Ash had no idea that Misty and her three sisters personally driving over to pick him up had already sparked an intense discussion among the Trainers and fans outside the hotel.
But even if he knew—
He wouldn't have cared much anyway.
The speed of a convertible sports car truly wasn't something ordinary vehicles could compare to.
Even with city speed limits in place, the trip from the hotel to the municipal swimming arena hosting today's Water-Type Pokémon Beauty Contest took less than ten minutes.
"Ash, Gary, Green, Clarissa."
"We three sisters are the organizers of today's event, and unlike Misty, we're not competing personally, so we won't be going in with you guys."
Outside the entrance of the city swimming arena, Daisy, Violet, and Lily spoke with apologetic smiles.
"That's fine. Miss Daisy, Violet & Lily, you girls should go handle your work."
"We can get in ourselves anyway, and besides, Misty's still coming with us, right? So don't worry."
Ash waved casually.
"Alright then~"
"We'll head over to the venue first."
"You guys should hurry through the contestant entrance too. Go get ready in the preparation hall."
"There's only half an hour left before the competition officially begins."
"Got it."
After exchanging a few final reminders, Misty's three sisters headed into the swimming arena through the staff entrance.
—
As the official venue of the Cerulean Water-Type Pokémon Beauty Contest, the city swimming arena had opened three separate entrances today:
One for ordinary spectators.
One exclusively for contestants.
And another reserved for event staff.
At this moment, the staff entrance was naturally the emptiest.
Most staff members had already entered the venue long ago to prepare for the event.
If Daisy, Violet, and Lily weren't the organizers themselves, they would've already been inside as well.
Compared to the quiet staff entrance—
The contestant entrance was much livelier.
By the time Ash's group arrived, a fairly long queue had already formed.
After all—
A total of 646 contestants had registered for the competition.
That was by no means a small number.
—
But the most crowded area was still the spectator entrance.
The reason the event venue had been changed from Cerulean Gym's Water Cube Arena to the municipal swimming arena was precisely because the organizers anticipated the competition's popularity exploding beyond expectations.
If they had still hosted the contest inside the Cerulean Gym's Water Cube venue—
It would've looked far too small-scale and underwhelming.
After all, the Water Cube could only accommodate around one thousand spectators.
Yet there were already 646 contestants alone.
Only allowing one thousand audience members would've been downright embarrassing.
That was why the venue had ultimately been upgraded to the city swimming arena, capable of seating five thousand spectators.
Otherwise, Daisy and her sisters would never have switched locations.
Holding the contest at Cerulean Gym itself would've provided excellent publicity for the Gym.
But because of the venue change—
The number of arriving spectators today had become enormous.
Even with only thirty minutes remaining before the competition officially started, long lines still stretched outside the spectator entrance.
—
"Please show your contestant QR code."
After briefly glancing toward the noisy spectator lines, Ash followed the contestant queue forward until it was finally their turn to enter.
"Contestant QR code?"
Ash blinked in confusion.
"The QR code generated after successful online registration," the ticket inspector explained patiently.
"Ohhh, right."
Ash quickly pulled out his phone and opened the contestant registration page before presenting the QR code for scanning.
Beep—
"You're good to go."
The staff member nodded.
—
"She's my Pokémon's personal makeup artist."
"She doesn't have a contestant pass. Can she enter with me?"
After getting checked in, Ash pointed toward Green behind him.
"Yes, but each contestant is only allowed one accompanying person."
"That's fine. She's the only one coming with me anyway."
Ash nodded before signaling to Green, and the two entered the venue together.
Gary and Misty were registered contestants themselves.
As for Clarissa—
She had registered using Ash's shiny Magikarp.
So there was naturally no issue for any of them entering.
—
After waiting briefly for everyone else to finish check-in, the group followed the interior passageway toward the contestant preparation hall.
"Green, your makeup skills are way better than mine."
"So today, Lumina's makeup is all yours."
After entering the preparation hall and glancing at the wall clock, Ash realized there wasn't much time left before the competition began.
So he immediately turned toward Green.
"Leave it to me~"
"I'm the official exclusive makeup artist here, after all."
Green patted her chest confidently.
"But speaking of makeup…"
"What style are you thinking about today?"
She accepted the makeup kit from Ash while asking curiously.
Because Feebas' appearance fundamentally didn't align with normal public standards of beauty—
Even though Ash himself didn't care much about appearances as its Trainer—
In order to improve Feebas' Beauty value and help build its self-confidence—
Ash had started helping Feebas with makeup not long after capturing it, under Green's guidance.
Since Ash's Feebas was a shiny Pokémon, its scales weren't the ordinary muddy yellow of regular Feebas.
Instead—
Its body was covered in strange purplish blotches that almost looked poisoned.
Honestly speaking—
Its appearance was even uglier than an ordinary Feebas.
But ironically—
That very uniqueness became the reason Ash and Green ended up designing countless beautiful makeup styles specifically for it.
Ash had even created an entire photo album dedicated solely to Feebas.
What started as a thin little booklet had gradually become a thick album overflowing with pictures.
"Hm…"
"Even though Rotom's been helping take photos and short videos of Lumina for my social media to help build its confidence…"
"For certain reasons, I've never actually let Lumina appear publicly or reveal its true abilities."
"So technically…"
"This is Lumina's debut stage."
Ash thought quietly for a moment before his eyes lit up.
"In that case…"
"For the first-round elimination stage, let's use the very first makeup design we ever created for it."
"That mysterious dreamlike purple classic look."
Ash finally made his decision.
Today's Water-Type Pokémon Beauty Contest was structured so that Trainers wouldn't appear on stage during the first three rounds.
Everything focused almost entirely on the Pokémon themselves.
Although Ash had no doubt many people would recognize his Feebas—
And his popularity would certainly help earn a large number of votes—
At the end of the day—
This contest still depended primarily on the Pokémon's own beauty and charm to captivate the audience.
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T/N:
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