Even the leaves at the top seemed to take form in the haze, each glittering "leaf of lightning" like a little lamp.

Combined with the countless fireworks bursting in the sky, it radiated a beauty beyond words.

In that instant—

A fiery tree, silver flowers, a skyful of stars!

The audience was utterly captivated by the sight, smiles breaking across their faces unbidden.

A short while later.

The fireworks faded, and the tree of lightning returned to Pachirisu's body.

Xiaoguang and Pachirisu bowed in thanks.

The audience answered with the loudest applause they could muster; waves of uproar and screams swirled above the arena, showing just how much they loved the performance.

Pattrasan wore a thoroughly pleased smile, as though he had just watched a show he couldn't get enough of. "A wonderful performance—Pachirisu's cuteness and its mastery of electricity were displayed to perfection. You can see the joy in its heart from its tiny movements, and its fluffy big tail was put to excellent use. Although only two moves were used, this combination succeeded in…"

He didn't finish.

The broadcast booth cut his microphone—not out of disrespect for Pattrasan, but because once he got going, his commentary would never end.

The handsome Yanase beside him silently picked up the microphone, undid the button at his collar, and leaned back with effortless flair.

"Spec! Tac! U—lar!"

"

A lion-like roar burst from his contorted mouth—only four syllables, but each one stood for his love of this performance.

Xiaoguang couldn't help feeling a little awkward; this was her first time seeing a judge like this.

Finally, it was Miss Qiao Yin's turn.

"A truly moving performance—Pachirisu's cuteness has been etched deep into my mind!"

She was, as always, so composed—whether facing contestants of the gorgeous competition or trainers who had brought injured or sick Pokémon.

"Let's have the three judges submit their scores~"

Vivian gestured.

Beep beep beep.

A total of 29.4 points—still some distance from perfect, but a result that left Xiaoguang thoroughly satisfied.

"Pachii!"

Pachirisu turned its head toward her in high spirits, and the two exchanged a smile and a light high-five.

——

The preparation room.

All Baimu welcomed Pachirisu back with applause.

"Wonderful! Pachirisu's performance can only be called absolutely magnificent, and it didn't drag on either."

Many Coordinators, in order to pull off more dazzling performance effects, use a great number of moves to string the routine together.

But doing so makes the routine much longer, and the error rate shoots up considerably.

Of course, using more moves isn't against the rules or inferior — it's just that he personally leans toward refined beauty.

When designing a performance, he strictly limits himself to having his Pokémon use only three moves; if the time runs short, he extends it through other means.

Such as dance.

"Thank you~"

Hikari's face was full of joy, hugging Pachirisu while Piplup trotted alongside her.

Sinnoh's Contests basically don't use scores, so after a performance it's very hard for a contestant to know whether they'll advance — they stay anxious for hours.

In Hikari's view, Hoenn's scored Contests are a very good and encouraging rule.

And right now, without a doubt her score was the highest of the whole field — unless a swarm of contestants scoring twenty-nine suddenly appeared, she was absolutely safe.

"Good luck, it's your turn next!"

Hikari cheered All Baimu on.

The latter, however, said helplessly, "You're cheering way too early — it'll probably be almost the last hour before it's my turn."

"Eh—"

Hikari hadn't expected his performance order to be so far back at all.

Because Contests have so many contestants, going earlier is actually a bit more advantageous — the judges haven't grown weary yet, and their mindset is better.

With the hot weather today, the event dragging on and being judged by people means the further back you go, the harder it is to score high.

All Baimu saw the order and nearly thought his second appearance was going to flop.

However.

He believed Mawile would definitely bring a pleasant surprise to the aesthetically fatigued judges.

"Are you hungry? It's just about lunchtime — I brought lunch." All Baimu said to Hikari.

Hikari's eyes lit up, then she felt a little embarrassed.

Her companions hadn't even taken the stage yet — would it be a bit inappropriate for her to eat lunch so unashamedly?

"Go ahead and eat, it's already made so it has to be eaten. Besides, I'm not nervous. All I have to do is show the judges everything Mawile has worked for these past days — that's all."

All Baimu said with a relaxed smile.

Seeing that, Hikari happily began eating the sandwiches he had made.

Piplup and Pachirisu also buried their heads and started devouring the food.

"Pipipi…"

"Pachipachi…"

All Baimu released Mawile and asked whether it wanted to eat a little before the contest; the latter decisively shook its head.

"Chuto~"

It's best to dance on an empty stomach.