Baimu and Mawile discussed with the sketchbook.
"Chidor..."
Mawile looked at the patterns on the pages and nodded after pondering for a few seconds, indicating understanding.
Xiaoguang and Piplup leaned over to admire the sketches and couldn't help but say, "The drawings are really great. Do you always draw the performance process on paper first, then perform according to what's drawn?"
"No."
Baimu shook his head and smiled, "This is just a rough outline."
"Rough outline?"
"It's a process graph that hasn't been tested, purely drawn from my own imagination. The actual performance by Mawile will be much more complicated and may not look like what's on the paper. Simply put, it's the first design draft."
"First design draft..."
Xiaoguang pondered with her hand on her chin.
In some ways, she is quite similar to Ash Ketchum, belonging to the impulsive type that acts without much thought, designing in their minds and modifying according to practical conditions.
This kind of process really tests the tacit understanding between the Coordinator Trainer and the Pokémon.
But for now, Xiaoguang is very suited to this mode.
"Let's experiment a bit."
Baimu took out two small fans from his pocket and handed them to Mawile.
Such auxiliary performance props are fine as long as they're not too excessive, otherwise Gorgeous Competition officials wouldn't allow it. Excessive ones? Like Musashi's rainbow-making machine.
Her Dustox turned every move into a rainbow, but the rainbow wasn't actually from the moves, it came from the machine on its body.
So Musashi's contest record was directly canceled.
Mawile took the fans in hand and deftly opened and closed them with a snap.
It's not the first time it's used this thing; it wanted to buy it at first because it was too fascinated by the kimono girls' dance at Yuanzhu Dance Hall.
Unfortunately, it wasn't used in the last competition.
"Chidor~"
It glanced at Piplup's admiring look at it, feeling slightly reserved but couldn't help feeling proud.
"Piplup! Make room for them!"
Xiaoguang hugged the love-struck-eyed Piplup to give Mawile space to perform.
The first performance officially began.
"One, two, three... Start!"
Baimu used a finger snap as the signal for the dance to begin.
Mawile gracefully moved its body, holding two fans, its movements agile yet solemn, red ribbons at the back of its head fluttered with the sea breeze, the Calming Bell rang gently.
Ring ring~ Ring ring~
Every step, every turn Mawile took brought Xiaoguang a sense of tranquility.
Clearly without using any moves.
"Such a pleasant smell..."
She keenly smelled a fragrance on the sea breeze caressing her face, just about to inquire Baimu about it when she saw Mawile lightly tap the ground, causing a pale blue fog to drift out.
And as it tapped the ground more, the fog grew thicker.
In an instant.
Around Mawile, smoky clouds swirled.
The soft blue glow illuminated its body without completely enshrouding it in smoke.
Amidst the drifting clouds, Mawile's figure appeared and disappeared, fans lightly swiping, fog swirled around it as if alive.
Sometimes gathering into a white smoky wall, simultaneously enshrouding and creating a mysterious beauty.
At times the wall dissipated, Mawile danced lightly like a fawn amidst the morning forest, amidst gentle ringing sounds turning to Xiaoguang and Piplup, smiling back at them.
Purity of girlhood, spirit's agility.
All were brought to life through Mawile's performance!
But before Xiaoguang and Piplup could look on for much longer, Mawile dove into the smoke and disappeared, shadows blending with pale blue light, bringing mystery to its peak, teasing curiosity.
This dance came from Yuanzhu Dance Hall.
Mawile had started learning it a long time ago, considered proficient. Enhancing it with fragrance and Calming Bell was truly captivating.
To be honest.
At this point, the performance could conclude here.
It's not justified to take scores solely from dance performances.
Yet undoubtedly, Baimu and Mawile both strive towards higher scores, 29.5 points are far from satisfactory.
"Come on, Frozen Fist!"
He issued the command.
"Chidor!"
Mawile within the foggy field responded, soon a point of ice-blue starlight appeared --
And then nothing more happened.
Xiaoguang and Piplup still planned to continue watching, but when no change occurred for a while, they tilted their heads, question marks appeared above their foreheads.
"Huh?"
"Boga?"
"It failed."
Baimu wasn't surprised, dispersing the mist to stand beside Mawile.
The latter looked at the frost-covered fans in its hands, frozen stiff, dazed.
Is this considered frozen? Am I not a forceful trait type? Why could I freeze the fan?
"Idiot, the forceful trait sacrifices derivative effects to pursue ultimate attribute energy destructiveness, it doesn't mean nature's rules are blocked by you. When you lower the move's power, you can't block these natural phenomena."
Baimu touched its cheek, "You should have noticed when you froze the river water earlier. You should act with full force then."
In the animated world, traits aren't as strictly ruled as those in games always are.
For example, many weather, field, and even entrance-effective traits could be controlled by Pokémon's awareness, like Hoenn's ever-present but rarely cloud-covered Pelipper;
Moreover, due to individual differences, some mutations occur, like Ash Ketchum's Infernape, its Blaze is far more dramatic than other Pokémon with this trait.
According to Baimu's practice results, it's not hard to conclude that reducing move power results in attribute energy still bringing similar natural rules.
For example, Flame Fang burning wood, Thunder Fang numbing limbs, Frozen Fang causing freezing effects.
"Chidor."
Mawile seemed to understand partially.
Xiaoguang and Piplup ran over, worriedly asking, "Did something happen?"
"Boga Boga?"
"It's okay, the first test just failed."
Baimu said, "I initially planned to extend Frozen Fist to the fans and spread it out, but the actual test is much tougher than I imagined."
Xiaoguang turned to look at the fans in Mawile's hands, "Ah, they're all frozen!"
"Yes, the cold is locked on the fan blades, unable to escape."
He nodded, taking the fan from Mawile's hand.
No idea if defrosting and drying would restore it after...
Similar fans were actually bought many times, because Mawile liked too many different patterns, this fan was one it liked relatively less, otherwise it wouldn't readily take it out.
However, it's inevitably a pity that it's ruined.
"Before succeeding, it's better to use something else as a substitute." He said to Mawile.
"Chidor."
Mawile nodded too, falling into a thoughtful state.