Fire-evading Spin

At three in the afternoon.

The Rustboro City Pokémon Contest, with more than two hundred contestants in total, finally came to an end.

But after Ursula, only one other high-scoring female contestant appeared, earning 28.9 points with an Emolga and seemingly coming from Unova.

The other scores were truly lackluster.

Usually, either eight or four contestants advanced to the second round of judging.

Based on the results from every aspect of this Contest, Baimu estimated that only four contestants would advance.

Sure enough, the host on the big screen shouted that the results of the first round of judging would now be announced.

The image shifted, and four black squares appeared. They flipped over one by one, revealing the contestants' portraits—the very contestants, including Baimu, who had scored over twenty-seven points.

Three women and one man. The winner would be decided in just two rounds.

Many unsuccessful contestants in the waiting room sighed in disappointment, leaving either unwilling to accept their loss or with regret written across their faces.

To many people, Pokémon Contests were even crueler than the League Conference. If you could not pass the first round of judging, then no matter how beautiful your performance was, you could only become briefly popular online. You would never be able to participate in the Grand Festival.

Before long, only the four contestants who had advanced to the second round remained in the vast waiting room.

Baimu looked toward Ursula in the distance. She returned his gaze with a confident smile that said, "I definitely won't lose to you." Looking at the other two, he saw the flames of defiance burning in their eyes as well.

...Without a doubt, he had become the common target of those three. Was it because his score had been relatively high?

At that moment,