Chapter 521: The Curtain Rises on the Finale

The spectacular showdown between Miss Liuqi and Little Light had reached its final moment.

Not only were both their scores nearly depleted, the countdown had also hit absolute zero.

The intensity was plain to see.

And although Little Light's Pochama, under the crushing pressure of a fearsome opponent like Mega Altaria, had successfully activated its Torrent Ability, sharply boosting the power of its Water-type moves — like turning on a speaker to blast its personal BGM — and in a short span had surged past Miss Liuqi to seize the lead…

It still fell short by a hair.

The reason was that, at the very, very end, the battered Mega Altaria triggered a prematurely released Meteor Swarm, which resonated in some special way with Dazzling Gleam.

The clashing energies briefly merged together, forming a meteor shower that blazed like a fleeting fireworks display.

The meteor shower then fell into the Whirlpool sustained by Pochama, detonating in an instant into an enormous firework that utterly shattered it.

The spectacle was grand and breathtaking.

Countless spectators roared their approval, and all four judges praised the match as magnificent.

"Now *that's* a semifinal!"

Little Victory watched the TV screen with an approving look.

He had no objections to the spectacular battle just shown — it was simply that watching his sister May being completely suppressed by All Baimu and his Pokémon left him feeling a kindred sympathy, that's all.

After all, he had his own share of "getting beaten" experiences — twice, in fact.

He hoped it wouldn't leave a shadow on his sister's heart…

But May was far more mature than Little Victory imagined; right now she was reviewing the match between Miss Liuqi and Little Light with All Baimu, Little Light, and Drew.

Though she still felt unwilling to accept her defeat, she had never been stubborn about it. Through her battle with All Baimu, she had on one hand gained some insight into her own shortcomings, and on the other come to accept that she had never been a genius.

The fact that she still hadn't become a top Coordinator after all these years was proof enough.

Solidad — who had met and battled her in earlier editions of the Mi Ke Li Cup, and whom she had defeated in the semifinals — had only traveled for a year before smoothly claiming victory at a Grand Festival.

"So both strength and technique really matter, huh?"

May fell into thought. She had always been a Coordinator who emphasized technique, and the successful development of her Water-Fire fusion move had only reinforced her commitment to walking this broad, bright road.

The strong opponents she'd faced in the past had likewise often relied on technique to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

She never imagined the day would come when she'd lose so utterly before "absolute strength" — and the key point was that All Baimu had only debuted for a year… half a year?

From Little Victory's words, it wasn't hard to tell that even before formally entering Contest battles, All Baimu's battling strength had already been formidable, and over these past few months it had advanced by leaps and bounds.

"Looks like you've noticed too?"

Drew's voice sounded beside her, drawing May to turn her head and look.

He, as always, had his hands stuffed in his pockets striking a cool-guy pose, and said: "The reason we two lost is nothing else — pure technique isn't enough to bridge the gap that strength creates.

"If we separate technique and strength in Contest battles, even flattering ourselves and saying technique is a ten with us as the baseline, All Baimu might be an eight or nine. But if strength is a ten with All Baimu as the baseline, how many points do we get?"

"…Four or five?"

"Bingo!"

Drew snapped his fingers, but not a trace of a smile crossed his face as he muttered softly: "This kind of gap is so infuriating, it reminds me of Miss Shaymi."

Shaymi.

A top Coordinator who, after defeating May, claimed victory at the Kanto Grand Festival — and who had once made a fledgling Drew cry.

Although the two later became good friends, the incident remained a psychological shadow for Drew.

"Once this is over, I'm planning to spend time training my Pokémon's battling ability. I hope when the time comes I'll see a brand-new you too."

With that, he left the prep room, apparently with no intention of spectating the afternoon's matches.

Training battling ability, huh…

May's expression turned complicated. The reason she'd entered Contests in the first place was that she wasn't very interested in being a Pokémon Trainer or in battling; becoming a technique-oriented Coordinator also had a personal preference factor in it.

She never imagined that in the end, she still couldn't escape it.

Of course.

She wasn't the melodramatic type either. When traveling with Ash, she'd battled plenty. Besides, being able to see the road ahead was more important to her than winning a Ribbon — if she had to train her battling ability, then so be it.

As the daughter of a Gym Leader, how could she fall behind in this area?

May rubbed her fists together in excitement, drawing curious glances from All Baimu and Brock next door.

"What's with her?"

"Hmm… can't figure it out, but it should be fine. May's always had her own ideas since way back."

That's quite the high-EQ way of putting it, huh?

All Baimu shot Brock a glance. Being able to dress up "lost in her own world" like that — no wonder his flirting comes across so sleazy, yet he still wins the affection of so many people.

——

Noon.

They made do with a simple meal.

All Baimu and Miss Liuqi barely exchanged a word. Though the two normally seemed to have endless things to say, with the showdown imminent they simply looked at each other in silence.

It wasn't that their relationship had soured because of the competition — they simply planned to save everything they wanted to say for the Contest battle.

As everyone knew.

A battle is not only the fastest path to meshing Trainer and Pokémon, but also the best form of communication between Trainers themselves — personality, habits, and style all find their finest expression in battle.

At a fork in the contestant corridor.

Miss Liuqi stopped walking, slowly raised her left hand into a fist, tilted her head slightly, and glanced at All Baimu. "Mm?"

"Huh?"

"Mm!?"

"What?"

"You're doing this on purpose! How could you possibly not understand what I mean!"

The idol's vow of silence instantly broke, claws out like a bristling cat.

All Baimu couldn't hide his smile. He raised his right fist and bumped it lightly against hers. "Miss Liuqi's not always so honest, is she?"

"Hmph! Ungrateful disciple! You'd better watch yourself! Your teacher is a very tough opponent — don't think that winning a few smooth fights means you've got it in the bag!"

Miss Liuqi flung down a vicious line, then marched forward with great strides.

"Those are your words. I never said any of that."

All Baimu shouted at her retreating back, then headed off in the other direction.

In his view, Miss Liuqi was a far more powerful Coordinator than Bai Guang and Bai Mao, carrying on the style of her uncle Mr. Mi Ke Li and her grandmaster Adam — not only were her various skills complete, her strength was also outstanding.

At such a young age she had mastered a powerful secret — Mega Evolution — enough to look down on all rivals.

Actually, to play it safe, switching in Mawile or Aggron to Mega up against Mega Altaria would absolutely be the steadiest play.

But…

Without a doubt, the Mr. Mi Ke Li Cup was the stage for the shiny Milotic's performance. He had stressed this repeatedly during the preparation phase, and the shiny Milotic had therefore been working tirelessly right up to today.

So whether out of keeping his word or out of trust in the shiny Milotic, All Baimu's choice would not change at the last minute.

Besides, regardless of whether Altaria's injuries and exhaustion from the last round's hard clash with Piplup could fully recover in the span of a single noon, his Pokémon were far from being strong in power alone.

Gorgeous moves were in no short supply either!

"Hoo…"

All Baimu exhaled a breath of stale air and walked toward the exit spilling white light.

In an instant.

Countless noisy shouts poured into his ears, and the grand scene of the Mr. Mi Ke Li Cup appeared before his eyes as if a light had flared on. Rotom drones circled the venue in the air, and the moment they spotted him, half of them immediately split off and pointed their lenses his way.

The other larger half focused on Miss Liuqi opposite.

A professional idol always shows her marketable charm in front of her fans, and this girl's charm was liveliness and cuteness.

"Good afternoon, everyone~ This is Contest idol Miss Liuqi~! I'm about to start my battle against the powerful new Contest star All Baimu~ Please send me your support!"

"Ooooooh!"

"Liuqi! My Liuqi! I love you to death!"

"Go for it, Liuqi! Take that so-called new star down!"

The fans' fanatical posture was practically a dead ringer for a pyramid-scheme den.

Vivian held a microphone, her sweet, coquettish voice ringing across the entire venue.

"Sorry to keep you waiting! Ladies and gentlemen! After three days of fierce clashes and the screening of hundreds of outstanding Coordinators, the Mr. Mi Ke Li Cup has finally reached its finale! Let us, with anticipation and appreciation, watch the finals brought to us by Mr. All Baimu and Liuqi!"

At the same moment.

The two contestants' portraits appeared on the big screen, with a clear five-minute countdown between them.

Vivian: "Then I declare —"

Everyone unconsciously slowed their breathing.

"The battle begins!"

Ding!

A crisp sound — the countdown started!

All Baimu and Miss Liuqi threw their Poké Balls at the same time.

Poom-poom!

From the drifting white smoke, a neighing whinny rang out, and a unicorn with a mane like colored clouds stepped forth slowly, carrying an air of holiness.

This fellow's built-in aura on his entrance was just as eye-catching as the shiny Milotic's; the latter's beauty had failed to suppress it at all, and the two entrance shows were evenly matched.

As a result, he had failed to seize the first-mover advantage like in previous rounds.

"Ha, didn't expect…"

All Baimu looked at the shiny Galarian Rapidash and thought Miss Liuqi had really given him a big surprise.

Indeed.

Miss Liuqi had never had only Mega Altaria to show off; this shiny Galarian Rapidash was no easy customer either.

In fact, compared to him who branched out on multiple lines, all of Miss Liuqi's Pokémon specialized in Contests — and were more purely powerful!

"Psycho Cut!"

"Surf!"

The two shouted orders in unison.

But the difference was that when Miss Liuqi issued her command, she also added a series of dance elements.

For example, right now, while shouting "Psycho Cut," she also made a finger-gun gesture, drawing a chorus of screams.

This Miss Liuqi was awfully sly!

All Baimu only glanced once before looking away.

In the previous rounds, Miss Liuqi had used this trick to divert the attention of many contestants, including Bai Guang, causing them to fail to issue further commands to their own Pokémon in time.

Such little tricks couldn't affect him — besides, there was something more worth watching —

The shiny Galarian Rapidash treading on water!

A strange pink glow wreathed its four hooves, seemingly the psychic power stored within, allowing it to walk on water without sinking.

As a Galarian Rapidash, its sky-blue mixed with pure-white mane — transformed from flame — could store a certain amount of psychic power.

And for a Psychic-type Pokémon, with a degree of manipulation, let alone treading water, even taking straight to the sky — how hard could that be?

During the previous performance, All Baimu had thought the Galarian Rapidash walked on water thanks to Psychic; now it was clear this was a special ability brought by its body.

"Milo~!"

The shiny Milotic raised its tail high and slammed it heavily against the water. With a thunderous crash, a glittering blue giant wave rose like a great wall and surged forward!

"Siiirrrrr—"

A piercing shriek exploded by his ears, and a pink-purple light, like a blade unsheathed, tore the massive wave apart in an instant.

The Galarian Rapidash, its single horn swinging, strolled out as if taking a leisurely walk through a courtyard; its elegant and proud bearing enchanted who knew how many spectators, and also caused All Baimu's score to drop.

Fortunately, the initiative was still in their own hands.

The instant the wave was torn apart, the shiny Milotic had already raised its upper body, and from on high sprayed countless pure white snow powder down at the Galarian Rapidash!

All Baimu: "Blizzard."

Gale summoned a cold current mingled with snow particles, instantly freezing the water's surface beneath the Galarian Rapidash's hooves and pinning its movements along with it.

However.

Facing such a predicament, Miss Liuqi seemed to have long foreseen it; her smile unchanged, the pistol in her right hand suddenly fired!

"Pierce your heart~ Bang~"

The Galarian Rapidash's horn flashed brilliantly, and abruptly fired a cannonball-like beam forward!

Boom!

Without a doubt.

This was the correct way to use Psychic Blade as a non-contact move!

A wave of exclamations rose from the spectator stands.

"Dodge it!"

All Baimu waved his hand abruptly.

The shiny Milotic, facing the beam head-on, nimbly twisted its body and narrowly avoided it.

"Coil up! Sink into the water!"

"Milo~"

The shiny Milotic, having received the order, swiftly coiled itself into a ball and slipped beneath the water.

After the Galarian Rapidash, amid a series of cracking, crunching sounds of shattering ice, pulled its hooves free, its opponent had already vanished from both its and Miss Liuqi's field of vision.

What a fast reaction!

Miss Liuqi clicked her tongue inwardly; sure enough, merely watching from the side could never let one accurately feel the reaction speed of All Baimu's Pokémon — only experiencing it firsthand revealed how outrageous it was.

It simply gave the Pokémon and trainer no room to catch their breath.

"Show off your gallant figure with a gallop! Wild Charge!" she twirled once more.

"Sii—"

The Galarian Rapidash raised its forelegs and neighed loudly; over its jade-white body, pale-blue currents of electricity leapt, and its sleek mane, in that instant, exploded outward into the shape of lightning.

In a flash.

It began galloping at high speed around the pool, its frenzied form entirely wreathed in pale-blue thunder — like a thunder-beast qilin!

"Siiirrrrr!

"

Vast amounts of current, as the Galarian Rapidash kept trampling the water's surface, surged down beneath the surface; the originally pitch-black underwater environment instantly became bright, revealing the shiny Milotic lurking within.

Only.

The electricity that had plunged into the water did not seem to be able to strike its body; instead, quite strangely, it was absorbed by the bright-yellow orb of light spinning at high speed around it.

By the time the electricity on the Galarian Rapidash's body was spent, the orb of lightning around the shiny Milotic had already swelled to several times its original size!

Dong!

The shiny Milotic burst out of the water!

Leaping into midair, it once more looked down from on high at the Galarian Rapidash, and released all the accumulated electricity at the latter in a single blast!

Boom!

The orb of light instantly transformed into a thick pillar of lightning, roaring as it surged forward!

"Horn Drill!

"

Miss Liuqi's shout was drowned out by the explosive crackle of the current, but that did not prevent the Galarian Rapidash from hearing its trainer's command, and executing it at top speed!

Its high-speed spinning horn thrust straight at the onrushing lightning!