So close!
Good thing it wasn't Charmeleon!
Himeko-san, you're truly a kindhearted goddess!
Gratitude filled the opponent's eyes. In his heart, he was already thanking Himeko over and over.
Right after that, he threw his own Poké Ball.
A red flash burst forth.
What he sent out was a purple monkey Pokémon—Aipom.
"Eee-ee!"
The moment Aipom landed, it started hopping in place, constantly switching feet.
The large hand at the tip of its tail swayed lightly with its body.
It looked like it was waving at people, carrying a strong hint of provocation.
A mid entry-level Aipom, huh?
At that level, among these contestants, it was considered pretty decent.
Himeko glanced at Aipom's information and had already decided how to handle the battle.
"Aipom! Mud Bomb!"
The other side struck first, giving an order right from the start.
"Eee-ee!!"
Aipom shrieked as its long tail slammed hard into the rocky ground behind it.
Boom!
The ground cracked from the impact.
Clods of hardened mud rose up, and under Aipom's control, shot straight toward where Lopunny was standing.
"Dodge."
Himeko said only two words.
"Lopun!"
Lopunny's speed abruptly surged.
In the end, only a pink afterimage remained.
She kept twisting her soft, flexible body, calmly slipping past every hardened mud clod flying in.
The mud clods that fell like a hailstorm across the sky—
Not a single one hit her.
Those elegant movements—
They were like a master dancer at work.
The entire crowd watching burst into astonished exclamations, utterly refreshed.
This kind of scene—
It was their first time seeing it.
Bang, bang, bang!!
The mud clods smashed heavily into the hard rocky ground, shattering into clouds of yellow dust.
The dust spread around Lopunny, blocking her vision.
"Now!"
"Aipom! Quick Attack to close in, then Double Hit!"
The opposing Trainer clearly had some skill.
He seized this rare opportunity immediately.
Aipom dropped to all fours and rushed toward Lopunny's position at an extremely swift speed.
The next second—
Its long tail whipped down hard into the dust-ringed area.
Thud!!
A heavy, muffled impact rang out.
The opposing Trainer's face instantly lit up with wild joy.
Perfect!!
It hit!!
"Nice one, Aipom! Keep her tied up like that and use Slam!"
After praising it, the opponent hurried to press the advantage.
So was she already in a losing position from the very start?
No matter how you looked at it,
this Shiny Lopunny didn't seem to have anything especially outstanding or powerful.
Did this Himeko really deserve the extremely high evaluations from President Sun and Teacher Moo Inoshishe?
Up in the VIP seats, the evaluators' brows began to knit slightly.
This exchange—
Himeko's performance made them very dissatisfied.
It completely failed to meet their expectations.
This girl—
Was she going to lose her very first match the moment she stepped up?
"Eee-ee!"
"Eee-ee!"
On the arena floor, Aipom started shouting.
Its face was full of anxiety.
Sweat as big as beans dripped from its forehead.
That abnormal behavior immediately drew the opposing Trainer's attention.
"Aipom? What's wrong? Hurry up and use Slam!"
He couldn't help getting anxious.
What is this supposed to be!?
With such a good opening, shouldn't it immediately press the advantage and try to steal this win?
"Eee-ee!"
Aipom kept screaming, its voice becoming more and more frantic.
Its strange, abnormal state was also plainly visible to every spectator in the venue.
Seeing this, everyone started feeling puzzled.
What was going on?
Why did this Aipom suddenly look like it wasn't listening to commands?
"Eee-ee!"
Aipom's cry suddenly turned sharp and piercing.
It lowered its body, claws digging tightly into the rocky ground, as if resisting a huge force being transmitted to it.
And only then did all the spectators realize—
Aipom's body
was being dragged, inch by inch, straight into that dust cloud.
Its claws had already sunk into the rock.
But even so, it couldn't stop itself from being hauled in.
It only left several deep scratch marks across the ground.
Whoosh!!
All of a sudden, a gust of air surged up from nowhere.
It blew away the ring of dust around Lopunny, revealing her figure.
And at that moment—
the audience finally saw a scene that left them dumbstruck.
Lopunny had one hand clamped tightly around Aipom's tail,
and was dragging it toward her, little by little.
The hand-shaped tip of Aipom's tail
flashed with bursts of white light from time to time.
That was Aipom trying to draw out the energy in its body to forcefully break free of Lopunny's restraint.
But no matter how hard it struggled—
it was all in vain.
The distance between them kept closing, bit by bit.
(End of Chapter)
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