The last match of the quarterfinals: Hani vs. another second-tier contestant. Without a doubt, under Hani's Grassy Terrain, the contestant suffered a crushing defeat.
Moreover, Hani didn't showcase any new strategies beyond using the Grassy Terrain, keeping her next opponent, Gayle, from seeing any new tactics.
"Not bad," Raoul Contesta said excitedly as he looked at the list of the top four. "With the level these four are at, any one of them could become a Top Coordinator."
"If future Grand Festivals have Top Coordinators of this caliber each time, I would be satisfied," he added.
Wallace smiled without saying a word.
Semi-finalists:
Supernova Terrance vs. Flowing Fish Mizushima.
Master of Ice and Fire Gayle vs. Sinnoh's Enchantress Hani!
...
...
"Brother Terrance made it to the semifinals... Ha... Hahaha!" At a large screen showing the live Grand Festival broadcast in a certain area of Slateport, Chisana's face lit up with joy.
The people who had spoken to him earlier all looked at him with strange expressions, but their curiosity got the better of them: "You've been so interested in this Terrance since the beginning, you guys definitely aren't just regular friends."
Watching Terrance get this far, Chisana nodded proudly as if he himself was standing in that position.
"We're from the same place."
...
"He's reached the semifinal," Max, though young, had already started wearing glasses and had even developed the habit of pushing up his glasses. Among the children present, he stood out as unusual, frequently joining in the adults' discussions.
Caroline, watching her son's behavior, shook her head. It seemed May took after her more...
...
"I wasn't wrong about him, was I?" Yuu Tachibana was among the first to notice Terrance. With her experience in Pokémon Contests, seeing a rookie make it to the semifinals—especially in a competition of such high caliber—was no easy feat. This also indirectly validated her keen judgment. Watching Terrance achieve success, Yuu, as one of his earliest supporters, looked at her friend Yui with a sense of satisfaction as if she had nurtured him.
This sentiment wasn't exclusive to one of Terrance's supporters. The better Terrance performed, the more his supporters cheered for him, and the more their trust in him grew, their favorability of him increasing +1+1+1+1+.....∞.
Moreover, during the Grand Festival—a major event broadcasted live across all of Hoenn—countless viewers in front of their TVs were either turning into fans or becoming critics… Either way, it all contributed to a rise in his popularity.
The better his results, the more attention he attracted.
...
At this moment, the liveliest place was the Old Green House.
While the people of the Old Green House were watching the Grand Festival, an elderly voice suddenly called out in surprise from outside the door.
"Arlan! I think I just saw your Terrance on TV!"
...
"This year's Pokémon Contest not only has the most impressive lineup ever, but also, aside from Hani, it seems like all the Coordinators are from Hoenn….. As the home of Pokémon Contests, Hoenn really has some exceptional Coordinators."
"Who do you think has the best chance of advancing?"
Before the match started, some viewers began to speculate. "First of all, there's Hani, whose strength as a Top Coordinator is unquestionable. But the others also have Top Coordinator-level skills, so the outcome is hard to predict. Personally, I'm betting on Gayle. He almost won the Top Coordinator title last time, and this time he's even developed that fire-poison combo. I think he has a good chance against Tangrowth."
"I also think the same. Let's wait and see!"
"Oh! The match between Terrance and Mizushima has started."
The audience stopped their discussions and focused on the main stage.
Vivian stood in the center, guiding the two contestants to enter the stage. Terrance and his opponent stood apart from each other. Mizushima wore a sailor outfit, a style completely different from Terrance's.
"I hope we can have a great battle." It was clear that Mizushima held Terrance in high regard. After all, reaching this stage meant having a good understanding of the other contestants' strengths, and no one dared to underestimate their opponents.
The two locked eyes, took deep breaths, and steadied their emotions. It was the semifinals...
"Take the stage, Dewgong!"
"Dance, Beautifly!"
As the battle began, they both threw their Poké Balls at the same time—Dewgong, with its sleek body covered in snow-white fur, made a grand entrance onto the stage surrounded by splash effect. On the other side, Beautifly used Attract effect. Neither side was at a disadvantage when it came to opening momentum.
"Alright, everyone! It's time for another exciting and dazzling Contest Battle! Look, Dewgong's signature move, Aqua Ring, is here! Originally used to heal itself, Mizushima is using it to stop Beautifly from strengthening itself. Dewgong has used Aqua Tail to shatter the blue veil around itself, sending it flying outward. Under the high pressure, the veil has burst into countless droplets, shooting towards the Beautifly!"
Vivian continued her commentary with her usual enthusiasm.
"Ah! What a clever counter! You'd think Beautifly wouldn't be able to avoid such a dense barrage of water droplets even with the help of air currents, but it's breaking through with an aggressive move! Beautifly has dived into the Silver Wind, using the gathered powdery scales ahead of it to slice through the water droplets and break free... Oh, the situation has changed again! Just as Beautifly escaped, Dewgong has shot a powerful jet of water and dived into it. And, and... it's using Aurora Beam to freeze the jet of water, turning it into ice spikes!"
Dewgong launched itself into the air with Aqua Jet, aiming at Beautifly, and then used Aurora Beam to freeze the high-speed water stream into ice spikes to hurl at Beautifly. Seeing this scene, the audience was momentarily stunned—with Beautifly's reaction, can it dodge?
The answer: it could dodge, but something even more shocking happened next.
The ice exploded near Beautifly as Dewgong broke free, sending countless small ice chunks flying: "I see! With a combo of such large-scale moves, Dewgong has completely sealed Beautifly's Quiver Dance trajectory. Faced with the barrage of ice spikes, Beautifly has been forced to abandon its dance and dodge!" Vivian shouted.
After the ice shattered, Dewgong unleashed Icy Wind, sweeping the ice chunks toward Beautifly. Mizushima didn't believe that Beautifly could continue to dodge and perform Quiver Dance amidst such a dense barrage of ice chunks and water droplets.
"Say…" Terrance paused slightly. "Who gave you the wrong impression that Beautifly's Quiver Dance and air currents mastery was only at this level?!"
It seemed like Terrance and Beautifly had been hiding their true strength all along… As a result, their Quiver Dance, only showcasing sixty percent of its speed, led others to believe they could find a way to counter it. Thus, opponents who recognized this weakness always deliberately targeted this particular technique shown by Beautifly.
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