Outside the arena.
Everyone gathered together.
The exchange just now between Baimu and Yamei had stirred up a small wave of discussion.
After all, the latter had suddenly plopped down on the ground, and the former just walked away without helping her up.
Did they have a fight?
What happened really sparked people's imagination.
Unfortunately, the medium arena's stands were too far from the field, and the Aerial Rotom had already been recalled, so they couldn't hear a word of the two's conversation.
Liuqia handed over the now-cold food and drinks and asked curiously, "What did you say to that girl called Yamei just now?"
"I cursed her out!"
Baimu said with perfect justification, "She mocked me and then mocked Mikoli. Mocking me is one thing, but mocking Mikoli is not okay!"
Hearing this, Xiaogang and the others stared at him in a daze.
Swearing?
You actually swear at people?
In their minds, Baimu had always been synonymous with calm, composure, and doting on his Pokémon; there was just no way he would do something as extreme as cursing someone out.
Liuqia's brows, however, arched at his words; without a word she turned around and headed for the arena.
Xiaoguang and Piplup hurriedly grabbed her, shouting, "Liuqia-chan! Don't be impulsive! Liuqia-chan! You're an idol of the Gorgeous Competition!"
"Piplup—!"
"She dared to badmouth my uncle! If I don't curse her out I really can't swallow this!"
The girl said viciously.
Alice advised, "Don't stoop to the level of that kind of childish person. There are way too many unreasonable people in this world!"
"Yeah, yeah." Mann Chong nodded rapidly.
Xiaogang, however, felt a bit puzzled. "Why would contestant Yamei mock Master Mikoli? Master Mikoli is the uncrowned king among Coordinator Trainers, and the former Hoenn Region Champion!"
Baimu said, "Because she looks down on Coordinator Trainers; she thinks it's all just dressing up dolls and playing house."
"What!?"
"Piplup!?"
Xiaoguang and Piplup were shocked and furious, stomping off toward the arena.
Alice and Mann Chong quickly stopped her as well. "Xiaoguang, calm down! Don't be like Liuqia! She's already gone!"
"It's meaningless to argue with that kind of person. Let's just go watch the matches, okay?"
After a brief commotion.
The two angered girls plus one little penguin finally calmed down.
Everyone headed to Arena A to watch Alice's battle.
During the match.
Baimu took out his phone and had Porygon II search for posts that disparaged the Gorgeous Competition and Mikoli.
He certainly knew there was nothing in the world that everyone liked, not even Pokémon or battling, but he was still quite interested in how the two fared online.
So.
When Porygon II presented the results, he pulled a "just as expected" expression.
Ever since its birth, the Gorgeous Competition had been dogged by controversy: some people disliked it for ripping off battle formats, some thought deciding victory by judges was utter nonsense.
Others felt the Gorgeous Competition was too fake; Trainers should be drawing out their partners' overwhelming power instead of dressing up their appearance and turning them into flower vases and so on.
Setting aside whether these people actually understood the Gorgeous Competition and Coordinator Trainers, that kind of comment definitely existed, and not in small numbers.
The reason Baimu hadn't noticed before was purely that mainstream support was too overwhelming while these folks' voices were too weak, so he simply never paid attention.
As for the controversies around Mikoli—one side was the Gorgeous Competition, the other was the Champion succession.
The Champion's position is the top seat among all Trainers in an entire region.
Back then, when Mikoli suddenly stepped down and the former Champion Da Wu took over again, it stirred up a small round of debate.
A bunch of people who hated the Gorgeous Competition or were Trainers themselves took the opportunity to snark and stir the pot. Of course, they wouldn't dare say it to the latter's face, but typing on the internet is very easy.
Just like how every time Raihan lost to Dan Emperor, the comments would mock him relentlessly.
Later, when Da Wu and Mikoli's Champion succession battle was made public, those slanderous remarks were naturally drowned out by the cheers of supporters.
Even among the net-surfing crowd in the Pokémon World, the general tone was still predominantly positive and upbeat.
For all the time Baimu had spent online, he had yet to see any hot internet catchphrases born from sarcasm or insults; even professional critics rarely chose overly sharp language.
An extreme Four Heavenly Kings stan like Yamei was especially rare.
He hadn't expected to run into a "straggler."
Not worth mentioning.
He turned off his phone and completely put it out of mind. People like that weren't worth any more of his time.
Different from the unruffled Baimu, though—
Ever since her match ended, Yamei's condition had been going downhill. She was in worse shape than her Pokémon that had already been treated. At night, when she tried to sleep, the moment she closed her eyes she would see that pair of cold, man-eating eyes.
She finally dozed off, only to dream up an especially terrifying scene and jolt awake in the middle of the night in fright.
The next morning.
With frazzled nerves, she hurriedly boarded a boat and left Ever Grande Island, not even waiting for the tournament to officially end, single-mindedly wanting to get away from this nightmare place that terrified her.
Venting online by posting slander? Out of the question.
Just thinking about that person made Yamei tremble all over and unable to eat or sleep.
Baimu probably had no idea how much psychological trauma he'd inflicted on her. He had long since put her out of his mind and was now fully focused on his new opponent—
Gao Mei.
With only sixteen contestants left, he really did end up facing someone he knew, and in the Water Field, no less.
Are the opponent and field assignments really random?
It was enough to make one suspicious.
——
Arena B.
Half an hour before the match.
Baimu and the extremely excited Xiaogang met the gracefully arriving Gao Mei.
She also saw the two of them and walked over with a gentle smile.
"Miss Gao Mei!"
Unable to contain his excitement, Xiaogang rushed forward, dropped to one knee, and raised his right hand high in a worshipper's gesture as he said, "I am Xiaogang. We met once at the Vortex Island competition, I wonder if you still remember. It is an immense honor to be able to—huh!"