The ice-blue thunder came out of nowhere.
"Lompa!?"
Ludicolo was scared like a rabbit in shock, and without another word jumped straight onto the side platform.
Thanks to the last bit of drizzle, the Free and Easy Trait barely boosted its speed, and the lightning skimmed past its head by a hair's breadth.
Zzz!
The frost formed by the rain on the platform made it slide straight onto the ice under the pull of inertia.
Ludicolo panicked and raised a hand to touch—the tuft of hair at the very top of its "hat" had indeed been frozen into a lump of ice.
"Lompa…"
"Contestant Leon's last Pokémon is Ludicolo! But the situation is really bad! The rain clouds have completely dispersed, and the Water Field has been frozen over as well!"
The commentator knew full well that at this point the outcome was obvious, but as a professional, Naihe couldn't casually predict any contestant's win or loss.
That was the Referee's responsibility.
Leon looked at the frozen field and the Ludicolo whose head had taken damage; he'd already lost any excuse to rally his fighting spirit, his mentality completely collapsing like getting stomped so hard in a match or team fight that he was super Ghost.
Aggron clearly had the power to freeze the entire field, yet it had still slugged it out with Kingdra for so long in the water that should've been bad for it, and then came out on top.
What on earth is this Pokémon!?
How can it be this strong!?
He nervously licked his lips. "F–True Qi Bullet?"
The weak command made Ludicolo instinctively glance back over its shoulder, its expression full of worry and hesitation.
"Lom…"
A Pokémon's fighting power is closely tied to its Trainer's state.
Once the Trainer's tone issuing orders isn't firm enough, the Pokémon will get confused along with them, opening a window for the opponent to attack.
Baimu pointed at Ludicolo. "Double-bladed Head Hammer."
"Guh-roar!"
Aggron clenched its claws and let out a low, muffled roar as terrifying Momentum surged at high speed, brilliant brown-yellow light spilling from its body, forming flocculent streams of air that swirled everywhere.
The air suddenly shook violently!
Rumble—
"Lompa!"
Feeling the threat, Ludicolo snapped its head around. The sight of Aggron's current state scared it so much that it immediately started rubbing its hands together in front of its body.
In no time at all, a high-energy azure light wave that looked like a fireball took shape.
But before it could throw, a deafening blast hit its ears first!
Bang!
Shards of ice flew!
"Guh-roar!!"
Aggron, like a giant glowing meteor, wrapped in torrents of air visible to the naked eye, charged forward with a terrifying posture like it could flip every building along its path into the sky!
The frozen ice surface was carved open into a deep trench, and the gale mixed with ice chips howled with a force strong enough to Blow Away a grown adult.
The frightening rumble from the trembling air grew even more intense.
Ludicolo's whole body shook; it instinctively hurled the azure light wave in its hand.
"Lompa!"
In the blink of an eye.
The light wave rushed toward the oncoming giant "meteor" and blew apart with a boom into a cloud of smoke.
"Aggr—"
The commentator was just about to speak when, in the next second, the dazzling meteor burst through the dust cloud unscathed and, faster than anyone could react, slammed into Ludicolo as it tried to dodge!
Whoosh!
It was like a shooting star tearing across the sky, like a passing typhoon that flashed before everyone's eyes, then finally crashed with a thunderous boom into the wall at the edge of the field!
Thud!!
The huge impact sounded like a heavy hammer pounding on everyone's hearts.
A storm of rocky energy rolled up along the edge of the field, then exploded into pillars of light and debris, and the shockwave swept the smoke and dust outward in all directions.
Leon turned sideways and raised an arm to brace against the blast of air, his dark face drained pale as if he'd lost too much blood.
He had completely lost his confidence in this battle.
A moment later.
Aggron, wreathed in raging flames of energy, loomed within them like a monster standing above smoke and fire, throwing back its head and roaring as though it was about to destroy the world.
"Guh-roar—"
Its thunderous roar seemed to echo throughout the entire venue.
The commentator stared, dazed, for several seconds, then suddenly stood up, grabbed the mic, and shouted excitedly, "Double-bladed Head Hammer hits!! The impact of that strike is terrifying! Can Ludicolo still Hold On!?"
Countless spectators fixed their eyes on the edge of the field as Aggron stepped aside to reveal that area.
The smoke and dust slowly cleared.
All they saw was Ludicolo slumped weakly on the ice amid the shattered wall, its eyes covered in black swirls.
The Referee blew his whistle when he saw this.
Beeep—
"Ludicolo is unable to battle, Aggron wins! Therefore, the winner of this match is Contestant Baimu!"
In an instant.
As the Referee's words fell, a thunderous cheer erupted in the main arena!
An absolute victory!
No suspense at all, a win so one-sided it could be called crushing!
Xiaogang and the others laughed as they applauded; Altaria and Piplup hopped around happily, extra lively.
"We're finally about to hit the finals!"
"Yeah, this whole road has been really… uh."
Mann Chong had wanted to say "really tough," but when he glanced at the big screen and saw that Baimu's face wasn't even flushed and he wasn't out of breath, in the end he couldn't bring himself to say it.
Tough?
It was obviously way too easy.
Alice took a deep breath, stood up, and said, "It's my turn next! It really makes you feel both nervous and excited!"
"Go for it, Alice!"
"There's only one match left before the finals!"
Liuqia and Xiaoguang's cheers made her smile.
The Dragon-cancer Maiden said confidently, "Relax! I'm definitely going to earn the chance to stand on the same stage as Baimu!"
And then—
She'd wash away her old shame in one go!
Alice had not forgotten the scene back in the Pokémon Center at the Desert Oasis, where even with her three strongest Dragon-type Pokémon on the field, she still lost to Baimu.
The Ever Grande Conference was the perfect stage for her counterattack!
On the field.
Baimu recalled Aggron and smiled. "Learning Double-bladed Head Hammer sure wasn't for nothing."