A beautiful fireworks show opened the Grand Festival's main tournament.
Many people cheered when Lisia appeared as a special guest. She sang her song, "Appeal☆Love." She did a very good job of heating up the crowd.
After Lisia left, Vivian walked to the center of the stage. She was wearing a pink dress. Her voice was sweet and clear. She smiled and waved to the audience.
"Ladies and gentlemen! This is the competition every Coordinator dreams of—the Grand Festival! The main tournament is finally beginning! These Coordinators have won five Ribbons in different places. They also placed in the top 64 during the first stage. In order to win the title of Top Coordinator, they will now have intense and beautiful battles. And the winner will receive the shining Ribbon Cup behind me!"
The main tournament was much more official than the earlier rounds. It was not only for the people at the venue. It was broadcast live on TV and online to homes all across the Hoenn region.
This was the true start of the festival.
Even if someone did not watch it, they would still know how popular it was.
"Now, let me introduce the judges for this event!"
Vivian pointed behind her and showed the judges. There were more judges now that the main tournament had begun. It was easy to see that the organizers placed great importance on this festival.
There were five judges for the main tournament. First were the President of the Pokémon Fan Club, Mr. Sukizo, and the Head of the Contest Committee, Raoul Contesta.
These two were well-known to everyone. It had felt a little strange to see them in the early rounds. Seeing them here, though, made perfect sense because of their positions.
Next came three Nurse Joys. They looked exactly the same. Even their clothes were the same.
Seeing the three of them standing together was quite a sight.
They came from a very large family. Probably only Brock could tell them apart.
It was hard to know how the organizers had found them or how they could tell the difference. Maybe it was because the colors on their hats were slightly different?
The five judges each greeted the crowd.
However, Natsui was sitting beside some of Lisia's most devoted fans. Those people were still excited from Lisia's singing. They were cheering so loudly that Natsui could not hear what the judges were saying.
Still, they were probably only saying a few words to celebrate the start of the festival.
May was not sitting with them. Since the main tournament had already begun, she had gone alone to the waiting room. She was waiting there with the other contestants.
At this stage, the rules said that every Coordinator needed two Pokémon. The first round was the judging round. The judges would watch one performance from one Pokémon chosen by each person. The time limit was three minutes. Each judge could give 20 points, making a total of 100 points. Only the top 32 contestants would move on to the next stage: the Contest Battles.
This format included both performances and battles. It appealed to both young people and older people. That was why Pokémon Contests were so popular.
For some girls and older viewers, the Grand Festival was even more popular than the Pokémon League!
Yesterday, Natsui and Ash had only done some simple training.
For example, Ash focused on improving the accuracy of his Pokémon's moves. Natsui did not do much himself. He simply let his Pokémon stay with Ash and watched how Ash trained them.
Both of them learned something from it.
Since it was a rare chance, Ash wanted to have a private battle with Natsui. However, Natsui refused.
Natsui said that their real battle should take place at the Ever Grande Conference. He asked why they should do it ahead of time.
Ash agreed with that. He stopped asking to battle Natsui. Instead, he looked forward even more to their match at the Ever Grande Conference.
Misty had mostly wasted her day yesterday.
She had stayed by Natsui's side all day just to keep an eye on him. But Lisia never appeared before they went to sleep.
Misty was happy about that, but at the same time, she also felt like she had not really won.
She was not afraid of an enemy she could see. She was afraid of an opponent she could not predict, someone like Lisia.
If Lisia kept bothering Natsui openly, then it would be easy to deal with. But what Misty feared was a surprise attack that could come at any moment. It was impossible to guard against that all the time.
At that moment, Vivian was still explaining the rules. Then her voice suddenly changed, and she shouted loudly,
"...Now, please welcome the 64 contestants of the Appeal Stage into the arena to begin their performances!"
The audience clapped and cheered loudly. Natsui slowly waved the light stick in his hand. In the middle of this excited crowd, the first round of the tournament officially began.
The first to appear was a teenage boy. He ran to the center of the field. He jumped high and released his Pokémon—Ninetales.
The moment Ninetales appeared, it used flames to put on a dazzling show. The crowd gave the boy warm applause.
Actually, being the first person to perform was not easy. The audience was not fully excited yet. Many people were still not focused. Even a great performance would not feel as strong. Luckily, this boy was brave, and he performed very well.
It was a very good opening for the Grand Festival.
However, everyone was surprised when the second person appeared. It was Harley!
Harley walked out of the tunnel with a smile on his face. He blew kisses and waved to the crowd. He showed no sign of embarrassment over running away yesterday.
It seemed that losing had not affected his mood at all. In a certain way, he really was strong.
Maybe Cacturne was still injured from Gengar's attack and had not recovered yet. This time, Harley used Banette!
As soon as Banette appeared, it let out a creepy laugh. Its face looked terrifying. The whole arena seemed to turn cold!
The audience was confused. The applause and cheers died down. People began whispering to each other. They did not understand what Harley was trying to do.
Very soon, Harley showed them.
He gave a command. Banette first formed a ring of Will-O-Wisp. Then it used Thunder. The powerful electricity struck its own body. In the bright electric light, Banette was still laughing. Under that golden glow, its smile looked even more terrifying!
At that moment, Vivian exclaimed,
"—this was truly a dark, explosive, and extreme performance!"
This shocked the crowd.
To be honest, this performance had nothing to do with "beauty." But it gave people a completely different kind of impact. In the end, it earned Harley a very high score.
He received 89 points!
He was only 1 point away from breaking into the next tier!
"That really is a performance I've never seen before..."
Ash stared blankly. After a long moment, he slowly spoke.
"Yeah,"
Natsui also felt impressed.
"This kind of different style is a new path. He's doing something nobody else is doing. In a way, Harley's personality really does suit this kind of performance. It's honestly pretty impressive."
But Natsui also felt that this guy never used his mind for anything good.
After Harley left the stage, more than ten other Coordinators went up one after another.
Some performances were good, and some were not. The people who did well scored above 80 points. One Trainer used a Ledyba and even scored 90 points!
Those who did badly usually scored around 70 points. The lowest score so far was 72. There were still many people left to perform, but a score like that almost guaranteed elimination.
It was both tense and exciting.
No matter how each contestant performed, the atmosphere in the arena kept getting more and more heated.
As the competition continued, it was finally May's turn to appear.
She looked pretty and cute, and the audience gave her a lot of applause.
This time, May did not use Beautifly. Instead, she chose Skitty. This Skitty was full of energy. The moment it appeared, it used Assist. It successfully used Silver Wind.
A white light shone on Skitty's paws. Then, a stream of sparkling scales flew from its paws into the sky.
Assist is also called "Cat's Paw." It is a Normal-type move. Usually, only some cat-like Pokémon can learn it.
When a Pokémon uses it, it randomly selects a move from one of its teammates. Through a special power, it uses that teammate's move itself. The move's type does not matter.
This was a very tricky move. It was full of uncertainty because no one knew what move would come out. In battle, it often let the user do unexpected things. But because it was random, using Assist was also risky. A bad move could easily cause trouble for the user!
Just like now, Skitty used Beautifly's Silver Wind!
This result was excellent. Seeing a cat use a Bug-type move like Silver Wind was surprising enough, and the scales drifting through the air looked very beautiful.
May was very happy with the result. She immediately told Skitty to use Assist again.
This time, Skitty used Bulbasaur's Razor Leaf. Sharp leaves swirled through the air like a storm. May liked this result as well. Maybe that had been her plan from the start. She did not stop there. She kept telling Skitty to use Assist again and again.
Skitty then used Combusken's Flamethrower, Bulbasaur's Vine Whip, and Beautifly's String Shot and Gust.
Watching a cat use all of these different moves was very entertaining.
This was exactly May's goal. She and Skitty worked together perfectly. They gave the audience an excellent performance.
However, as mentioned before, Assist was not a stable move. It had advantages, but it also had obvious risks.
Skitty used Assist once again. This time, it used Solar Beam. This was a powerful Grass-type move. Skitty should have used it to create a dazzling effect. But the moment the Solar Beam began, Skitty froze.
May also froze!
On the big screen, everyone could clearly see that both of them had stopped. It was a long and strange pause.
The audience immediately began to worry. They did not know what had happened to May. Even Natsui and Misty were confused.
"Why did she stop?"
Misty asked.
"Well..."
Brock paused for a moment.
"As far as I know, none of May's current Pokémon can use Solar Beam..."
Brock did not finish the sentence, but Natsui already understood what he meant.
Skitty had used a move they had not expected at all. Both Skitty and May had been caught off guard. Their rhythm was broken. On a stage like this, a mistake like that was extremely serious!
But if none of them knew Solar Beam, then how had Skitty used it?
There was no time to think about that. In the arena, May started moving again.
She did not let that accident stop her. She immediately told Skitty to use Assist again.
Luckily, this time it used Petal Dance. Pink petals floated down from the sky. The performance was saved, and the audience became excited again.
However, another problem soon appeared with Skitty.
Its eyes were spinning. It staggered around the field and had no idea where it was going. It looked just like it was drunk!
The moment Natsui saw this, he understood. That was the side effect of Petal Dance. It caused the user to become confused!
One problem had come right after another.
The first mistake had not even been fully dealt with, and now a second accident had happened!
Luckily, most of the audience did not understand what was really going on. They saw Skitty spinning around and thought it was part of the performance!
The crowd began laughing. They enjoyed the funny movements of the cute Pokémon.
Only people like Natsui understood how frightened May must be right now.
Fortunately, May was much more experienced now. Even though she was scared, she did not show it on her face. She thought quickly for a moment and found a way to save the performance!