After Terrance finished his performance, the first round of the Pokémon Contest's Performance Stage continued.
However, with Terrance's stunning combo move as the opening act, the following performances left the audience largely uninterested.
"To compete on the same stage as Mr. Terrance… how pitiful." Nurse Joy, pen in hand, watched one performance after another, her delicate brows furrowed. Because of that first performance as a benchmark, it had become hard to score the later ones.
"Ever since Wallace stopped participating in Pokémon Contests, it's been rare to see such a dazzling performance. With the skills just now, Terrance can stand on the same level as Wallace. It's only natural that the other contestants feel despair," Raoul Contesta said with a smile.
For Vulpix to unleash a combo move rivaling that of the Contest Master in its debut match was proof enough of Terrance's progress over the years.
Compared to the current Terrance, the past Terrance had seemed a bit immature.
After some time, the first round of the Pokémon Contest concluded, and the second round—the Contest Battle—arrived.
Terrance, who was resting, opened his eyes; he would be the first to go on again.
In contrast to the calm Terrance, the Coordinator who had barely made it through the first round was sweating bullets.
Having witnessed Vulpix's strength in the first round, he had no confidence in himself at all.
"If Vulpix creates that ice moon again, my Eevee won't be able to withstand the light beams."
Terrance's opponent was deeply worried about the upcoming match, but his concern was entirely unnecessary. Terrance didn't even need to bring out the ultimate move he'd prepared.
Little Vulpix has multiple ways to deal with enemies, beyond what these Coordinators can handle.
On stage, Lilian took a step back, watching the two small, adorable Pokémon face each other. At her signal, both contestants began issuing commands.
"Eevee, use Swift!"
Terrance's opponent waved a hand. Eevee's Swift was fast and widely scattered; without countermeasures, it would almost certainly hit, effectively blocking off all escape routes. However, on this stage, for Little Vulpix, breaking through this move was far too easy.
With a simple command, Little Vulpix stepped forward, its eyes glowing as it used Extrasensory to stop Swift midair. The next moment, as Little Vulpix breathed out a Blizzard, all the stars of Swift were frozen into ice crystals.
At that moment, Eevee moved as well; it wouldn't just stand by and watch its move be neutralized. A Shadow Ball condensed as it tried to continue its attack on Vulpix, but with Vulpix's Iron Tail striking the ground and propelling it upward, it easily evaded the Shadow Ball.
Immediately after, the ice stars suspended in the air by Extrasensory became Vulpix's weapons. Struck by Iron Tail, they shot toward Eevee like bullets.
Facing the barrage of incoming ice blocks, Eevee kept fleeing, but it was gradually being cornered by Vulpix. Guided by the ice blocks, Eevee was forced into a corner.
It was at that moment that Vulpix's Ice Beam ended the match completely, freezing the corner of the stage in an instant. With nowhere left to escape, Eevee became an ice sculpture.
At this point, there was no need for the battle to continue—the opponent's appeal points had already been cleared. But what truly amazed the audience was Vulpix's incredible control over ice. It seemed to have calculated the freezing power perfectly. As Lilian announced the result, Eevee instantly thawed out, appearing as though it hadn't suffered much harm.
Terrance's opponent, having realized Terrance had gone easy on him, thanked him during the handshake and regretfully left the stage.
In the semifinals, Little Vulpix swept through Terrance's opponent yet again. Although the other side's Scizor was extremely fast, reaching the point of red flashes, as soon as Ice Vulpix used Sheer Cold, the entire stage froze over in an instant. No matter how quick Scizor was, it couldn't even get close to Vulpix before it was turned into a giant block of ice and fell to the ground.
Crack.
As the ice block shattered, Scizor, though feeling weak all over, still had the strength to fight; it hadn't been instantly knocked out by that terrifying move.
"On the Pokémon Contest stage, a one-hit knockout isn't exactly an elegant move."
Smiling, Terrance watched as Vulpix leapt out again. Facing the lightning-fast Scizor, it used the "Counter Shield" technique Terrance had seen from Ash, then wrapped Blizzard in Extrasensory to form a shield, blocking the opponent's attack.
Bullet Punch couldn't break through the shield; instead, guided by Extrasensory, the icy energy froze Scizor's arm. At this point in the match, Terrance saw the opponent's appeal points slowly dropping and finally snapped his fingers, signaling Vulpix to deliver the finishing blow.
The battles up to this point had been incredibly easy. Little Vulpix had practically dominated them. Its powerful control over ice energy had become its strongest weapon against its foes.
Whether it was defense, evasion, or attack, all could be achieved through control over ice energy.
"The last match now."
As Terrance advanced to the finals, Mr. Raoul Contesta smiled. Sure enough, as expected, Terrance's opponents didn't even have the strength to push him into a corner.
Regardless of the opponent's strength or type advantage, Little Vulpix could counterattack with its exquisite control over ice.
"It's indeed a very high level of ice control, but I'm more looking forward to them using the combo move they showed in the first round against an opponent," Nurse Joy said with some disappointment.
After seeing the breathtaking performance in the first round, she still felt some nostalgia for it. She had originally thought she'd see it again in the actual battles, but Terrance seemed to have no such plan.
The opponents were simply too weak.
Having a Coordinator approaching Wallace's level compete in an ordinary Pokémon Contest meant that even if Vulpix's power was far below its opponent's, it would almost never be forced into a desperate situation. This was the charm of Coordination.
In the final match, as the three judges watched Vulpix fighting with its power of ice, Raoul Contesta was the first to realize.
"Good kid. So he's been using real battles all along to train Vulpix's control over ice energy. Repeating those few moves and combos, what's he aiming for? Is it for that ice moon?"
Terrance's purpose in entering Vulpix into the Pokémon Contest was indeed just that. The contest's rules and format were perfect for letting Vulpix practice its ice energy control. This was the foundation for creating the ice moon; only after developing that foundation could a more stable, more powerful ice moon be formed in the future.
The opponent in the final, sweating profusely, commanded her Persian, but as her appeal points emptied, she lost completely, tugging at her hair in frustration.
"The first Ribbon of the Kanto Region Pokémon Contest…" After shaking hands with his opponent, Terrance attended the award ceremony. Receiving the gray Ribbon from Raoul Contesta, his mood was calm.
For something he had already experienced many times, there was indeed nothing to get excited about anymore.
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