After several more performances, Xiaoyun finally heard the host Marian call Dawn's name. "All right, next up is our final contestant, Dawn from Twinleaf Town."
"Dawn's coming out!" Teruhiko said happily.
"Dawn is a rookie Coordinator making her debut. Let's look forward to seeing what wonderful performance she has in store for us," Vivian said.
"Go, Dawn! You're the best!"
"Roar!"
Xiaoyun perked up at the sight of Dawn taking the stage and went all out, holding up his light-up sign and shouting at the top of his lungs. Ursaring and Turtwig beside him also offered their "enthusiastic" encouragement.
The people around them looked rather put off and moved farther away. Even Teruhiko instinctively shifted his bottom a little.
He thought this older boy was far too outgoing-a real attention magnet. Sitting beside him, he could barely handle it!
"Hello, everyone. I'm Dawn from Twinleaf Town." Wearing a long dress, Dawn walked onto the stage, silently telling herself, Don't be nervous. Stay calm. When she looked up and saw Xiaoyun and Ursaring cheering in the audience, she immediately relaxed.
"Let's go, Piplup! Take the stage in style!" Dawn then tossed out her Poké Ball.
"Piplup!" Piplup sprang cutely out of the Poké Ball fitted with bubble stickers.
"Use Whirlpool!" The moment Piplup took the stage, Dawn ordered it to use its newly learned move.
"Piplup." At her command, Piplup gathered a small whirlpool between its little wings. Under Piplup's control, it grew larger and larger until it was over ten meters across.
"Send Whirlpool overhead, then use Aqua Jet to pass through it!"
At Dawn's command, Piplup tossed Whirlpool overhead and turned into a jet of water, passing through the opening beneath it and reaching a position above it before Whirlpool got there.
"Very good! Next, use Spinning Bubble Beam!"
"Piplup!"
The time had come to show the results of their special training. Piplup began spinning its whole body, releasing streams of pale blue Bubble Beam.
Whirlpool resembled a nebula in the Milky Way, while the bubbles hung around it like individual planets, sparkling and beautiful.
"Wow, what a beautiful performance."
"Yeah, it feels like a dream."
The audience below the stage was captivated by the dreamlike scene and couldn't help exclaiming in wonder. Even the judges were no exception.
"Beautifully done, Piplup! Finally, disperse Whirlpool's power."
Seeing that the time was about right, Dawn instructed Piplup to disperse Whirlpool's power.
"Piplup!" Piplup thrust its wings into Whirlpool. The vortex of water abruptly burst, popping the surrounding bubbles one after another and scattering specks of blue light across the stage.
"Thank you all for watching!"
Dawn and Piplup, which had used Aqua Jet to make a perfect landing on the stage, thanked the audience.
"Whoooo!"
A moment later, cheers that reached the skies erupted from the audience. Everyone had assumed a rookie Coordinator probably wouldn't put on a particularly impressive performance, but the ability Dawn displayed far exceeded their expectations, and they gave Dawn and Piplup a warm round of applause.
"Wow, our contestant Dawn really gave us a huge surprise! The galaxy created by the combination of Whirlpool and Bubble Beam was truly magnificent, and that final Aqua Jet landing brought the performance to a perfect close.
"Dawn, I can't help asking, are you really a Trainer making her debut? Your performance was simply wonderful."
A little surprised by Dawn's performance, the host Marian asked her curiously.
"Y-yes, today really is my first time on the Pokémon Contest stage."
Caught off guard by Marian's sudden question, Dawn grew a little nervous, but still answered normally.
"Dawn's performance was perfect this time, and the little penguin did very well too. All the care I put into their special training paid off." Xiaoyun nodded in satisfaction from the audience.
"I never knew Dawn was this good." Teruhiko was a little surprised too. He had thought Dawn was just an ordinary Trainer.
"Dawn's amazing. That performance was so beautiful!" Seeing Dawn's outstanding performance, Ash felt happy for her too.
"Dawn..." Zoey watched her retreating figure on the stage. From this performance, she could feel that Dawn would definitely become a formidable rival in the future.
"That wretched little girl is actually that strong! How am I supposed to get the Ribbon now?"
Backstage, Jessie angrily bit her handkerchief as though she were biting Dawn herself.
Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!
"Simply incredible! It seems our Miss Dawn has tremendous talent for Pokémon Contests. Perhaps she might even become a Master Coordinator someday!
"Without further ado, let's have our three judges give their scores!"
The three judges were clearly very fair. By their unanimous decision, such a dazzling performance ultimately received a high score of 29.5, beating Zoey to take first place.
"It looks like Dawn really has grown a great deal on this journey. I thought she'd be too nervous to speak. Haha, right, Glameow?"
Johanna was also watching her daughter's performance on television and spoke to Glameow with gratification.
She had originally thought that, with Dawn's careless personality, simply completing a performance would be good enough. But this performance had clearly given her a pleasant surprise. It seemed Xiaoyun had worked hard too, to teach Dawn so well.
"Qing'an, look! Our Dawn's performance was so outstanding, and she's dressed just like a princess. She's absolutely adorable! I wonder when that boy Xiaoyun will finally make his relationship with Dawn official. What a headache!"
Lina was also watching their Dawn's performance on television. Seeing Dawn's perfect performance, she excitedly patted Mr. Hanyu beside her, even more excited than Johanna! Then she started complaining about her own "useless" son.
"It's fine. We've watched Dawn grow up. Surely no one else is going to steal her away? Just relax."
Mr. Hanyu chimed in beside her. He wasn't worried in the slightest. In his eyes, his son and Dawn were childhood sweethearts through and through; all they lacked was an arranged childhood engagement. Surely some newcomer wasn't going to swoop in? What a ridiculous joke!
"Now that all our contestants have finished their performances, let's select the eight best contestants to advance to the next round."
"Dawn, that was a very good performance."
"Yeah, Dawn, your performance just now was really amazing."
When Dawn entered the waiting room, Zoey and Ash came up to praise her.
"Thanks, everyone. Actually, I was just about dying of nerves."
Dawn spoke with some lingering apprehension. The moment she stepped off the stage, her nerves had surged up, and she was still wondering how she had managed to stay so calm onstage.
"Don't doubt your own ability. The cheers from the audience are the best answer. Look, the list for the second round is out already."
Zoey encouraged the girl before her, thinking that she had shone so brilliantly onstage, so why had she become so timid again after stepping off it?
It was so strange...