Chapter 518: Questioning Life

The moment Bibarel appeared on the scene.

The entire venue's fervor instantly shot up several notches.

"……"

A faint tremor stirred in Xiaoshun's heart.

He rarely saw a scene where a Pokémon seemed more popular than the Coordinator, but from this it wasn't hard to tell he was in for a brutal battle.

To be honest, he had assumed Bibarel would at least wait until the finals to appear; the morning matches hadn't put much wear or pressure on the Shiny Milotic, so there was no need to swap Pokémon so quickly……

A failed guess?

Xiaoshun's expression was very displeased; he had to be grateful that in Appeal Battles, even moves completely nullified by type matchups could still deduct the opponent's score if used properly.

Besides, Flygon wasn't only capable of Dragon-type moves.

Seize the initiative!

"Use Sandstorm!"

"Raii~"

Flygon let out a slightly shrill cry, spread its broad wings, and shot straight up into the sky.

In an open-air stage, using a sudden rise in altitude to draw the opponent's gaze, making them get blinded by the sun and thereby miss their chance to attack.

This little trick had long been second nature to Xiaoshun.

But he seemed to have underestimated Baimu and Bibarel; how could someone who always favored intelligence warfare possibly be unaware of such a petty trick? "Fairy Wind!"

"Raiio!"

Flygon flew into mid-air, its back to the sun as it looked down on the stage from above, only to discover that Bibarel had already, like a light little spirit deer, pirouetted and leapt into the Water field.

However.

It did not sink to the bottom; instead, the moment its toes touched the water's surface and rippled outward, a pink gust of air shot up violently from below!

"Chydo~"

A delicate cry accompanied by the gentle chime of silver bells.

In an instant.

The calm water's surface suddenly surged with raging tides, as if drawn by some unseen force, intertwining with Bibarel's pirouette and the pink airflow to form a water tornado streaked with pink and blue!

Boom!

Amid a violent explosion, the Fairy Wind water tornado surged skyward with unstoppable momentum, colliding head-on with the sandstorm tornado Flygon had whipped up in the sky by spinning and beating its wings!

Dong—!

In the blink of an eye, Flygon's sandstorm tornado was shattered by Bibarel's Fairy Wind water tornado, even partially devoured by it, causing Flygon to suffer the violent impact of multiple elements!

"Raiio!

"

Flygon let out a pained cry from within the storm.

"This can draw up water too?"

Xiaoshun's eyes went wide; without time to worry about the points deducted from him, he hastily shouted: "Get out of there, quick!"

Vivian announced loudly: "What an adorable and charming pink storm! Flygon's Sandstorm seems to be no match for Fairy Wind at all!"

Bibarel's fans excitedly waved the placards and banners in their hands.

Fortunately, the moment Xiaoshun's words fell.

The Fairy Wind water tornado surging up from the water's surface seemed to run out of steam and dissipated, giving the battered Flygon a chance to catch its breath—though the situation was far from rosy.

"Too fast a reaction……"

Xiaoshun stared at Bibarel, standing so easily on the water's surface as if it were solid ground, his face turning extremely ugly.

Dragon-type moves were already nearly nullified against Fairy-types to begin with, and now Bibarel had seized the momentum to use Magnet Rise, further "screening off" Flygon's Ground-type.

Whatever you fear most always comes to pass!

He had clearly prepared for Baimu's move, deliberately using backlighting and Sandstorm to create a diversion, yet it was still broken through by sheer power.

"In that case—Flamethrower!"

Xiaoshun shouted.

Meanwhile.

Baimu, who had just exchanged a quick glance with Bibarel, realized the latter didn't seem to want to adopt an 【attack-as-defense】 tactic.

Had its fighting spirit been roused by the Shiny Milotic's earlier performance?

Fine, then.

Although using real combat to hone what it had learned was the plan Baimu had set before the match began, adjusting appropriately according to the Pokémon's own wishes was also part of a Trainer's duty.

New, corresponding tactics quickly surfaced in his mind.

"Swords Dance!"

Switching strategies had to be fast—Xiaoshun was no third-rate opponent who'd hand him chances for free!

Bibarel's eyes glinted; stepping on the not-so-calm water's surface, it began its most skilled spinning dance, the energy phantom of a sword manifesting with its movements.

At the same time.

Flygon, high in the air, puffed out its chest and abdomen, straining to spew a blazing fireball downward—yet instead of letting it explode outward to form a complete move, it charged straight into it.

Peng!

With an explosion, amid the gasps of many spectators, Flygon and the flames became one.

It had actually used its own body to complete the Flamethrower!

Orange-red flames coated its surface, yet did not bring the slightest hint of pain to its face; under the camera, Flygon wore nothing but resolve, and the fighting spirit contained within instantly seized everyone's gaze.

In the face of crisis.

This courageous spirit of struggle was undoubtedly admired by the judges.

It also caused Baimu's score to be deducted.

Obviously, eye-catching appeal is also an indispensable scoring standard in gorgeous battles. Even though a single deduction isn't much, accumulated together it's quite terrifying.

Boom—

The air trembled continuously.

The Vibrava amidst the massive flames transformed into a fire meteor, crashing down toward the Luvdisc at the center of the Water Stage, as if lost in its own world.

The latter's dance was indeed swaying and unsteady, but its movement speed was truly slow.

This fully revealed the fellow's drawback of low movement speed outside of bursts.

Hit me!

Shun stared fixedly at the Luvdisc, glanced at Baimu across from him with peripheral vision, only to find the other watching everything calmly, with his mouth slightly opening.

"Lean back."

What? What did Baimu say!?

An ominous premonition rose in Shun's heart, but before he could make out the other's command, he saw the Luvdisc, which had been dancing, suddenly stop and fall backward without warning.

At the same time.

It raised both hands and opened its embrace, as if actively welcoming the approaching fire meteor Vibrava.

But he was well aware that Baimu absolutely would not sit and wait for death—

"Water Pulse."

Shun still hadn't heard this sentence clearly, but that didn't prevent him from seeing with his eyes what the Luvdisc was doing.

He only saw a flash of brilliant blue light.

Boom!

A deafening explosion echoed through the venue. The originally calm water surface, struck suddenly by the Luvdisc, sent up a water pillar that soared into the sky.

Then the terrifying cold instantly froze it into an ice pillar, colliding with the descending fire meteor Vibrava!

The bursting water vapor turned into white mist, swept up by the shockwave, suddenly spreading outward in all directions, instantly covering the entire Water Stage!

Before the audience could wonder about the specifics.

A gust of wind dispersed the bird-like white smoke, exposing the situation on the field to everyone's eyes.

They saw the Water Stage bathed in sunlight—no, it should now be called the Ice Stage, because the brilliant ice forest had completely covered the flowing water.

The crystalline surface reflected a multicolored halo, both dazzling and beautiful.

The Luvdisc sat at the center of the ice lake, still lying down like a sleeping Ice Princess, evoking pity in the heart.

"So beautiful! The Water Stage has become an Ice Forest! The Luvdisc single-handedly changed the appearance of the field!" Vivian exclaimed emotionally, then cried out again.

"Look quickly! The Vibrava is also trapped in the ice!"

Suddenly visible at the very top of the ice forest, in the thickest and longest ice pillar, the lower half of the Vibrava was imprisoned within a large block of ice, with thin frost clinging to its body surface, making it look like a sculpture.

However.

This ice had no hardness to speak of; the Vibrava easily broke free on its own—clearly this was not a Frozen status, and the Luvdisc's Ability couldn't induce Frozen status on it either.

It was merely that the surging water, when instantly frozen, happened to cover part of its body, forming a thin ice shell that was all show and no substance.

So breaking free was very easy.

But even so, Shun's score still suffered a visibly massive deduction, not only because of the failed clash, but also related to the Vibrava's condition.

Fairy Wind and Water Pulse weren't thrown for nothing.

Even though one was a super-effective attack and the other didn't directly hit the Vibrava, they still caused its various stats to drop rapidly. Not only did its reactions become sluggish, its flying speed also slowed.

Shun's face darkened; he simply couldn't imagine what had just happened.

The rhythm he had finally grasped in his hands was once again taken away by the other with ease!

Too fast! The Luvdisc's speed was really too fast!

The same thought surfaced once again in his mind.

He couldn't help but think that way.

Who let the Vibrava use one gorgeous change move in the time the Luvdisc could use two?

Even though Water Pulse was a counterattack launched as a follow-up, judging from the Vibrava's defeat in the clash, it was no different from two moves.

Indeed.

Fairy Wind did affect the Vibrava, but was the effect really that great? Shun was well aware his Pokémon wasn't made of paper; there was no reason it would be done in after being hit once.

And he had been a Coordinator for so long, yet encounters with this kind of situation could be counted on one hand.

Every time it appeared, it meant the opponent's Pokémon's strength... was far above his own Pokémon's!

There was no choice!

"Fly onto the ice pillar and use Roost!"

He had to find a way to restore the Vibrava's condition. Right now it was already a desperate situation; even though there was still plenty of time, the latter's stamina might not last until the second the whistle blew.

The only cards left in his hand were the flexibility the Levitate Ability gave the Vibrava, and this complex environment the Luvdisc had created itself.

"Reeoo!"

The Vibrava, forcing itself to endure the pain coming from all over its body, leaped onto the rugged, rough-surfaced ice pillar.

【Roost】is a move that can only succeed when landing.

But Shun had discovered through long-term practice that after using it, as long as the body wasn't shaken too much, even using the Levitate Ability and gliding with the wings wouldn't interrupt the recovery.

So he had spent a very long time on specialized training, and finally let the Vibrava master this technique.

He had originally planned to use it at the gorgeous Grand Festival to give May a little surprise, but he didn't expect it to be exposed this early.

No choice.

Exposed is exposed, then.

He had to make sure the Flygon could rely on Feather Roost to recover enough stamina to the point where it wouldn't affect any of its stats—every second counted!

Atop a towering pillar of ice.

Countless pure-white feathers drifted down onto the Flygon's body, sending ripples of pale-green light pulsing outward, healing its many wounds and quickly easing its expression.

A chance!

Shun clenched his fist, his gaze snapping back to the Mawile at the center of the ice forest.

But.

In his field of vision there was only a single fireball, orange-yellow shifting to blazing white, swirling like a brewing storm, swelling slightly before rapidly collapsing back in on itself.

A silent terror was brewing within it.

"Ah."

He blurted out, stunned.

The next second.

Boom—!

A deafening, terrifying explosion!

A wall of flame, rotating with an all-consuming momentum, surged forward—and before anyone could even react, it completely engulfed the entire frozen forest that had been transformed from the water field!

The heat waves warping the air sent the venue's temperature soaring, with frantic, distorting ripples visible everywhere!

Vivian held the microphone in a daze, the audience collectively fell silent, and the judges' expressions each differed—yet without exception, they all stared in silence at that pillar of destruction, the firestorm bursting skyward.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

Thunderous booms continued without end.

The fully unleashed firestorm was aimed primarily at the sky—where the Flygon was—so everyone only felt the aftershocks.

Shun couldn't speak, only felt his scalp go numb, his back already drenched in sweat.

The gap in strength…

Was simply so vast it was almost despairing.

He had dared to say straight to the Ash of the Advanced Generation arc's first half:

"Don't think I'm just a Coordinator!"

But at this moment, he deeply realized just what an enormous gulf existed between a Coordinator and a Trainer—two roles that seemed so closely linked.

And why Mi Ke Li had become a Contest Master, rather than any other equally outstanding top Coordinator.

A moment later.

The firestorm dissipated.

As if it had never existed at all, the area around the stage had an immaculate, spotless cleanliness to it.

Only a small remaining half of the pool water was scalding hot, wisps of white steam rising from it—clearly having reached boiling point in that firestorm just now.

The Flygon lay on its side within it, while the Mawile stood atop its body, bent over and panting heavily.

On the giant screen.

Shun's final remaining points were completely deducted to zero.

Ding!

A whistle pierced the air.

His portrait suddenly turned gray, and four red X's appeared on the scoreboards before the judges.

"C-Congratulations, Mr. Baimu, on advancing to the semifinals!"

Vivian hurriedly shouted.

The audience, whose energy was gradually returning, instantly erupted in cheers and applause that shook the heavens!

Although Contest Battles placed more emphasis on the beauty of moves, who wouldn't want to see such a magnificent scene where beauty and power were both present?

The shock to the soul is equally a theme of the Contest!

"…"

Shun silently recalled his Flygon, a self-deprecating, relieved smile crossing his face.

He suddenly felt that his secret rivalry with Baimu had been childish—especially the part about his longer competition experience counting as an advantage.

No wonder, after all these years, attending one grand Contest celebration after another, he still hadn't become a top Coordinator.

He had wallowed too long in arrogance and the flattery of others.

He looked across at Baimu, who hadn't recalled his Mawile into its Poké Ball but had taken off his jacket to wrap it up and hold it, and clearly understood just how vast the gap was between what ordinary people called a genius and a true genius.

However.

He absolutely would not just accept defeat like this!

The future was long, and they would have the chance to meet again!

Shun resolved in his heart: someday, he would definitely win it back!