Chapter 573: Awakened Ability!

Morning.

The sunlight was bright and beautiful.

Everyone arrived at the venue full of energy.

Last night, Hu Pa had been unexpectedly well-behaved — not only did it refrain from leading astray the still-good-natured shiny Gengar, it also made a substantial contribution to purchasing breakfast ingredients and gathering the group of "diners."

This prompted All Baimu to reward it with a doughnut.

The entrance.

The group split off to head to different places as audience members and contestants respectively; Hu Pa trotted along behind All Baimu and the others, trying to quietly sneak in unnoticed.

The quick-witted Mei Mei Yali grabbed it and held it back.

"Hu Pa! What did I tell you before we came?"

She glared at Hu Pa.

The latter dodged her gaze, unwilling to meet her eyes, and muttered through pursed lips, "But I wanna go with Little White and Little Geng!"

Little Geng?

All Baimu turned to look at the shiny Gengar beside him, who was chuckling while scratching its head with a single claw, looking a little embarrassed.

Although giving people and Pokémon all sorts of random nicknames was a habit of Hu Pa's, it was obvious that in just one short night, it had already gotten along quite well with this grey fatty.

Birds of a feather?

He hadn't specifically learned what the two of them had discussed in private, so he couldn't be sure.

"Do you want to go to the audience seats with it? To watch my performance with Mawile." All Baimu asked quietly.

Since the shiny Gengar had no chance to take the field, the formal performance would just mean waiting inside its Poké Ball — better to let it go to the audience seats with Hu Pa.

Hu Pa was small anyway, so it could give up its seat to Gengar and watch from Mei Mei Yali's arms instead.

Or it could sit in Gengar's lap?

Of course.

This definitely needed to be discussed with Hu Pa — after all, it was its seat.

Before the shiny Gengar could respond, he turned to look at Hu Pa — only to have the little fellow excitedly pounce on him, grab his face, and shout, "Go together! Go together! Little Geng comes with me!"

"But with its size, it'll need to take your seat."

"Give to Little Geng! Give to Little Geng! Little Geng come together?"

It looked pitifully at the shiny Gengar.

The grey fatty froze for a moment, then recalled what All Baimu had just said to it, and excitedly grabbed the former's hand, bobbing it up and down while nodding. "Go! Go go!"

It wanted to go!

It definitely wanted to go!

The inside of a Poké Ball was certainly comfortable, but it also wanted to keep happily playing with Hu Pa, and to witness All Baimu and Mawile's gorgeous performance with its own eyes.

It had missed seeing the preliminary round's performance yesterday and could only hear from Hu Pa's mouth how beautiful the shiny Milotic was — it regretted it terribly.

Mei Mei Yali watched Hu Pa giggling with the shiny Gengar with a thoroughly impressed look, and said to All Baimu:

"Leave it to me to take care of them."

"Then I'm counting on you."

He nodded, and headed toward the preparation room before the surrounding foot traffic of audience members grew any thicker.

The shiny Gengar watched his retreating back, raised one short little hand and waved it, as if saying goodbye.

"Go~"

It hadn't expected to be "let off" so easily.

If it had been Jarvis, he would never have let it stray so far.

…Trust?

That word — a human term it had only recently learned — flashed through its mind, stemming from that night in Greenfield Town when it had asked Porygon-II why All Baimu and the shiny Milotic seemed so in sync.

Porygon-II had told it what trust was, along with the deeper meaning and applications of the word, and so on.

That night, the shiny Gengar had actually been completely lost in the clouds listening.

But the present situation triggered an association in its mind — perhaps it could sneakily ask Porygon-II again after returning tonight?

Ever since learning that one of the biggest heroes in defeating Jarvis was Porygon-II, which had controlled the airship and the restraint devices, the shiny Gengar had been full of admiration for this senior.

The source of Jarvis's ability to suppress them had been those technological tools that made it hard to resist.

"Little Geng! Let's go!"

Hu Pa's urging voice interrupted its thoughts.

The shiny Gengar noticed everyone was waiting for it, hurriedly floated up and drifted toward Mei Mei Yali. "Go!"

The crowd around them was gradually thickening.

It didn't want to get separated because of that.

——

"Welcome back to the grand festival stage!"

Vivian smiled and raised both hands high. "Did you all rest well last night?"

What answered her was a wave of cheers.

Compared to the preliminary round, which had been so brief it felt like "how is it already over?", the main competition — which had plenty of time to put on a wonderful performance — was undoubtedly far more anticipated.

"Then without further ado! The official competition begins! First up is the first review — the stage performance!"

Vivian gestured toward the entrance. "Please welcome our first contestant, the lovely young lady from Twinleaf Town in the Sinnoh region — Dawn!"

Dawn, now changed into a short dress of pure white and pale blue, stepped out, and confidently and calmly threw her Poké Ball high.

"Piplup! Let's Go!"

The Poké Ball flew high into the air.

Pop!

Under a white flash, countless crystal-clear bubbles scattered out, gathered together, and transformed into a small, adorable, and full-of-vitality Piplup.

"Pip!"

The little penguin's expression was resolute, secretly vowing in its heart to deliver the most perfect performance for Mawile and the shiny Milotic!

That's right.

This guy had agonized over it all night, truly unable to make a decision between these two top-tier cute and beautiful Pokémon, suffering unbearably.

Coincidentally, Mawile sent it another Friend Card, so it simply went all in and made its decision—

I want them both!

The little penguin suddenly showed signs of upgrading from a simp to a player.

But for now this intention was only an idea; it didn't even know how to break through its relationship with Mawile, so how could it possibly embrace both?

Just a daydream.

All Piplup could do was continue to show goodwill toward the two Pokémon.

"This guy…"

All Baimu watched the Piplup on TV, which had created the ice sculpture miracle of a radiant ice crystal lamp with full lighting effects, shape, and aesthetic appeal, and twitched the corner of his mouth.

According to the secret exposé by Rotom-II, Piplup had complained to it that Mawile was too cold and indifferent toward it.

It also tried to collect the shiny Milotic's preferences.

Hedging its bets?

Trying to be a scumbag goose, is it!

How come I never noticed when watching the anime that you thick-browed, big-eyed Piplup weren't honest? Learn something good from your big brother Pikachu, will you!

You only learned the one thing about refusing to evolve!

He began considering whether, after the contest ended, to mix into its food some double-concentrated eggplant juice that could teach water-type Pokémon to learn Flamethrower.

At the same time.

Magnificent! This is truly the first time I've seen such an ice sculpture! Let's see how the judges will evaluate it?

Inside the venue.

Piplup's performance had already ended.

Although this guy was a water-type Pokémon, its attainments in ice-type moves were not low, and as a Coordinator, Dawn also had a special fondness for the ice type, with many of her original techniques based on ice.

The final score—

96 points!

Host Vivian excitedly said: A great start! Congratulations to Miss Dawn on obtaining the current highest score!

Clap clap clap clap…

Sparse applause rang out in the preparation room.

Amid sincere exclamations of admiration, the atmosphere seemed somewhat solemn.

A main-event score of 96 was an unreservedly high score even in previous editions; these were all veteran contestants, and they wouldn't think this year's judges were easy to talk to—Dawn and Piplup's performance was evident to all.

But regardless.

Dawn would be one of the opponents they most needed to be wary of!

A moment later.

The person and the goose in question returned.

Miss Liuqi stepped forward, happily grasped her hands and shouted: "Amazing! Dawn! The Ice Lamp was so beautiful!"

"Hehehe, so I've always said I'm fine!"

Dawn, full of pride, raised her hand and made a V sign.

The Piplup beside her held its head high and chest out, almost flipping over backward entirely.

Suddenly.

"Pip?"

It looked around, found that Mawile and the shiny Milotic were not nearby, hurriedly flapped its little wings and looked toward All Baimu, "Pip ma~"

"Mawile is adjusting its condition inside its Poké Ball."

All Baimu bent down and poked Piplup's head, saying with an insincere smile: "Ohhohoho… you've got some nerve, kid."

"Pi…p?"

Piplup's expression stiffened; it looked up at the terrifyingly smiling person, not quite understanding where it had offended the other.

It had a constant feeling that its life could be in danger at any moment!

"Be-have-your-self."

His smile faded, and Piplup lowered its head, doubting its life as a goose.

Did it do something yesterday?

Why?

Leaving the confused Piplup behind, All Baimu looked at the appearance order list.

He happened to be in thirty-fourth place, which was the second slot in the afternoon.

Without a doubt this order arrangement was quite good; the audience and judges who had gone through a lunch break had their spirits restored, and wouldn't develop weariness from aesthetic fatigue.

It was very likely to receive a high score.

Deliberately arranged?

He glanced at Miss Liuqi, who was in twenty-fifth place, and figured it must be a matter of luck—in terms of fame in the Contest scene, the latter was far greater than his.

From the audience's reaction when the two appeared, it was already obvious.

The competition continued.

Yet five contestants went up in a row and none scored above 90, all hovering between 85 and 88.

When that score came out, everyone present felt the same thing—

Whether one could advance to the second round's gorgeous battle might depend entirely on whether the score reached 90 or above!

"Huh? It's his turn already?"

All Baimu saw Coach Ge Man appear on the TV and instinctively glanced at Miss Liuqi beside him.

Today this guy hadn't come over to provoke her with words, so much so that he'd forgotten such a person even existed.

"Don't look at me! I hate this guy! Hmph!"

Miss Liuqi gave a light hum, rarely getting angry as she puffed out her pink cheeks and scolded in a low voice:

"He has not the slightest bit of respect for coordinators whose skills still need polishing, and often calls them weak after matches. He's even mocked those who aspire to the gorgeous competition, even though the gorgeous competition has nothing to do with age or gender! So annoying!"

For Miss Liuqi, who had devoted her life to promoting the gorgeous competition and even became its idol for that cause, anyone who tried to hog that big cake or shrink it was an enemy.

All Baimu saw her somewhat childishly cute expression and said with a smile:

"I see, as expected of Teacher Liu!"

"You too! No matter how far you go in the future, you must never look down on those who are still growing, okay!" Miss Liuqi raised her index finger and said quite seriously.

"Understood!"

He gave an exaggerated salute. "I'll work hard with Champion Dan Di as my goal!"

Champion Dan Di's accessibility had always had an excellent reputation online.

"That's more like it, worthy of being my beloved disciple~"

Miss Liuqi said with a beaming smile.

Though still young, her pursuits undoubtedly earned All Baimu's deep respect.

Three generations of the Liuli Gym had each taken expanding the gorgeous competition's scale and fame as their direction of effort; the gorgeous competition's development to its current scale owed an indelible debt to them.

No wonder the tournament committee specially held a global Mi Ke Li Cup just for Mi Ke Li…

All Baimu turned his head back.

On the TV.

Machoke displayed its muscles to all the audience like a Mr. bodybuilder, casually picking up a steel bar as thick as a baby's forearm and twisting it into various shapes.

At first glance it looked as easy as twisting a balloon, remarkably relaxed and effortless.

Various exclamations kept coming from the audience seats.

"What a… simple performance."

Brock, who had seen plenty of flashy tricks, was somewhat surprised.

"Before elaborate combo techniques became popular, most of the earliest coordinators performed just like this—showing a Pokémon's charm in the most direct way."

Miss Liuqi said softly.

Don't be fooled by how simple Machoke's performance looked—just twisting steel bars—it actually secretly combined the moves 【Bulk Up】, 【Focus Energy】, and 【Cross Chop】.

It fully embodied the gorgeous competition's theme of 【Strength】.

Without messy move combinations, it actually let the judges more directly judge how well the Pokémon itself had been raised.

"In the process of twisting the steel bar, it has already fully displayed the aesthetic beauty of its muscles." All Baimu nodded toward Machoke's wave-like swelling and relaxing muscles.

If he remembered correctly, this was a female Machoke, nicknamed Haoko.

The performance ended.

The panel of judges indeed focused their commentary on the beauty of Haoko's appearance, giving one an uncanny sense of watching a bodybuilding competition.

Coach Ge Man's final score—92 points.

Currently in second place.

"Being able to see all kinds of different performances is one of the happy things about coming to this gorgeous grand celebration." All Baimu said with a smile.

Everyone agreed.

A moment later.

Coach Ge Man, returning with a high score, had confidence radiating from his face as he strode toward Miss Liuqi's side.

But when he caught sight of All Baimu smiling beside her, he instinctively swallowed, while on the surface continuing to act nonchalant as he approached.

Only the closer he got, the more cold sweat ran down his back.

"……"

When he was only five meters away, and just as Dawn and Brock were about to raise their hands to greet him, he suddenly snorted, turned his head, and left—his hurried steps couldn't have been faster.

"This guy! So rude!"

Dawn was a bit displeased; in her view, Coach Ge Man had simply come over "full of bluster" and gone back "triumphantly smug."

Was 92 points really that worth being happy about?

"Why do I feel he's a bit strange… is he in a rush for the bathroom?" Brock rubbed his chin, watching Coach Ge Man head toward the restroom, then turned to glance at All Baimu's calm face.

Just now he'd felt inexplicably creeped out, like when traveling with Ash and being chased by various powerful Pokémon.

An illusion?

"Beloved disciple, did you do something?"

Miss Liuqi was the only one who had seen All Baimu smile at Coach Ge Man, yet she hadn't sensed any pressure gathering from it.

"Didn't do anything, just suddenly realized that the boundary between humans and Pokémon is actually absurdly small."

All Baimu shook his head.

If he kept mastering this technique, he'd most likely awaken the Pressure or Intimidate ability.

No wonder *Pokémon Legends: Arceus* says that long ago, people and Pokémon weren't distinguished so clearly.