Ash, with his invincible physical body, wants to become a Pokémon Master.

Chapter 405 The Ultimate Victor of the Tournament

"Heh heh, it's up there!" Xiaoyao smiled smugly.

Just as the silk barrier was about to close, the Hunting Swallowtail had already quietly flown into the sky by accelerating twice.

They had now reached the top of the poisonous rose's head.

"Air Blade!"

"What?! Poison Rose, get out of the way!"

Unfortunately, it was too late.

The cascading air blades left the poisonous rose with nowhere to hide.

Even though it managed to dodge some attacks with its nimble dance moves, it was quickly covered by a dense barrage of air blades, triggering a critical hit.

"Understand!?"

Poison Rose collapsed, losing her ability to fight, and Shun's score was instantly deducted.

In a Pokémon Contest, the match ends immediately when one Pokémon is unable to battle.

"Poison Rose, how could this be—how could I lose like this—"

"Oh dear, a major reversal has occurred on the first stage of the magnificent battle. I never expected that Poison Rose, who had been in the lead all along, would suddenly lose its ability to fight."

"This victory belongs to Xiaoyao!"

"Yay! How about that, Shun? I'm the winner!" Haruka happily hugged her Hunting Butterfly and gave Shun a peace sign in a taunt.

From the very beginning, she never intended to surpass the more experienced actress, Kosuke; her goal from the start was to defeat her.

This guy is so annoying, Xiaoyao doesn't want to lose to him no matter what.

"Hmph." Without saying a word, Xiao Shun retracted the poisonous rose and turned to leave.

Given his personality, he would definitely have said something like, "Is this what you call a flashy battle?" to mock Haruka.

But that's the rule of the tournament: if you lose, you lose. Making incompetent excuses after a defeat is an ugly thing to do, and he would never do that.

"What's this guy up to?"

Seeing Green Hair leave like that, Haruka's joy of victory diminished considerably, because she knew that her victory hadn't been particularly glorious.

Ash and his friends, who were waiting in the player tunnel after the match, immediately surrounded May as soon as she came down.

Congratulations, Xiaoyao.

"Yes, sister made it to the next round. Maybe that means she can aim for the Ribbon Medal!"

At this moment, Ash noticed that May's expression was off.

"What's wrong, Xiaoyao? You look so thoughtful. You should be happy about the victory."

"Ash, I have a feeling that winning like this isn't a good idea."

"Oh, what are you saying, sister?"

"The other side is that annoying guy, and we didn't break any rules, so a victory is a victory."

However, Ash stopped Max from continuing.

"Xiaoyao, don't you feel like you won a little unfairly?"

"After all, this is a high-stakes match. If we're talking about tradition, the green-haired kid is way better than you."

"Yes." Xiaoyao immediately widened her big, watery eyes and looked over.

As always, Xiao Zhi was able to quickly understand her feelings, making her unconsciously want to rely on him.

"In the previous competition, he had almost deducted all my points, but I only deducted a tiny bit from Xiaoshun."

"That is indeed your shortcoming."

"Ah~" Xiaoyao immediately lowered her head.

At this moment, Xiaozhi suddenly changed the subject.

"But in the glamorous battles, both the glamour and the battle itself are equally important."

"You only focused on the battle and neglected the spectacle, and your opponent also only focused on the spectacle and forgot about the battle aspect."

"If we're really talking about reflection, the one who should be reflecting the most is that green-haired kid."

"However, you should also learn from the other person's strengths and hone your ability to showcase the charm of Pokémon."

"Next time, we must win even more decisively."

"No matter what, you won. Now you should enjoy your victory. Look, even the Hunting Butterfly is afraid to show too much joy because of you."

"Oh, really?"

At that moment, Xiaoyao quickly looked at the hunting butterfly that had landed on her head.

In the battle just now, it gave it its all, and even its trainer, May, forgot to praise it properly.

After Ash and Max talked to her, May finally understood.

"We must strive to make up for our shortcomings in the future. But we should also celebrate our current victory with our partners who have worked together with us!"

At the same time, she quickly lost track of time to overthink things.

Because her next opponent has already been determined, it's Robert, the blond heartthrob who uses Milotic, and is also in the other section of the first stage.

With his absolute strength, he easily crushed his first opponent and became Xiaoyao's next opponent.

"My sister is so unlucky! She's faced the top two in the first round of judging twice in a row. She's hopeless!"

"Xiaosheng, can't you have a little more faith in your older sister?"

"I will give it my all; it's not like I'm guaranteed to lose."

She defeated Shun with her superior strength, and although the victory wasn't entirely fair, it still gave Haruka a lot of confidence.

She won't be intimidated in the upcoming matches.

But soon, Xiaoyao understood what the gap meant.

On the battle stage, Robert still gently and elegantly issued commands that felt like death itself.

"Milanos, let's use Tornado."

"Beautiful~!"

Milotic slowly unfurled its beautiful tail, releasing a swirling storm in an instant.

The surrounding silk threads were swept away, and the hunting swallowtail butterfly was instantly caught in them and fell heavily to the ground.

"Hold on, Swallowtail!" Haruka frowned, completely at a loss.

The Milotic on the other side not only has gorgeous and elegant movements, but is also extremely powerful.

The difference in levels between Pokémon and trainers is too great.

Xiaoyao's original strategy of using String Shot to interfere, Butterfly Dance to enhance, and Silver Whirlwind to finish off enemies was completely ineffective.

It's fair to say that she can't compete in beauty or strength; she's not even in the same league.

Even if it were that guy Xiaoshun, he would definitely be crushed.

Soon, Milotic's alluring voice rang out once again.

One by one, solid rainbow syllables floated quickly to the side of the hunting swallowtail butterfly and exploded instantly.

The light was dazzling yet full of damage; after that attack, Xiaoyao's score was completely depleted.

Beep, beep beep—!

As the grand stage announcement sounded, Haruka dejectedly retracted her Hunting Butterfly.

"Oh dear, it seems that Miss Haruka's journey to the Grand Festival, which is her first time participating in the event, has come to an end here."

"For a newcomer participating for the first time, Ms. Haruka is already quite impressive."

"Let's give a round of applause to the athletes who fought hard and to the Pokémon who gave us such a wonderful performance!"

Following the announcement by host Vivian, Xiaoyao and Robert shook hands and walked off the stage.

In the final match, Robert won decisively and without any controversy.

Offstage, Xiaoyao watched the final ribbon medal award ceremony with everyone in the audience, casting an envious glance toward the center of the stage.

"Ash, it really doesn't feel good to lose after trying your best."

"Next time, I'm determined to win!"

After this experience, the inexperienced Xiaoyao has finally begun her grand tournament journey.

Xiao Zhi immediately responded enthusiastically to the little girl's feelings.

"Of course, after all, you're Haruka, you can definitely do it."

"Hehe, thanks a lot, Ash."

"But let's rest tomorrow first. Kaina City is a famous tourist city. Let's go eat something delicious together. It's on me."

"Really? Then I'm going to eat my way through the entire city of Kaina!"

"All of that—that's too much."

"Hahaha----"

[Ding! Xiaoyao: Affection +2]

[Ding! Congratulations on completing the new legendary quest "Hoenn Dancer" (Part 3): Please raise Haruka's affection level to 30]