Director Colosseum at the scoring board gave a 10 without hesitation: "The skill transitions were impeccable!
From manipulating water vapor to form dark clouds, to using Ice-type skills to shape ice sculptures—this unconstrained imagination truly shocks me."
Chairman Susaki was all smiles as he also gave a score of 10: "I love it, I absolutely love it! Using ice sculptures as gifts to share momentary beauty with the audience—I like it very, very, very much!"
Nurse Joy looked at the Milotic ice sculpture in her hands with stars in her eyes: "I have nothing left to say; the performance was stunning, and I love this ice sculpture gift so much!"
Three bright red 10s lit up again. A total score of 30! A perfect score!
The cheers from the entire venue erupted completely at this moment.
Holding their ice sculptures, the audience shouted Lionel and Milotic's names in unison; the sound waves almost turned physical, nearly overturning the stage.
Lionel walked over to Milotic, and it affectionately rubbed against his arm, its eyes reflecting the audience below with a gentle smile.
Ludaes, in the contestant preparation area at the side of the stage, looked at the perfect score on the board and sighed softly while holding her Milotic ice sculpture.
She also smiled and raised both hands to wave.
Beside her, Blitzle let out a brisk cry, as if cheering for its opponent's brilliant performance.
Inside the Sootopolis Gym in Sootopolis City.
Wallace, Juan, and Robert sat around a projection screen, which was frozen on the image of Lionel and Milotic bowing for their curtain call.
Juan's gaze lingered on Lionel on the screen for a long time. After a moment, he slowly spoke, his fingertips lightly tapping the table, his tone full of emotion: "This child's imagination is truly unconstrained; one can't help but be impressed.
Speaking of Rain Dance skill manipulation alone, my Milotic could easily do it.
But to think of freezing rain into ice sculptures and giving them to the audience as gifts! I have never thought of such an idea.
This child was simply born for the Pokémon Contest."
Robert nodded repeatedly from the side, his gaze shifting back and forth between Lionel on the screen and Wallace beside him.
Suddenly, he blinked mischievously and said with a joking tone, "Yeah, that idea is indeed impressive. New Coordinators nowadays are getting more and more outstanding.
Senior Wallace, did you and Winona... really not leave a child behind?
Look at this little guy's hair—it's emerald green, exactly like yours when you were young."
He intentionally drawled his words, his fingertip lightly tapping Lionel's figure on the screen as he continued to 'add fuel to the fire': "Did you two really meet for the first time at the Rustboro Pokémon Contest?
I saw his previous videos; he said he caught that Feebas himself at the seaside. Could it be that during your tenure as the League Champion, you specifically found one and quietly gave it to him?"
Hearing this, Juan also leaned closer to the screen, squinting his eyes to carefully compare Lionel's face with Wallace's. The more he looked, the more familiar it seemed, and he couldn't help but exclaim: "Robert, don't say it—now that you've reminded me, I think they look alike too!
It's just that you've grown up, Wallace, and your dressing style has become increasingly flashy; otherwise, I should have noticed long ago. They really do look more alike the more I look."
"Master! How can you talk nonsense too!"
Wallace's eyes widened instantly, and he hurriedly waved his hands in defense: "Winona and I were only in a relationship back then. Besides, when we met, Lionel had already been born! How could that be possible!"
Seeing this, Robert laughed even harder, deliberately teasing Wallace: "That's not necessarily true. Why not send Winona a message to ask? Maybe there will be some unexpected discovery?"
"Stop it!"
Wallace helplessly patted Robert's arm, his tone caught between laughter and tears.
Although he retorted, Wallace felt a strange stir in his heart; from the first time he saw Lionel, he did have an indescribable sense of familiarity.
Otherwise, during the Rustboro Pokémon Contest, he wouldn't have kept Lionel behind and given him the Prism Scale from his own Milotic.
Juan and Robert exchanged a look, both seeing a thick sense of amusement in each other's eyes. Knowing when to stop the joke, they didn't tease him further.
By now, the image on the screen had switched; the Mauville City Pokémon Contest was reaching a critical stage.
The advancement list for the second round was being displayed. Lionel's name appeared prominently at the top, and the three men's attention was quickly drawn back to the event.
On the screen, Lilian's voice came through clearly with an excited tremor: "Next, we will enter the most exciting part of this contest—the Contest Battle!
The 20 advancing contestants will face off in pairs through a lottery. After two rounds of battles, combined with the total scores from the first three rounds, the 5 highest scorers will be determined and awarded the Mauville City Contest Ribbon!"
Staff members quickly brought over a lottery box.
The 20 advancing contestants stepped forward one by one to draw.
When it was Ludaes's turn, her fingers touched a cool small ball. Opening it, she saw '127' clearly written on it!
It was precisely Lionel's contestant number.
When Ludaes saw the number, she subconsciously held up the lottery ball and looked in Lionel's direction.
Lionel saw the number on the lottery ball in Ludaes's hand, and his gaze froze for a moment.
Then Ludaes laughed first, clenching the lottery ball in her hand, her tone carrying a hint of relief: "What a coincidence. It seems the two of us are opponents!"
Lionel nodded: "That really is fate. Let's both give it our all."
Amazing passion instantly erupted in the audience; the waves of cheers almost lifted the roof.
After all, this was a direct confrontation between the two most eye-catching contestants from the first two rounds.
It could be called a "final" played ahead of schedule; even the comments in the live stream instantly became several times denser:
[It's here, it's here! Ludaes's luck is truly something; she drew the streamer in one go!]
[Blitzle's Electric-type counters Water-type, but Milotic is an evolved form. It's hard to say, hard to say!]
[Upstairs, are you a new fan? You can go search for the battle video of Feebas against Roxanne's Gym. Even before evolving, Feebas's combat strength was already very impressive, let alone now that it's evolved!]
[I want to watch no matter who wins! The previous performances of these two were too wonderful!]
The first few rounds of battles ended quickly, with moments of suspense and danger.
Finally, it was Lionel and Ludaes's turn to take the stage.
A blue light strip lit up in the center of the battlefield, clearly demarcating the combat area. Lilian, acting as the referee, stood in the center of the field and announced the rules loudly: "Contest Battle, five-minute time limit! Now, let the match begin!"
"Blitzle, I'm counting on you!"
Ludaes was the first to throw her Poké Ball. With a flash of red light, Blitzle stepped onto the stage amidst fine sparks of electricity.
The black and white stripes on its forehead were strikingly bright, and its whole body radiated high fighting spirit as its four hooves trod on the ground, stirring up tiny electrical sparks.