Saffron City training ground.
That day, Terrance didn’t turn in early. Instead, he came to the training ground to simulate Lisia’s technique.
Just like Lisia did, Terrance had Altaria Mega Evolve and then use Cotton Guard.
Immediately after, Terrance ordered Altaria to use Fury Attack, i.e. stabbing into the cottony feathers with its beak.
Through the application of Fairy energy, Altaria’s Fury Attack changed from a Normal-type move to a Fairy-type one. When the two moves collided, the cotton feathers suddenly shattered, producing a dull, muffled sound.
On the stage, Lisia’s Mega Altaria had used the move “Play Rough.” This move is a Fairy-type inherited move of Altaria, which Terrance’s Altaria did not possess.
However, Play Rough was ultimately just one way of applying Fairy energy. Its principle was to spread Fairy energy across the attacking parts of the body and engage the opponent at close range.
An Altaria that had mastered Fairy Aura didn’t need to care about Play Rough at all. With excellent control of Fairy energy, it could directly recreate the effect of Play Rough.
When Fury Attack didn’t work, Terrance had Altaria switch to using its claws, and even its wings.
“Bring the Fairy energy and the energy within the cotton feathers to the same level,” Terrance pondered after hearing that dull sound again.
This time, the sound was no longer muffled, but instead a clear “ding.”
Crisp and pleasant to the ear.
“So it’s not only collisions between Fighting-type energy and Grass-type energy that produce a pleasant sound. Fairy-type energy colliding with Grass-type energy can do the same? Still, the key lies in energy control. Without sufficient talent, most Pokémon probably couldn’t manage this.”
Terrance chuckled softly. Now that he understood the core of Lisia’s performance, things would be much easier.
Terrance didn’t have Altaria try to simulate the melodies of “Sing” or “Heal Bell” using this method. It would take far too much time.
He guessed that this was likely Lisia’s primary way of training her Altaria: honing coordination through playing symphonies. The amount of time she must have invested was certainly not small.
After all, Terrance had spent three years just to perfect the basics of Altaria’s Erase Technique. Even though he now understood the principle behind her technique, it would still be difficult to imitate them in a short period of time.
Still, this gave Terrance a new idea…
“Maybe Fairy Aura and Cotton Guard could be used to play Perish Song, or the sound of Erase…” Terrance’s eyes shone brightly.
…
…
The next day.
The Pokémon Contest Hall was packed with people, lively and bustling.
As the final day of the Grand Festival, today would be the most crucial day of all!
Today, through battle-style matches, the Top Coordinator of this year’s Kanto Region would be decided!
“Umm, beautiful lady, among the eight Contestants who advanced, who are you most optimistic about?” In the audience, a bespectacled man glanced at the pretty girl beside him, trying to strike up a conversation, only to receive a mocking look in return the next moment.
The pretty girl pointed at her white short-sleeved shirt, where a large character was written in blue ink: Terrance.
The final eight contestants were all those who had scored over 29 points in the Performance Stage. Among them, two had even achieved perfect scores: Lisia and Terrance.
At the venue, these two also had the greatest number of supporters.
As the two top seeds favored to win the championship, the organizers directly placed them at the beginning and the end of the bracket. This meant that if the two wanted to face each other, it would only be possible in the finals.
“When Lisia debuted, Wallace never made any public statements, nor did he ever ask us to give her any special consideration. It seems Wallace has a great deal of confidence in his niece,” Raoul Contesta said as he looked toward the stage below.
“If Terrance is willing to send out his Mega Altaria, that might be very interesting,” Mr. Sukizo said with a narrowed smile.
“But based on what we know about him, he’ll most likely send out Ninetales.”
“Even so, that’s fine. It might end up being a closely matched battle.”
At the same time, Vivian and Lilian each walked to opposite sides of the stage and shouted in unison.
“Hello everyone! Today is the final day of the Grand Festival! The winning Contestant will receive the Ribbon Cup, a symbol of honor from the panel of judges! So at this thrilling moment, please allow us to once again introduce the eight Contestants who have advanced to the top eight and reached the second round!!”
Terrance, Solidad, Marina, Daisy Oak, Chaz, Yuma, Chisana, Lisia.
The groupings were as listed above. Terrance was the first to take the stage, and his opponent was the veteran Coordinator of the Kanto Region, Solidad.
After the two announcers gave a detailed introduction, the two were introduced once more individually. At the same time, Terrance and Solidad walked onto the stage from opposite directions.
“I remember she’s an Ice-type specialist, right?”
Up to this point, Solidad had sent out Lapras and Slowbro. As Terrance sized up his opponent, the elegant woman was also looking at him.
“I didn’t expect the very first match to be this nerve-wracking,” Solidad suddenly smiled slightly. It was hard to tell whether she was truly nervous or just pretending.
“Let’s have a good battle,” Terrance replied with a smile.
Finally, as the timer entered its countdown and the match was about to begin, the two threw their Poké Balls at the same time.
Ninetales vs. Slowbro.
When the preparatory countdown ended and the five-minute battle segment began, both issued their commands simultaneously.
“Slowbro, Skill Swap.”
She was clearly placing great importance on Ninetales’ Snow Warning Ability and didn’t want to give it any chance to activate. At that moment, Slowbro stood its ground, its gaze serious, letting out a loud roar as special waves shot forth at high speed like chains, attempting to bind Ninetales so a connection could be established between them and Skill Swap could be carried out.
But Solidad underestimated the activation speed of Ninetales’ Ability. The fact that Hail hadn’t appeared wasn’t because Ninetales hadn’t managed to summon snow clouds. It was because Terrance had no intention of doing so.
Ninetales stood calmly in place as a wave of mental pressure fell down on it. Its blue pupils instantly gleamed, and the gaze of Baby-Doll Eyes enveloped Slowbro’s entire body.
“Did the Ability exchange fail?” someone asked in confusion.
“It succeeded, but it’s no different from failing. Ninetales used the move Role Play to temporarily obtain the opponent’s Ability, canceling out the attack.”
“Incredible… It actually used Role Play to ignore the Ability exchange, then took advantage of the opening to use Baby-Doll Eyes.”
“Slowbro, move now!”
On the stage, affected by Baby-Doll Eyes, Slowbro’s mind wavered. It failed to respond to Solidad’s command immediately, revealing openings everywhere.
Meanwhile, Ninetales appeared completely at ease. Hail and Blizzard were unleashed together; the fusion of moves was executed with exquisite precision.
Ice and snow surged wildly. The look in Slowbro’s eyes as it faced Ninetales carried a hint of panic. Clearly, the impact of Baby-Doll Eyes was far too strong. Enhanced by Fairy Aura, even a seemingly simple Baby-Doll Eyes caused Slowbro to temporarily lose its fighting spirit.
“Is it already over?”
Seeing Slowbro instantly encased into a round sphere of ice and snow, many people revealed looks of disbelief. Especially Solidad’s supporters, watching her appeal points steadily plummet from the very start, barely stopping their decline, they didn’t know what to say.
A seasoned veteran with the potential to contend for the title of Top Coordinator was mercilessly one-shotted!
Terrance rubbed his chin, wondering if he had gone a bit too far… Baby-Doll Eyes’ mental pressure was indeed effective, but at this level of intensity, against someone with weaker mental resilience, it could completely disrupt their competitive state, preventing them from performing at all and turning them into a living target. With Ninetales’ current strength, the outcome was almost always an instant defeat.
The other six contestants frowned when they saw Ninetales’ Baby-Doll Eyes. All of them were sharp-eyed Coordinators and could naturally tell how powerful that single Baby-Doll Eyes was. It had nearly caused a Pokémon belonging to a Contestant on par with themselves to lose its will to fight. It was downright abnormal…
“This Baby-Doll Eyes must have been polished countless times. The psychic power and Fairy energy contained within it are already no weaker than offensive moves. No wonder Miss Solidad’s Slowbro lost its fighting spirit,” Lisia said with a grave expression. She was very familiar with Fairy-type moves, and Ninetales’ Baby-Doll Eyes made her feel extremely troubled.
You can read ahead upto 65 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.