Chapter 629: The Finals are Coming

The ice-blue lightning came unexpectedly.

"Long-pa!?"

Ludicolo was so scared that it jumped to the side platform like a stressed rabbit. Thanks to the last bit of fine rain, the Swift Swim Ability barely boosted its speed, and the lightning grazed its head by a hair's breadth.

Sizzle!

The frost caused by the rain on the platform made it slide directly onto the ice under the influence of inertia.

Ludicolo raised its hand to touch in panic, and the tuft of hair on the very top of its "hat" was indeed frozen into an ice lump.

"Long-pa..."

"Trainer Leon's last Pokémon is Ludicolo! But the situation is quite bad! The rain clouds have completely dissipated, and the Water field has also been frozen!"

The commentator knew that the result was obvious after fighting to this point, but as a professional, he couldn't predict the victory or defeat of any contestant at will.

That is the referee's responsibility.

Leon looked at the frozen field and the Ludicolo with its head injured, and had lost any excuse to raise his fighting spirit, just like his mentality completely collapsed after being killed to super-ghost in both battles and team fights.

Aggron clearly possessed the ability to freeze the entire field, but it fought with Kingdra in the water area unfavorable to it for so long and then won.

What kind of Pokémon is this!?

How can it be so powerful!?

He licked his lips nervously, "Re-really Focus Blast?"

The weak command made Ludicolo subconsciously look back, its expression full of worry and embarrassment.

"Long..."

The combat effectiveness of Pokémon is closely related to the state of the Trainer.

Once the latter's tone of command is not firm enough, the former will also become confused, thereby bringing attack opportunities to the opponent.

All Baimu pointed at Ludicolo, "Double-Edge."

"Goo-roar!"

Aggron clenched its claws and roared in a low voice. Amazing momentum gathered rapidly, and the shining brownish-yellow light overflowed from its body to form flocculent airflow lingering everywhere.

The air suddenly trembled violently!

Rumble rumble—

"Long-pa!"

Ludicolo, who felt the threat, turned its head quickly and saw Aggron's state at this moment, scared enough to immediately rub its hands in front of its chest.

In a short while, a high-energy light wave that looked like a fireball took shape.

But before it could throw it, a deafening explosion came from its ears!

Boom!

Broken ice splashed!

"Goo-roar!!"

Aggron, like a huge glowing meteorite, wrapped in visible majestic airflow, charged forward with a terrifying momentum that seemed to be able to lift the houses along the way to the sky!

The frozen ice surface was cut into a deep gully, and the strong wind mixed with ice particles showed a whistling sound that could blow an adult away.

The terrifying rumbling sound when the air trembled was even better.

Ludicolo trembled all over, subconsciously throwing the azure high-energy light wave in its hands.

"Long-pa!"

In the blink of an eye.

The light wave rushed toward the huge "meteorite" galloping, and exploded into a cloud of smoke with a bang.

"Bo—"

The commentator was about to open his mouth, but in the next second, the brilliant meteor that was unscathed suddenly crashed through the dust and smoke, and hit Ludicolo, who was trying to dodge, with lightning speed!

Whoosh!

It was like a meteor streaking across the sky, and like a typhoon passing through, flashing past everyone's eyes, and finally crashed into the wall at the edge of the field!

Thud!!

The loud noise was like a heavy hammer hitting everyone's heart.

The rock energy storm at the edge of the field rolled up, and then exploded into light flames and fragments that rushed into the sky, and the shockwave swept the dust and smoke to spread in all directions.

Leon turned sideways and raised his hand to avoid the air wave, his black face pale as if he had lost too much blood.

He had completely lost his confidence in this battle.

A moment later.

Aggron, surrounded by flames, appeared and disappeared in it, like a monster that was looking up and roaring, about to destroy the world, surpassing the dust and flames.

"Goo-roar——"

The entire venue seemed to be able to hear its roar like muffled thunder.

The commentator was stunned for a few seconds, and then suddenly stood up and grabbed the microphone and shouted excitedly: "Double-Edge hit!! The effect of this blow is very terrifying! Can Ludicolo still persist!?"

Countless spectators stared at the edge of the field, and the place was exposed after Aggron retreated.

The dust and smoke gradually dispersed.

I saw Ludicolo sitting powerlessly on the ice in the broken wall, its eyes replaced by black circles.

Seeing this, the referee blew the whistle.

Beep—

"Ludicolo is unable to battle, Aggron wins! Therefore, the winner of this match is Trainer All Baimu!"

In an instant.

As the referee's words fell, cheers that shook the sky erupted in the main venue!

Absolute victory!

There was no suspense, and it could even be called a crushing victory!

Brock and the others clapped with a smile, and Altaria and Piplup jumped up and down happily, exceptionally lively.

"Finally going to the finals!"

"Yeah, it really wasn't easy all the way..."

Wally wanted to say it wasn't easy, but after looking at All Baimu, who wasn't red-faced or breathless on the big screen, he finally didn't have the nerve to say it.

Not easy?

It was clearly too easy.

Iris took a deep breath, stood up and said: "It's my turn! It really makes people feel nervous and expectant!"

"Come on, Iris!"

"There is only one match left until the finals!"

The cheering of Dawn and Lisia made her smile.

The Dragon-cancer girl said confidently: "Don't worry! I will definitely get the opportunity to compete with All Baimu on the same stage!"

And then—

Wash away the shame!

Iris hadn't forgotten the scene at the Pokémon Center in the desert oasis, where her three strongest Dragon Pokémon appeared but still lost to All Baimu.

The Lily of the Valley Conference is the best stage for her counterattack!

In the field.

All Baimu recalled Aggron and smiled: "Double-Edge, this move was not learned in vain."

After Mega Evolution, the big monster not only changed its Ability to Filter, but even the original Rock type was gone, which made the move Double-Edge, which has great power but has side effects, slightly tasteless.

Of course, it's not that it can't be used.

It's just that it's not as easy to use as Heavy Slam after Mega Evolution.

The Poké Ball shook slightly in response.

He turned to lean toward Leon, but was startled by the latter's staggering movement down the stairs, and hurriedly went up to help.

"Are you okay?"

"..."

Leon looked at him with dull eyes, and after a few seconds, he asked like a sob: "Why? Why are you so strong? How many tournaments have you participated in?"

All Baimu: "Hmm... well, the Lily of the Valley Conference is the first tournament I participated in."

As for why he is so strong.

Can't tell you that besides daily training, master guidance, and "heavenly treasures", I also have a cheat device?

"The, first, one."

Leon was stunned, then pushed his hand away fiercely and walked forward staggeringly.

All Baimu could understand the other party's mood at this moment, so he didn't care.

Being able to speak normally after being beaten through the whole team by the opponent with two Pokémon in a stage that should be equal in strength is already not easy.

Mentality, it's really not something that can be trained just by saying it.

It's just that when he was also ready to leave, Leon suddenly turned around and ran over, trying to put his hands on his shoulders.

All Baimu couldn't possibly let him do such a rash action, and subconsciously wanted to grab this guy's hand and give him a shoulder throw.

But halfway through the action, seeing the other party's tearful face, he forcibly stopped.

Leon's hands successfully grabbed his—arm.

"You, you must win the championship! Woo woo woo! Otherwise, I'm too unwilling!" This dark-skinned boy, who would have been in high school in his previous life, wailed, not caring at all that a Rotom Drone in the distance was filming his face.

All Baimu heard this, grabbed the other party's hand and patted it lightly, comforting: "Don't worry, I'm determined to win the Lily of the Valley Conference championship!

"Also, remember to keep paying attention to me, because sooner or later, you will be proud of today!"

"Woo woo woo..."

Leon didn't hear the sharp determination in his words, and was immersed in crying over the defeat.

Are there many contestants who cry after losing the tournament?

Too many.

There is never a lack of Trainers with out-of-control tear glands in competitive matches. At least crying because of defeat proves that they still care. If they adapt to failure...

Then it's really over.

And Trainers who can walk out of crying will definitely be stronger!

——

Afternoon.

The second semifinal match proceeded steadily.

Iris's opponent was the only local from Hoenn among the top four.

The Pokémon used had mixed attributes, and there was very little cooperation or even a tactical system that ran through the whole field between them, such as Leon's rain team.

This is not surprising. Most Trainers in the animation world are like this.

Many people don't have a detailed team plan after becoming a Trainer. Capturing and cultivating which Pokémon purely depends on the surface data of the Pokédex and their eye for them.

It's like a game clearance party.

And a large part of them will specialize in a certain attribute later. First, it saves cultivation time, and second, they can cultivate more Pokémon with the same attributes but different others.

Iris is one of them.

However, as a Dragon-cancer girl, three of the Pokémon in her team are not Dragon-type—

Excadrill, Emolga, and Archen.

The former is her first Pokémon, which she barely captured after countless real-life fights and one accident.

The latter is because of its overly cute appearance, and at the same time has the same "bangs" as Iris, and is a drama queen who loves to eat and is lazy.

The last one originated from a coincidence.

This added a lot of variables to her pure Dragon-type team.

Interestingly, Iris only had five Pokémon until the end of the Best Wishes main story in the animation, and she didn't use the sixth one when she appeared in the Journeys to participate in the Masters Eight tournament.

At this moment, the semifinals didn't even use the sixth one to win...

"I've seen it when eating."

All Baimu secretly complained.

All Baimu muttered to himself.

Besides that Archeops she had been seen with before, Iris now had a Goodra.

And recalling that slimy, affectionate Goodra, he couldn't help but twitch his mouth.

As a Trainer who preferred fluffy Pokémon and was relatively clean, it was hard to accept a Pokémon that liked to share its moist slime with those it liked.

Being clingy was one thing, but it would cry if you didn't let it cling.

He had been raising Pokémon for so long, and this was the first time he'd seen an individual with such well-developed tear ducts; it would cry or howl at the drop of a hat, scaring him every time he knocked on Iris's door with others, fearing this creature would pounce out.

By the way.

Wally was also one of the victims.

And because this guy had a relatively gentle personality and didn't know how to refuse, he was subjected to Goodra's extraordinary "love."

So All Baimu often blocked him between himself and Goodra to divert the fire.

Evening.

The group enjoyed a gourmet meal at a specialty restaurant and strolled back to the hotel.

To give the Pokémon enough rest time, the assembly office scheduled the final for tomorrow afternoon.

Iris had wanted to cram at the last minute, like Ash, with pre-match special training, but was dissuaded by Lisia and Brock.

"Only by balancing work and rest can you become stronger; let them rest peacefully tonight."

"Yes, a Pokémon's growth isn't just reflected in training; ample rest is also very important."

She looked at the calm All Baimu and nodded.

It would be a lie to say there was no pressure in battling the latter; after all, after so many matches in the Ever Grande Conference, everyone's strength should be clear at a glance.

But had anyone pushed All Baimu and her to their limits?

No.

Mega Mawile's attacks were very powerful, powerful enough to remind her of the Haxorus she battled at the Dragon Village festival.

However, Iris had a vague premonition—Mega Mawile was not All Baimu's strongest Pokémon.

This premonition was verified after Aggron appeared.

Its power made Iris tremble.

Excitement? Fear?

Maybe a little of both.

She knew she had to cross the hurdle of All Baimu and Aggron to continue moving toward her goal of becoming a Dragon-type Pokémon Master.

The Ever Grande Conference would be the first cornerstone!

Back at the hotel.

All Baimu didn't return to his room immediately but went to the backyard to find a quiet corner to release his Pokémon.

Although most Pokémon didn't hate staying in Poké Balls, the outside world was ultimately more exciting, and breathing more fresh air was definitely the right thing to do.

Alright.

For Dragapult and Corsola, that might not be the case.

He saw these two Pokémon—one immediately turning invisible, the other retracting its head to play dead—and helplessly clutched his forehead.

"Tomorrow is the last match; let's hold the championship trophy and happily return to Orre!"

All Baimu raised his fist and shouted, and Aggron and the other Pokémon responded one after another.

The opponent was the Champion-tier Iris; her current strength was predicted to be around that of an ordinary Elite Four member, Champion strength… not very likely.

He looked around at his eager Pokémon, his gaze falling on Porygon2, "You're starting tomorrow; any problems?"

"Pari!"

Porygon2, who had been called, nodded with a firm gaze.

He looked at the other Pokémon again, recalled Iris's team composition, and said: "Blissey! Second."

"Happy~"

Blissey smiled.

"Dragapult!"

"Luto."

Dragapult's cry came from the air, and then this guy appeared reluctantly.

All Baimu said firmly: "You're the third."

The socially anxious dragon nodded and disappeared into invisibility.

The choices after that were relatively clear.

"Milotic, Steelix, Aggron! Remember to be prepared!"

He called them out one by one, ignoring Hydreigon, which tried to fly to his pointing position every time, "Remember, this isn't the order of appearance; I will decide who appears based on the situation."

"Migo~"

"Roar!"

"Gu-roar."

Hydreigon looked at the three responding Pokémon, its three fierce faces incredibly angry.

It also wanted to appear!

It also wanted to participate in the final! This wasn't fair! It had only appeared twice!

Mawile glanced at this guy, raised its small fist, thought about it, and put it down again.

"Gen~"

The Shiny Gengar felt a bit regretful.

Although the Trainer had asked it to watch Iris's matches carefully before, indicating it might be allowed to play, it knew the probability was very small.

No way around it; the gap in strength with everyone else was a bit large.