The passageway between venues.
Baimu and Shiny Gengar hurried to their next match, guided by a staff member.
"Why the rush?" he asked.
"Sorry! There are so many competitors waiting, and your opponent has already arrived." The man in a Macro Cosmos uniform bowed hastily, his face wearing a practiced apologetic smile.
Far more people had entered the Battle Festival than the organizers expected. Matches followed one after another, leaving no time to speak with an opponent afterward. Both competitors for the next round were already in position.
Gengar had barely managed to return the leek sword to Sirfetch'd.
Losing that thing would have been a real headache!
Worse, Baimu had tapped Continue Matching too quickly. With so many people ahead of him, he had expected a wait. Instead, he was matched instantly, and a field had already been assigned.
He had missed his chance to interact with the big white duck with V-shaped eyebrows.
What a shame...
Baimu rather liked Sirfetch'd. When he played Sword and Shield, he had deliberately put one on his team. Watching its bright eyes and thick V-shaped brows while camping had always cracked him up.
He followed the staff member to the entrance of the Water Field arena.
A wave of noise hit his ears. Young men and women held signs high, dressed in matching blue-and-white outfits, their shouts blending into a deafening roar.
"Nessa!"
"Nessa, darling!"
"Look over here, Nessa! Aaaah!"
Whoa, whose Exploud had used Hyper Voice!?
Baimu hurriedly covered his ears. Gengar fled into his shadow as if escaping a disaster. He had never encountered fans this wild, even at a Pokémon Contest.
Nessa?
Oh.
Galar's Water-type Gym Leader.
A flood of memories about Nessa crossed his mind. As one of the fan favorites in Game Freak's Sword and Shield, she