Despite the efforts of Hydreigon.
The end result did not meet Shanren's expectations.
"Is it because I didn't use Super Evolution?" Baimu sat on the single sofa in his bedroom, playing with Corsola, with his phone on the small side table, showing it was in a call.
Shanren: 『No, it's more likely because your current popularity is hitting a bottleneck.』
More than two weeks since the grand festival, the promotion targeting him has been almost continuous, and in this repeated mentioning, the online reaction to his name has started to show fatigue.
Many people have begun to focus on other contestants.
Like the young girl from Dragon Land who rescued a little girl before the competition, and then climbed a tree like a Vigoroth to escape the scene.
Elma, who is quite popular among female groups but hasn't been seen yet.
And a bunch of Elite Trainers whose strength is recognized by many but are otherwise unknown.
The TV referred to this Ever Grande Conference as a "blooming of a hundred flowers," and Baimu only hoped it would truly be like the TV said.
"A bottleneck, huh..."
Shanren: 『But the fan base has been established, and that's a good thing. Just keep competing, and leave the rest to me.』
The results are the foundation of popularity.
So the young man only made requests for the show's effect on the preliminary rounds.
"You're more nervous than I am."
Baimu could vaguely hear a hint of anxiety beneath Shanren's comforting tone on the phone, and he laughed, "Don't you believe in my strength?"
Shanren: 『It's not that I don't believe you... suddenly, I'm a bit nostalgic. When I used to challenge the conferences, I always thought I could surely win, yet unexpectedly, there's always someone stronger.』
Recalling meeting for the first time in the Pyrite Arena, the commentator introduced him as someone who had achieved excellent results in three regional conferences.
In other words, he hadn't won any championship.
This showed that although Shanren was a Psychic Attribute-focused Trainer, his talents in battle were not particularly outstanding.
However, his administrative abilities were incredibly strong.
Not only did he make Pyrite Town flourish, but he also managed to take care of things over here, developing the Ore Region from both internal and external aspects. Using Galar Alliance President Luozi as a model was no idle boast.
He laughed: "Hahaha, rest assured, Mayor, my strength is not something you can compare with!"
『...Thank you.』
After a couple of simple exchanges, Baimu hung up the phone.
The long-anticipated Hydreigon eagerly came over asking for praise, "Sha-saaa~ Sa-saaa~!"
Its voice was so hoarse, should it not have met the expectations of its Trainer?
"Keep it up!"
Baimu grabbed its big head in the middle and rubbed it back and forth like teasing a dog, causing Hydreigon to sneeze several times in a row.
The Corsola on his knee inexplicably felt like it was being assaulted by a "downpour."
Corsola: "..."
Indeed, it's impossible for a normal Pokémon and a beast to coexist!
Fortunately, the Trainer quickly cleaned it up and even polished it with wax, making it shine brightly.
Looking at the shell of Corsola, faintly reflecting a human silhouette, Baimu nodded satisfactorily; after half a year's effort, he finally polished this guy's shell successfully.
Tsk tsk tsk.
He ignored Corsola's disdainful gaze of the candle flame eyes, feeling a bit proud.
This time, Shanren called not to report on the preliminary publicity results but to tell him that Otsuka and others, who were originally supposed to come to Hoenn to watch his matches, got on the wrong ship.
Originally, they took a direct ferry but ended up on a luxury cruise that sails towards Kanto while playing along the way.
Hard to understand.
How could they get on the wrong ship with different names?
This group of guys is as ridiculously foolish as ever.
In any case, if there are no other ways in the middle, these guys might make it in time for his championship celebration... not too bad, at least they can see him outside of Ore.
After confirming their safety, Baimu didn't bother with them anymore.
Though he is still nominally the leader of this group, a group of adults getting on the wrong ship with such a dumb move, it's already lucky they didn't get a knock on their heads. Should he also specifically ask Hoopa to fetch them?
Let them learn the lesson and gain some experience themselves! Bad luck is also part of traveling!
And since Shanren saw he had no intention of sending that magical Pokémon to fetch people, he didn't say anything more; if Rainbow Team's leader didn't care, why should he?
In the living room.
Mawile was watching TV.
But no matter how it changed the channel, the screen was the opening ceremony that followed yesterday afternoon's preliminaries.
"Chido!"
It was somewhat dissatisfied.
Baimu came over and patted its head, saying: "Alright, go play with your phone, what else should the TV station broadcast if not such a major event?"
Hearing that it could play with its phone, Mawile decisively dropped the remote and ran into the bedroom.
This guy...
Baimu tugged at the corner of his mouth, his gaze turning to the TV showing the opening ceremony scene.
Yesterday afternoon.
Inside the core venue of the conference.
Solemn symphonic music echoed in the sky, countless colorful balloons and streamers streaked across the sky, and tens of thousands of spectators were full of anticipation.
More than two hundred contestants filed in, enjoying the cheers from all sides.
Some were nervous, some excited, some boldly waved to the audience, and some sneakily looked around, stepping onto the prepared stage with a hundred emotions.
Suddenly.
Someone raised the Holy Fire and ran out of the aisle, and at the moment they appeared, thunderous applause erupted from the audience!
The newcomer was none other than Baimu, the last Holy Fire Runner.
He ran steadily up the long steps, all the way to the highest point of the core arena, and under everyone's watch, he placed the Holy Fire into the gigantic fire cauldron.
Whoosh!
The towering flames erupted, bringing forth brilliance, illuminating the venue under the twilight.