Victory!
Baimu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
The biggest uncertainty in this match was not Gao Mei bringing out a Pokémon that wasn't in the data, but whether Dragapult could battle under the gaze of tens of thousands of eyes.
As it turns out, the young fellow was quite resilient, successfully overcoming his psychological weaknesses.
"You've done well."
He affectionately patted Dragapult's flat head, and the latter vanished when the referee announced the end of the match, clearly having reached his limit.
The two Dreepy flew around him like flies, buzzing excitedly.
It was their first experience in such a conference setting; although they were slightly uncomfortable, the feeling of victory and the cheers of the crowd were quite enjoyable.
Meanwhile.
Gao Mei came around from the opposite side.
"An astonishingly spectacular battle, as expected, I'm still far behind you."
Her face did not show much disappointment from losing; she smiled while extending her fair hand.
Baimu shook it, "You're too kind; your mastery of Pokémon techniques is equally outstanding. I'm sure if you participated in the Gorgeous Competition, you'd achieve significant success."
"Really? I'm delighted to receive such high praise from the new star of the Gorgeous Competition," Gao Mei said with a gentle and warm tone, "Please continue winning on my behalf as well, I'll keep cheering for you!"
He nodded slightly, "Thanks! I definitely will!"
Maintaining composure after a defeat sounds simple but is quite challenging.
No one wants to lose; after all the effort put in over the year, losing it all in one match is undeniably tough.
Thus, trainers who can remain humble in victory or calm in defeat, and peacefully communicate with opponents while anticipating future battles, earn extra respect.
Outside the arena.
Baimu reunited with everyone.
Alice enthusiastically ran up: "Where's the kid? Where's Dragapult? Baimu~ let him come out for a bit~"
She glanced around, and the Dreepy siblings emerged from the air, each arriving at the two sides of her shoulders, ready to scare her sneakily.
Then Alice caught them and happily snuggled them, "Ah!! It's you two! Great performance!"
Xiaogang and others looked convinced.
Although many trainers particularly like Pokémon of a certain attribute, unlike her exaggerated fondness, it's clear she is a true fan.
Baimu said: "Dragapult won't be coming out; his appearance for today has reached its limit."
"Ehhh—"
Alice seemed extremely disappointed.
Her match had ended half an hour ago, no surprises just like Baimu.
According to Porygon II's data search, their rough estimate indicated that Alice's strength was nearly comparable to that of the typical Four Heavenly Kings.
Baimu recalled their first encounter when she wasn't even as strong as he was.
In just a few short months, she's grown so rapidly.
Keep in mind, Alice had no simulator level rewards or luminous cuisine enhancements, walking the path alone to validate what it means to be a true champion.
Though it's hard to match Ash Ketchum, whose team, apart from ace Pokémon Pikachu, are all newcomers heading straight for the world championship in just one year, it's still impressive.
And after the top sixteen battle.
The tournament affairs bureau gave the participants half a day off to prepare for the upcoming finals.
Thanks to Baimu's award speech upon receiving the title of top Coordinator Trainer, this Ever Grande Conference received significant attention.
Not only Hoenn's trainers but also from other regions were curious to see if he could follow through with his bold claims and become the biggest winner this year.
Now, with the finals approaching.
Baimu's spectacular performance has attracted a wave of focused attention once again.
"Pyrite Town" — a place that many have never heard of — successfully entered more people's sights.
They were surprised to discover that such an environment with extreme survival challenges exists in the world, and not long ago underwent a massive liberation operation!
Ergin, Shadow Team, modified dark Pokémon, the former Pyrite Town…
All these shocking photos were presented to all observers, making them realize how much worse it was than they could imagine — a thousand times worse!
There, people lived hardly as people!
Accustomed to the peaceful life of mainstream regions, people who may never see a major disaster or evil in their lifetime couldn't help but develop empathy.
And when they saw the rescue efforts from the Rescue Organization in Ore Region, the substantial support from De Wen Company and Champion Da Wu in Ore Region.
Many private organizations and enterprises couldn't sit still anymore, quickly starting to advocate and raise aid for Ore Region in various aspects.
This even exceeded Shanren's expectations.
His original intention was to promote Ore Region to attract external attention, to establish connections with more individuals from various fields, and to promote beneficial commercial activities for the region's development.
Now, just handling the outside donations alone left him overwhelmed, forcing him to seek help from the Rescue Organization in Silicon City.
Originally, he wanted to quietly make a fortune.
"Publicizing you was the most correct decision I ever made!"
Shanren mentioned this more than once.
Not to mention, just attracting the Magma Team and Ocean Team already had Shanren highly praising.
They're simply too capable!
Their contributions to Pyrite Town and Jinqing Port's construction were significant enough. If it weren't known what they had done before, based on their current performance, saying they were public welfare organizations wouldn't be false.
Baimu could only respond, "As long as you're happy."
The wave stirred up on the internet was equally beyond his expectations; logically speaking, such a comprehensive aid event should have started well over half a year ago.