Backstage prep room.
Baimu leaned against the Blissey, scrolling through his constantly buzzing phone, while the other contestants quietly observed him, their eyes not quite looking at a human.
29.8!
Just half a step away from a perfect score, and that half step was probably missing because the audience outside the venue couldn't fully empathize; otherwise, the Blissey's guidance through song was more than deserving of a perfect score.
Is a perfect score that hard to achieve?
Yes!
But during the time when Xiaoyao participated in the Hoenn Gorgeous Competition, perfect scores were not particularly rare. Even Musashi scored a perfect score with Chimecho at the Shuijing Conference.
With the passing of time and the changing of judges, score management has become more stringent, especially concerning perfect scores, which are not given out easily.
Almost everyone present, except those about to perform, had gone out to find a spot provided by the organizers to watch, and naturally, the experience needed no further comment.
Absolutely outrageous!
How many people in the world can maintain such high standards in performance?
You can count them on one hand!
Furthermore, although most people here have never received a score above twenty-nine, they were well aware that achieving such a performance that impressed both the demanding and high-standard judges Patistan and Liu Lai was beyond the experience of an ordinary person.
Ordinary coordinator trainers are only worth two lines of comment from Patistan. Getting Liu Lai to lift a brow and make a sixty-decibel sound is already commendable; only performances that truly move them can elicit voluble praise and explosive evaluation.
This time, aside from Patistan, the mere fact that Liu Lai performed his "ming" character removal act only twice since he became a Gorgeous Competition judge, speaks volumes.
Every coordinator trainer who received such an evaluation eventually became a top coordinator trainer, without exception.
As for the various Miss Joys...
They are the hardest to evaluate because they always find various ways to praise trainers, regardless of the score. However, this time Miss Joy focused solely on Blissey in a way that was unprecedented!
No wonder they were moved.
What appeared before them wasn't a human, but clearly a monster!
At this very moment.
The competitive spirit most on-lookers had towards Baimu had hit rock bottom. They were like sprinters contemporaneous with Bolt, realizing through repeated, all-out sprints, that it wasn't their era that had yet to dawn but that the era itself stood opposing them.
No, that's incorrect.
They were simply people who had not even made it past the preliminaries — finals? The finals were still far away!
Of course, Baimu, who had not yet ascended to the pinnacle of coordinator trainers, didn't deserve such honors either, as there were many in the Hoenn Region with similar skills.
Thinking of the dragon-tiger battles between Baimu and other geniuses in a few months, many coordinator trainers couldn't help but grow excited.
As expected.
There are those who wilt when facing strong rivals, and those who thrive when encountering them.
Xiaofeng, whom Baimu had once encountered, was not intimidated by the performance. As a fan, she was instead extremely excited and went up to him for a chat.
But the conversation was nothing more than standard pre-battle lines like, "I won't lose in the upcoming battle" and "Please watch closely." He really wanted to joke whether this was written in a textbook; otherwise, why do you all have identical standard lines?
Unfortunately, there were simply too many people trying to reach him on his phone, so he could only somewhat dismiss Xiaofeng, continuing to focus on replying to Liuqia and others' messages.
However, it wasn't just her being all hyper today; even Shanren in the Ore Region, who basically never uses a phone, and Xiaoguang, who had just gotten online, too coincidentally started focusing on his competition and naturally became the third person sending him message after message.
Baimu, overwhelmed by responding to three people, felt his scalp tingle; Liuqia was as lively as ever, exuding vivacity even through the screen. The young girl, since ending her TV acting career, had been nothing short of unrestrained.
Currently a Gorgeous Competition Aidoru, she's captured more than her share of young hearts.
She still loved encouraging others to participate in the Gorgeous Competition, constantly saying how many "students" she had taken on, joking that she could open a school herself.
But when Baimu actually agreed with her about opening a school and encouraged her, saying it sounded feasible, the young girl panicked, saying she was kidding, and suggested that Mikoli, her uncle, be the teacher instead.
Except Mikoli... probably too busy.
Someday when Da Wu goes out again for long hours searching for stones, he'll likely leave the Champion's seat to Mikoli, who has acted as the stand-in before.
And from Xiaoguang, Baimu learned that she would participate in the upcoming Mikoli Club and that Xiaoyao was definitely coming too.
The relationship between these two actresses seems quite good, often meeting at various Gorgeous Competitions and sparring, establishing a deep friendship grounded on the principle of not knowing each other without a fight, and they even traveled together for a while.
Xiaoyao... the Hoenn Dancer.
He rubbed his chin. When watching the Advanced Generation on TV, he liked her quite a bit, even more than the original actress Xiaoxia, perhaps due to the game's influence?
Although the Ruby Version wasn't his introductory version, it was the one he played the most.
On another note.
Shanren contacted him, mainly having received information about Lugia appearing in the Carlos Region, hoping Baimu could take a trip to check it out—
Hoopa Movie Edition.
Seeing the eyewitness report from Desert City, it became clear to Baimu that the Lugia appearing in Shanren's information was the same one that the Shadow Hoopa persistently disrupted and dodged its attacks in a craze, only to eventually be sent back by the frazzled Shadow Hoopa.