The preliminary round was over.
Out of more than two hundred skilled Coordinators, the most outstanding sixty-four had made it through.
Terrance glanced at the results. As expected, it was a gathering of powerhouses. Ten contestants had achieved perfect scores in the preliminary round alone.
All Contestants who earned full marks in the preliminary round were strong, but after the first-round Performance Stage, only eight Contestants would advance to the Contest Battle segment. One could say that the competition ahead would be extremely brutal.
“Let’s head back,” Terrance murmured to himself when he saw a few familiar images.
The preliminary round alone had taken an entire day. With more than two hundred performances finished, the Grand Festival was temporarily stopped for today.
Terrance yawned. Although he didn’t feel tired, he had no intention of training and decided to return directly to the hotel to rest.
At the Pokémon Contest Hall, he ran into Chisana. Terrance didn’t have much to say regarding the little guy who had followed along without a word. After cheering him on, they would soon be meeting on stage as opponents, and Terrance had no intention of holding back.
Besides that, Terrance also saw several veteran Coordinators and genius Coordinators. He carefully observed their coordination styles, confirming whether any of them could pose a threat to him…
At the hotel.
Terrance discussed with the Rotom Pokédex how to reasonably make use of the rare ores sent by Team Rocket.
The amount of these ores was enough for Pupitar to use, and with the large number of Float Stones as well, perfectly getting through the Pupitar stage would not be a problem…
“Next, I need to make Pupitar some food that aids digestion, so that it can accumulate enough foundation for evolution in a short period of time!”
“And to become a true Desert Monarch, it has to go on a training journey in the desert. Once we return to Hoenn, we’ll head to the great desert near Mauville City and let Pupitar train in its homeland for a while, personally facing massive sandstorms.”
After making his decision, Terrance’s eyes suddenly widened, feeling that he had forgotten something.
“What could it be…” Terrance frowned, carefully examining Pupitar’s Poké Ball, trying again to confirm what he had forgotten. It was just that too much time had passed, and he couldn’t recall it clearly.
“Hoenn Desert… Larvitar’s fossil was obtained there, Beautifly’s Violent air currents: Quiver Dance was also trained there, and as for what’s special about the Hoenn Desert…” Terrance’s expression suddenly became unnatural.
“I remember now…”
Patting his forehead, Terrance let out a soft sigh. He had actually forgotten something so important. During the Hoenn Grand Festival, he had once used sandstorms in the Hoenn Desert to help Beautifly practice the Air Currents Control technique. At that time, Terrance had also conducted an experiment.
An experiment centered around Smooth Rock.
It was meant to confirm under what kind of environment Castform could use a Rock-type Weather Ball.
It was then that Mismagius discovered a strange cave with obvious signs of excavation. At the time, Terrance deduced that it might be a place where Smooth Rock was formed.
In that area, even without sandstorm weather, Castform could still shape a Rock-type Weather Ball using the environment. It was truly a miraculous place.
Back then, Terrance had thought that after the Grand Festival ended, he would take the time to seriously investigate that place; perhaps he could discover something that would help Castform master Sandstorm… But once he left, three years passed, and Terrance completely forgot about that special place.
“My fault…” Terrance shook his head inwardly. He really had been far too busy after the Grand Festival ended back then. Still, going to investigate after this Grand Festival was over wouldn’t be too late… In a sense, it was always something to be done after the Grand Festival anyway.
“Perfect timing. If that environment is indeed where Smooth Rock is formed, it might benefit the growth of Pupitar or Tyranitar. Looks like the Hoenn Desert is a must-visit.”
“Rotom Pokédex, open the memo function and add another note…” Terrance scratched his cheek awkwardly and looked toward the Rotom Pokédex flying around nearby.
…
…
The next day.
On a raised platform in the central area of the Contest Hall, the three judges were discussing today’s schedule.
“This time, the participants are all very strong. How about we raise the threshold for high scores?” Mr. Raoul Contesta, seated on the far left, proposed a novel suggestion before the competition even began.
“I like that!” Mr. Sukizo thought it over briefly and nodded with a smile.
“Raise the judging standards?!” Nurse Joy exclaimed softly, but after a moment’s thought, she felt it wasn’t a problem.
Among the sixty-four Contestants who had advanced, only eight were destined to move on to the battle segment. These eight would be the contestants with the highest judging scores in this round. Even if the scoring threshold was raised, it wouldn’t affect those truly capable of advancing.
“Right. This also avoids overlapping high scores. After all, there are quite a few impressive Coordinators this time,” Raoul Contesta said with a smile. It would be troublesome if nine or more perfect scores appeared in this round.
Soon, the many contestants learned of the judges’ decision and understood that the scoring threshold would be slightly raised this time. Getting a perfect score would not be so easy anymore.
Upon hearing the news, many Coordinators rubbed their hands together eagerly, feeling that a more challenging difficulty would make things more interesting. Of course, there were also quite a few who looked dejected. Several Coordinators who had barely scraped through the preliminary round were worried that their Performance Stage scores might be too ugly, harming their reputation.
When Terrance entered the venue, he even saw some Coordinators clasping their hands in prayer, muttering about their performance order, hoping to go on stage earlier.
“As for the Performance Stage, that technique Ninetales couldn’t complete before can finally be shown…”
Terrance had long since decided how he would showcase his moves. No matter how much the scoring standards were raised, he didn’t believe he would fail to advance.
“I’m eleventh up. Pretty early in the order.”
As time passed, the Contest Committee officials announced today’s performance order. When Terrance saw his number, he smiled faintly. It seemed he wouldn’t have to wait too long.
“He’s number eleven.”
When the Contestant order was announced, Lisia noticed Terrance’s number and let out a sigh of relief. Luckily, she wasn’t scheduled to perform right before or after Terrance, which meant she would have a chance to observe his performance.
After the order was announced, the main competition was about to begin!
At this point, the audience and judges were already in place, and the announcers had taken to the stage as well.
Moreover, once the main competition began, only a single main stage remained. All sixty-four performance rounds would be held on the main stage and could be completed within one day. As for the Contest Battles, they would require another full day.
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