"Guraa~"
Croagunk's right claw precisely jabbed his kidney, allowing the embarrassed Gao Mei to apologize to him before approaching Baimu.
Gao Mei smiled gently, "You must be Lord Baimu, right?"
"Yes, may I ask what brings you here?"
"Sorry for the sudden interruption. I greatly admire your performance in the Gorgeous Competition. I'm also your opponent today, Gao Mei."
Gao Mei introduced herself.
She was very tall, wearing a silk-like long dress and high sandals, almost level with Baimu's eyebrows.
Just like her name suggests.
Baimu was a bit surprised, politely responded, "It's my honor to be praised by a beautiful lady like you."
"Thank you for the compliment. Your harmonious coordination with Milotic truly moved me, and the performance and gorgeous battles were extremely brilliant. I still often watch them again until now."
Gao Mei laughed and showed her phone as if to prove she wasn't lying.
Baimu was even more surprised now.
She continued, "I've always been looking forward to battling you, didn't expect luck would be so kind that it really happens. Please guide me well in the upcoming battle, I hope you won't hold back, and I'll give it my all too."
Gao Mei lifted her skirt and bowed deeply.
"Please don't say that, let's just cheer for each other," Baimu quickly reached out a hand to assist her up.
Life is truly full of drama.
Yesterday he encountered some mysterious oddball, and today met a gentle big sister like Gao Mei who was beautiful, kind-hearted, and spoke nicely.
Remembered how in the animation she was very respectful to Xiaoxia and even proactively greeted her.
Suddenly, he resonated with Xiaogang's taste, turned his head to look at the guy.
Saw a peculiar sight where the other was enviously distorted and tearful.
He quickly withdrew his gaze.
Afterward.
Baimu chatted with Gao Mei for a while, took a photo together, then they parted ways. Most of the audience in the arena were seated, and both the referee and commentator arrived.
Xiaogang looked reluctantly at her figure from a distance and asked, "Baimu, please, you must teach me techniques to attract big sisters!"
"I don't even know how to teach? Give it up, go to the audience seat!"
He pushed the nonsensical guy away.
Doesn't Xiaogang have anyone liking him?
Clearly, it's just a matter of insufficient fate. Among the females having a favorable impression of him, even the notable ones include Xiaoji, the Plumbing Queen of the Battlefront Zone, and Lizi, the Queen of the Alola Islands.
But due to various reasons, they all ended with nothing.
At nine in the morning.
The third round of the main competition started on time.
"Thank you for your patience! Let's welcome Contestant Baimu from Pyrite Town! Contestant Gao Mei from Kakou City, Red Rock Island!"
Baimu and Gao Mei each stood at their designated trainer positions.
Between them was a vast blue pool, with some scattered round stepping points in the water. However, they were not floating platforms but pillars connected to the pool bottom.
This meant it was extremely difficult to destroy the opponent's stepping points to make them fall into the water.
The referee raised the flag, signaling both sides to send out their Pokémon.
Gao Mei decisively tossed out a Pokeball.
"Let's go, Gorebyss!"
Bang!
White light shimmered.
A fish with lips as fine as needles, entirely a brilliant pink, having eel-shaped Pokémon with shells sticking to its chest, dropped into the pool water.
Gorebyss, a generally rare Pokémon due to its predominant habitat in deep seas.
Up to this point, Baimu had only encountered "the real thing" in the Eco Park of the Glazed Gym but hadn't had a chance to battle it; Mikoli preferred using its Degenerated Pearl Shell over Gorebyss.
The latter, when carrying a Deep Sea Fang that enables its evolution, has extremely fierce Special Attack, while defense became formidable once the shell was closed.
Baimu also sent out his Pokémon.
"Go ahead, don't be shy."
Bang!
"Waddles!"
In mid-air, Dragapult swung its ghostly tail, feeling overwhelmed by the fervent gazes cast upon it, feeling uncomfortable all over.
For those with social anxiety, such situations are the most fatal.
Yet it didn't shrink back, having done mental preparation all night just to present its best state to face today's battle.
Didn't see... didn't see...
Dragapult tried to breathe deeply, finally managing to calm itself down.
Unlike its tense self, the Dreepys in its launch chambers were very composed, especially Brother Dragapult, still had the mind to wave its claws greeting the audience.
"Xiyaa~ Xiyaa~"
The commentator noticed Dragapult and the Dreepys, briefly introduced them and announced the rules.
Baimu raised an eyebrow hearing the content of his introduction.
Many audience members, seeing such a Pokémon for the first time, were quite amazed, while those who had visited the Galar Region and seen Dan Emperor's Dragapult were looking forward.
"Dragapult?"
Gao Mei likewise encountered it for the first time, momentarily unable to gauge what abilities the opponent possessed.
The crucial part was, the intelligence she collected related to Baimu did not include Dragapult's existence. He normally used two sets of Pokémon for the Gorgeous Competition and the League Tournament.
Successfully confounding many who researched the Pokémon in his team.
The referee did not give them much time to assess each other's side, swiftly waved the flag down.
"Match begins!"
Beep!
The whistle blew.
Gao Mei hesitated not and called out, "Gorebyss, dive into the water!"
At the start, she chose to have Gorebyss avoid Dragapult, it seemed prior Baimu's near one-sided battles with other opponents made her realize not to engage head-on.