While the two were talking, Terrance and Reiko’s battle was reaching the end.
Reiko was sweating heavily, her heart pounding. After seeing Altaria’s strength throughout the competition, she knew that her chances of winning in a head-on battle were slim. This had been confirmed by the previous contestants. Altaria would definitely crush her mercilessly, and it would all be within the rules of the Pokémon Contest.
Realizing she was outmatched, Reiko instructed Roselia to adopt a delaying tactic, hoping to reduce Terrance’s appeal points with a series of fancy moves. However, as time passed, she realized this was a grave mistake.
This ended up being her downfall. Not only did Terrance’s appeal points not decrease, but by countering her moves, he almost brought Reiko’s appeal points down to zero!
“I haven’t lost yet…” At this point, Reiko took a deep breath. Her earlier preparations had been completely useless. The numerous “Leech Seeds” that Roselia secretly created while moving through the sea of petals were meant to surprise Altaria during its Dragon Rush attack, but Altaria seemed to have no intention of using that move.
“My appeal points are almost gone. Based on Terrance’s battle style, he should use Dragon Rush for the final attack, right?” Reiko thought. The numerous petals were the first line of defense to disrupt Altaria’s Dragon Rush. If the Leech Seeds hit and Roselia dodged successfully, there might still be a chance to fight back.
She glanced at the clock—90 seconds left. There is still a hope for a comeback…
She looked at Terrance. Given the current situation, he had a clear advantage. As long as he and Altaria got even a little careless, allowing Roselia’s accumulated Leech Seeds to hit, then everything would be easy to deal with.
However, from Terrance’s face, Reiko saw no sign of pre-victory happiness. Instead, he
appeared calm, and even expressionless.
“This Terrance… he’s about to win, but he isn’t excited at all?” Raoul Contesta shook his head, puzzled.
“Hmm…” Sukizo.
“This must be ‘cool-headed temperament,’ right?” Nurse Joy said. “I have a cousin who didn’t pursue breeding but became a Trainer. She said to become a top Trainer, you must have the psychological quality of ‘remaining calm in the face of danger and not being flustered’. If victory makes you get carried away, or you let tough situations affect your mood, it shows you’re not yet qualified to be a top Trainer.”
“That makes sense, but Terrance is just a kid,” Raoul Contesta replied.
Facing victory, Terrance showed no joy, and when faced with his opponent’s tactics, he patiently looked for a way to counter.
This composure came from his systematic training under Teacher Julian, which was modeled after International Police training.
However, the training Terrance underwent was a partial version, tailored for a “Trainer” rather than a “International Police.”
Even so, the training greatly benefited Terrance. Although he couldn’t remain absolutely calm yet, he managed to control himself well during battles.
Only in very special circumstances would Terrance lose control of his emotions or express his feelings when he was absolutely certain that he had nothing to worry about.
For instance…
In this situation, Terrance only needed to order “Draco Meteor” and victory would be his.
And… no matter what tricks Roselia had, they wouldn’t affect Altaria.
“That’s…” In the audience, Yuu Tachibana looked surprised. “Is he really going to use Draco Meteor?”
“Ah, now it makes sense. This battle is different from the previous two. Dragon Rush was more appropriate before, but now…finishing the battle with Draco Meteor will minimize unexpected outcomes.”
Among the panel of judges, Nurse Joy was secretly amazed: “First Dragon Rush, and now Draco Meteor… and Dragon Rush is also an inherited move…How many special moves has this Altaria inherited?”
Altaria spit out a ball of light that shot straight upwards above the arena. The immense energy it contained made everyone fear it might punch a hole in the ceiling. However, they soon realized their concerns were unfounded. At the precise moment it got very close to the top, the energy ball suddenly stopped and bombarded every corner of the arena!
The ball of light turned into countless small light beams, falling like rain towards the arena. They were extremely precise like ten thousand arrows piercing the heart, seemingly covering almost every corner.
“Brilliant control,” the three judges commented.
Whether it was the positioning of Draco Meteor or the calculation of the attack range, they were both exquisite and extremely precise.
“Dammit,” Seeing the falling Draco Meteor, Reiko frowned, quickly ordering, “Use Magical Leaf to destroy the attacks above!”
Roselia, startled by the numerous light beams, stopped controlling the petals and focused on intercepting the “mini Draco Meteors”.
Altaria executed the move with ease. If it had used full power, combined with Altaria’s astounding Dragon Type talent, the destructive power would rival that of Dragon Rush, but Draco Meteor was hard to control, and the entire arena would have been destroyed.
In mid-air, countless petals were shattered by the light beams from the exploding energy ball. At the same time, Magical Leaf surged upward, with Roselia focusing all its energy on intercepting the descending beams of light.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Sounds of explosions resounded above Roselia’s head, and Reiko sighed in relief. Yet, as the beams of light fell on other parts of the arena, a massive wave surged across it, unleashing immense power. Roselia screamed as it was swept up by the shockwaves and lost consciousness.
“What…” Draco Meteor landed on the arena but didn’t directly hit Roselia. Reiko thought it had successfully dodged it, but she hadn’t expected the subsequent explosion of Draco Meteor to create such a massive shockwave.
The petals that had miraculously avoided being pierced by the light beams were not spared by the shockwave. As the smoke and shockwave dissipated, Reiko’s appeal points dropped to zero, and the audience erupted in cheers.
“The special thing about the Draco Meteor is that even the small energy clusters that split off have the ability to explode again.” Nurse Joy said from the panel of judges, “Contestant Reiko should have realized this when Magical Leaf hit part of the Draco Meteor. What a pity…”
“Even if she had realized, there was nothing she could do. The range that Draco Meteor covers is too vast, and Terrance’s appeal points were still multiple times hers. With Roselia’s abilities… there was no way to counter it.”
“The winner is…here!” Vivian shouted. “Contestant Terrance has won the Lilycove Conference! Let’s give him a big round of applause!”
At this moment, with victory in hand, Terrance relaxed and smiled at the applauding audience.
In the lounge, Sora and Reiko’s Trainer friends seemed unsurprised by the outcome. Even Reiko accepted her defeat gracefully.
The three judges began discussing the highlights of the battle and offered words of encouragement to both sides. In the audience, whether they knew Terrance or not, everyone was talking about him.
“Yuu, he won,” Yui said, tugging on Yuu Tachibana.
“Let’s go…to the exit of the contestant passage and ask him where he’ll compete next in the Pokémon Contest.”
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