Lilycove City, Pokémon Contest Hall.
Terrance finished registering and walked straight out of the venue, heading towards the Pokémon Center.
Seeing Terrance, Sora wanted to chase after him, but there were too many people, and Terrance disappeared into the crowd in the blink of an eye.
“What are you looking at?” Reiko tapped Sora and followed her gaze with a puzzled expression.
But because there were too many people, Reiko couldn’t figure out what Sora was looking at.
“I saw a Coordinator senpai…” Sora snapped out of it, saying, “He’s the winner of the first Pokémon Contest I had participated in…”
*************
At the same time Terrance registered, the information was logged in, and Raoul Contesta, in charge of the Pokémon Contest, couldn’t help but in tears.
Since Terrance participated in the Verdanturf Conference, he had disappeared just like he did after the Hearthome Conference.
This frightened the chief of Pokémon Contest who had high hopes for Terrance, thinking he might disappear again for a year or more…
After that incident, he specifically extracted Terrance’s information. As soon as Terrance registered, the Pokémon Contest’s network backend would show it. Raoul Contesta kept an eye out for a month, finally discovering that Terrance had registered again in Lilycove City.
“Inform Mr. Sukizo and Nurse Joy of Lilycove City, change of plans, we’re not returning to Sinnoh, we’re heading straight to Lilycove City next, to serve as the panel of judges for the Lilycove City Pokémon Contest!”
Back at the Pokémon Center, Terrance finished his meal and started to think about which Pokémon to use in this Contest.
Mismagius and Growlithe didn’t seem to care much, Beautifly and Altaria were eager to participate, and Castform looked bewildered, clearly not having any idea what a Pokémon Contest is.
“Altaria will participate in this Pokémon Contest, Beautifly has already participated twice, and the Grand Festival, the final stage, is where it will have the perfect opportunity to showcase itself.”
“Mismagius’s specialty, illusion skills, are hard to showcase, Growlithe’s interest is low, but even so, they need to participate in a Pokémon Contest once,” Terrance thought.
He has decided: Beautifly, Altaria, Mismagius, Growlithe, and Castform would participate one by one in the five Pokémon Contests leading up to the Grand Festival.
And the last Grand Festival would be left to Beautifly.
“As long as they don’t encounter any troublesome opponent, with their strength, obtaining Ribbons won’t be difficult for these four.”
“And the condition for participating in the Grand Festival is five Ribbons, so each of them is responsible for one. Even though it will put pressure on them, it’s also a motivation to work even harder.”
“When it comes to pressure, Beautifly is under the most pressure. The stage it’s about to step onto is much more challenging than others. Every contestant there has earned five Ribbons and it’s where we’re most likely to encounter tough Coordinators.”
After a moment of contemplation, Terrance decided to use the four Pokémon Contests as a transition period to further prepare Beautifly and focus his main efforts on it.
The Grand Festival was the most crucial step, where there could be no room for error. The most outstanding Coordinators would all gather there, making it the most fiercely competitive event.
“If they can’t even pass the regional Pokémon Contests, how can they dominate the Grand Festival?” Terrance thought. So, without their knowledge, Altaria and the other four Pokémon were directly entrusted with a heavy responsibility by Terrance, their target set directly on the Ribbons of the regional Pokémon Contests.
On the day of the competition, many Coordinators and spectators flooded into the Pokémon Contest Hall, creating a lively atmosphere.
“Terrance-senpai!” In the contestant corridor, Sora, who had arrived early, was waiting on the side. Seeing Terrance approach, she couldn’t help but walk up to him excitedly.
“Sora?” Terrance recalled the girl in front of him, having some impression, but because he hadn’t paid much attention, even though it had only been a little over a month… the impression wasn’t very deep.
Uh… if there was a label, it should be a fairly perceptive rookie Coordinator. He had even given her some guidance during a match. That was all Terrance remembered about Sora.
“It’s me, Terrance-senpai… we meet again,” Sora said.
“How coincidental,” Terrance replied with a smile.
As they chatted and walked towards the contestant room, Sora kept telling Terrance about her experience of participating in her second Pokémon Contest. That time, she also made it to the secondary judging. As a second-time participant in a Pokémon Contest, Sora had been quite satisfied with her performance.
And that time, she hadn’t encountered someone like Terrance, nor had she been eliminated in the first round of secondary judging…Overall, as a pure rookie, her growth had been smooth.
After finishing her story, Sora looked expectantly at Terrance, wanting to hear his opinion. Terrance had left a deep impression on her; he was almost like her Pokémon Contest initiator.
But as she thought about her previous attempt to ask Terrance to be her mentor, Sora couldn’t help but blush, wondering if Terrance still remembered…
“Oh, by the way, which Pokémon are you going to use this time, Terrance-senpai?”
After he encouraged Sora with a few words, something suddenly occurred to her, and she blurted out, “Is it Beautifly?”
“No, this time I’ll be using another Pokémon,” Terrance said.
“Not Beautifly…” Sora blinked slightly, somewhat pleased. She has also captured a new Pokémon and was prepared to let it compete.
Terrance shouldn’t have seen this Pokémon before, which means that this Pokémon Contest is going to be very entertaining. Although they hadn’t stepped onto the stage yet, Sora was already looking forward to Terrance’ performance.
“Sora, so you were here.” Just as Terrance and Sora continued chatting while waiting for the opening ceremony to end, a female voice interrupted.
“Reiko, you’re here!” Sora exclaimed.
The newcomer was Coordinator Reiko.
“And who’s this…” Reiko, arriving at their side, noticed Terrance next to Sora and asked curiously.
“Oh, this is the Coordinator senpai I told you about…umm…” Sora’s voice trailed off as she spoke.
It was okay for her to call Terrance “senpai,” but Reiko obviously looked older than Terrance…Introducing him like this seemed a bit awkward.
But Reiko directly ignored these details, casually striking up a conversation with Terrance at a speed that left Sora dumbfounded.
“She’s quite the social butterfly…” Terrance thought to himself.
Reiko, Sora, and Reiko’s two Trainer friends were all participating in this Pokémon Contest. Soon after, Terrance also met two Trainers traveling with Ever Grande Conference as the goal. The five of them chatted happily, and time flew by unnoticed. Following the announcement over the speakers, they looked up at the big screen—the primary judging…was about to begin.
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