I caught a Pokémon

Especially when she saw Ryukia run up to Xia You and wrap her arms around his, she gritted her teeth and pounced on him, grabbing his other arm and trying to pull him away.

Seeing this, Ash, May, Max, and Brock looked at each other in bewilderment.

They had never seen Xia so angry before!

Xiao Zhi asked in confusion, "Who is this person? Why is he competing with Xiao Xia for Xia You?"

"I don't know." Xiaoyao shook her head. "I've never heard Xiaoxia mention her before..."

“Rukia…Rukia…” Brock stroked his chin, then suddenly remembered something and exclaimed in realization, “Oh, it’s her!”

"Her?" The three people beside him turned to look at him at the same time, and asked in surprise, "You've heard of her name?"

Xiao Gang pulled out the booklet from his pocket, which had been issued for the grand celebration, flipped through a dozen pages, found one page, and read it aloud to the others: "...During the celebration, we also invited the Grand Contest idol, Rukia, to perform..."

"Grand Contest Idol?"

Upon hearing this title, Ash and his friends were even more surprised.

Brock nodded, closed the manual, and continued to the group: "I specifically looked up this name before. She is also a Coordinator, and it seems that her fans call her 'Ryuhime.' You could say she's quite popular in Hoenn and other regions."

"Now that you mention it, I think I've heard her name on TV before..." May exclaimed. "And after becoming a Coordinator, I realized how difficult it is. The fact that she became a Contest Idol at such a young age shows how amazing she is!"

Xiao Zhi asked curiously, "If that's the case, how did Xiao Xia get to know her? And it seems their relationship is..."

He wanted to say it was terrible, but since Ryukia was nearby and he was afraid she would hear him, he didn't speak rashly.

At this point, Xia You was already almost dizzy from being shaken.

He didn't know where these two girls got such strength; it seemed like they wanted to tear him in two. Seeing that they still wouldn't stop, he used force to pull them together, then broke free from their grasp, saying helplessly, "Stop pulling! If you keep pulling, my hand will really break. You two should just settle things directly!"

Hearing him say that, Xiaoxia and Liuqia indeed stopped bothering him and instead confronted him directly.

Taking advantage of this moment, Xia You rubbed her arm, took a step back, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing Gengar approach, he frowned and asked in a low voice, "How did she find her way here?"

Gengar replied matter-of-factly, "Of course I brought her here."

"What!?"

Gengar grinned and chuckled, "You only asked me to protect her, but you didn't say what I'd do after that. Besides, she knows I'm your Pokémon, so she kept pestering me to come find you. I had no choice but to bring her here. But to be honest, I was also curious to see what these two girls could do together. I didn't expect it to be this interesting!"

"You bastard..."

Shaking her head helplessly, Xia You was at a loss for words.

They had planned everything meticulously, but they had overlooked Gengar, that guy who loved watching the drama unfold!

After such an incident, Xia You naturally couldn't stay here any longer. Seeing that Xiaoxia and Liuqia still showed no signs of stopping, and fearing that they would attract attention, she could only take them back to the dormitory first.

After the three left, Xiaoyao was really worried about Xiaoxia, so she couldn't care less about practicing anymore and could only follow behind Xiaozhi and the others back to the dormitory.

Fortunately, just as she arrived at the dormitory entrance, Rukia's manager discovered that she had sneaked out and came looking for her, where they encountered Rukia.

"Rukia!" Upon seeing her, her manager rushed over anxiously and handed her her the phone. "Where have you been? Do you know that someone just took a picture of you holding hands with a man? It's already online, and everyone's saying your relationship has been exposed!"

Because they were close by, Xia You and the others also looked at the phone at the same time. They saw that the screen showed him and Liu Qiya in the food street, with Liu Qiya just exposed and holding hands!

I never expected that in just a short time, someone would take a picture and upload it to the internet!

All I can say is that these people are incredibly fast, and they've also keenly grasped the breaking news!

However, Ryukia just smiled slightly, seemingly unconcerned, while Xiaoxia swayed and almost fell to the ground!

She never expected that such a big thing would happen just because she accompanied Xiaoyao out for training for a short while!

My house was burgled!!

Chapter 753 Haruka's Magnificent Celebration Journey

When Xiaoxia returned to the dormitory she shared with Xiaoyao, she was still a little sullen.

Of course, she wasn't angry at Xia You, but rather annoyed that she hadn't kept an eye on him, giving Ryukia an opportunity!

Seeing Xiaoxia sitting on the bed, still sulking, Xiaoyao didn't know how to comfort her.

"Um..." After thinking for a moment, Haruka tried to comfort her, "What happened today was just an accident. After all, no one knew that Ryukia would appear here. We can't blame you for being too careless. Think about it on the bright side. She'll leave after the Grand Festival, right? Then we won't be able to see her again."

It's no secret that Xiaoxia likes Xia You; everyone around her can see it, even the bookworm Xiaosheng knows perfectly well.

Hearing her say that only made Xiaoxia more discouraged.

She said helplessly, "There are some things you don't know. After my trip in the Hoenn region ends, I'll be going back to the Cerulean Gym. Xia You will continue his journey to Sinnoh, and Lucia has a performance there. I'm worried..."

Even though she didn't finish her sentence, Xiaoyao knew what she was worried about.

It's nothing more than worrying that Xia You will be taken away from him.

She wanted to offer some comfort, but didn't know how to start.

Yes, I wasn't there with him, so who knows what happened back then? There's no point in trying to comfort the unknown.

Xiaoxia sighed, leaned against the wall, looked up at the ceiling, and lamented, "Sigh, if only I could keep traveling..."

……

"Ladies and gentlemen! Now, in Slateport City, the Pokémon Tournament - Grand Celebration, the dream celebration of the Coordinators, is finally about to begin!"

In an open-air venue that can accommodate tens of thousands of people, Vivian, the female host in a long red dress, stands in the center of the venue, holding a microphone, and announces the start of this annual grand event.

As the most popular female host at the grand event, she is almost always present at both regular conferences and celebrations like this.

Her blonde hair and blue eyes, sweet appearance, and powerful, penetrating voice added a touch of brilliance to the celebration!

Today is the first day of the competition, and as the manual describes, 64 people will be selected from the 247 participants in the preliminary rounds to advance to the next round.

Holding popcorn, Xia You, Xiaoxia, and Xiaozhi sat in the front row of the audience, leisurely enjoying the grand event up close.

Even Xiaoyao, because her match was later in the game, temporarily sat with them.

It was only at this point that they gained a general understanding of the players' abilities and even saw some familiar faces.

Firstly, for Xia You, having only attended one tournament and knowing few of the trainers who coordinated his trainers, the only person he knew somewhat when the selection tournament began was Robert!

The man who defeated Shun to win the Slateport Tournament was the second to take the stage, and his performance was as elegant as ever. In the preliminary rounds, he used Milotic again and scored 98 points with an excellent and gorgeous performance, which is an extremely high score. Such a performance naturally won rounds of applause from the audience!

This also made Xiaoyao somewhat worried.

"His performance is as outstanding as ever..." Xia You couldn't help but sigh. "98 points, almost a perfect score. It seems that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Robert will continue to the end and will be the biggest obstacle to your victory this time."

Xiaoyao nodded; she had no doubt about that.

She even knew that compared to this person, she was far too naive in every aspect.

Even so, she was still very confident in herself. After all, she had already won five ribbon medals, which proved that she was no less than anyone else!

After Rob, four more Coordinators appeared, and they all performed very well. In fact, they were all five-ribbon medalists, so how bad could they be? Although there was a certain gap between them and someone like Rob, each of them performed brilliantly.

Then it was Shun's turn to appear.

Shun's partner was still his Roselia, and this Pokémon showered the stage with a rain of petals, shining brightly and earning Shun a high score of 95.

These are currently the only two players with scores exceeding 95.

Gudong.

Xiaoyao unconsciously swallowed, and it was clear that the pressure on her was slowly increasing.

"Don't be nervous." Because they were sitting very close, Xia You couldn't help but comfort her. "Don't worry about them, just do your best. As long as you do your best, even if you win in the end, it will be a huge growth experience."

The reason for saying this is that Xiaoyao did not win the championship in this grand celebration. This was a precaution for her, to prevent her from being disappointed when her expectations were too high.

Hearing his words, Xiaoyao's restless heart finally calmed down a little.

Turning to look at the man who had won two regional championships, she couldn't help but ask, "Were you nervous when you participated in your first Pokémon tournament?"

"Then you've chosen the wrong reference point." Before Xia You could speak, Xiao Zhi laughed, "I've never seen Xia You look nervous before!"

Touching his nose, he could only say that Xiaoyao really shouldn't have compared herself to others.

When I attended the conference before, I was nervous, but not as obviously as she was.

You could even say that I didn't start to get nervous because I made it to the finals, and the object of my nervousness wasn't my opponent, but the championship that was about to be mine!

That was the joy that came from the depths of one's soul at the impending victory!

The people around her chuckled, and when she heard Ash's words, May realized she had asked the wrong person, so she could only smile wryly and turn her attention back to the arena.

After more than a dozen contestants took the stage, it was Xia You's turn to meet the strange man named Harry whom she had met yesterday.

His Pokémon is a Dreamy Cactus, a humanoid Pokémon that is green all over and shaped like a cactus. It has many dark green bumps on its body and looks a bit like a scarecrow.

Upon seeing this Pokémon, people realized why Harry was dressed that way; it turns out that the image of the man and the Pokémon were already consistent!

This Dream Song cactus unleashed its Seed Machine Gun, completing its performance at lightning speed and ultimately earning Harry a score of 84.

84 points, although not as high as Xiaoshun and Luobo's scores, is still a pretty good result.

Compared to the other coordinators, advancing to the next round shouldn't be a problem.

At this moment, Xiaoyao was notified backstage to prepare for her performance. She took a deep breath and stood up from the audience.

"Sister, come on!"

"Xiaoyao, show us your best side!"

Xia You and the others offered encouragement, and Xiao Yao smiled at them before leaving the audience and heading towards the contestants' tunnel.

However, looking at her back, Xiaoxia frowned and said with some worry, "Why does she look like she's walking with such heavy steps?"

"Don't worry," Ash said with a smile, unconcerned. "May is very capable, so just trust her."

Indeed, compared to Xia You and Xiaoxia, who only met occasionally, Xiaozhi and his friends obviously had more authority to speak about Xiaoyao's performance. Since they all thought she was fine, then others had nothing to worry about.

Not long after, several more contestants took the stage, and it was finally Xiaoyao's turn.

As you can see, although Xiaoyao is wearing the same clothes as usual, she has a faint smile on her face and walks calmly to the center of the field.

However, her mindset has improved considerably since she first participated in the Grand Contest.

This is why Xia You has always believed in the importance of traveling more. Only by seeing more of the world and experiencing more things can one grow significantly. It is absolutely unacceptable to be confined to a comfortable environment and become complacent at an age when one should be traveling.

"Now, please enjoy the performance by Xiaoyao!"

With Vivian's introduction, Xiaoyao's match officially began.

After a magnificent spin, Haruka released her Swallowtail. As soon as she appeared, the Swallowtail flapped its wings, scattering powder on the stage that shimmered in the sunlight like a golden rain.

In terms of appearance alone, Haruka achieved a good result.

A round of applause rang out from the audience. Although it wasn't the loudest applause, it represented people's recognition of Xiaoyao.

This also shows that in major competitions like this, especially those involving crucial scores, players only use their most trusted partners. No one dares to use other Pokémon recklessly. If they don't take it seriously and make a mistake, they risk being eliminated!

Just like the Pokémon Contest, even though the nature is different, it still needs to be treated with caution.

May and Beautifly's performance continued. Beautifly danced in the air, scattering wave after wave of powder, like an endless golden rain. Then it unleashed a silver whirlwind, bringing the atmosphere to its climax. Finally, as the performance ended, Beautifly landed on May's arm, and the two of them struck a pose, bringing the curtain down.

Applause erupted again from the audience, and Xia You and the others couldn't help but look at the big screen as they clapped.

It's worth mentioning that the judges for this grand celebration were no longer Ms. Joy, Suki Satoshi of the enthusiast club, or Mr. Conkenstein, the secretary-general. Instead, they were replaced by a panel of one man and two women, who are more authoritative experts in this field!

Although these three individuals do not hold the same high status as Sukizo and Conkens, their insight is more discerning and neutral. Under their guidance, people generally agree with the scores they produce.

After careful consideration, the three of them ultimately gave a combined score of 88 points.

This score is very close to 90, which means that the judges recognize Xiaoyao and that Xiaoyao has surpassed many competitors, including the one named Harry. Judging from the performance of all the previous contestants, advancing to the next round is undoubtedly a sure thing.

This put Xia You and her group at ease, especially Xiao Yao's mother, Mitsuko, who breathed a sigh of relief.

As a mother, she was naturally more nervous than anyone else, and hoped that her daughter would have a wonderful performance on such a stage.

After Xiaoyao left the stage, Xia You and the others got up and headed backstage.

Because each contestant only has one or two minutes of stage performance time, all of these contestants combined, including their appearances and exits, would take at least nearly 9 hours to complete their performances. This is not only a huge test for the judges, but also for the audience, who have changed several times.

With such a long performance, most people would only choose those that interest them. For example, after Xiaoyao left the stage, Xia You and the others naturally had no intention of continuing to watch. They would just wait until the preliminary rounds ended and then pay attention to the list of those who advanced.

As they left the stadium, the group bumped into Xiaoyao walking towards them on the roadside.

Whether it was Mitsuko, Kasumi, or Satoshi, they all received a barrage of praise, which made Haruka feel embarrassed before finally stopping.

Just then, Harry suddenly appeared out of nowhere, approaching Xiaoyao from behind with a bright smile on his face.

"That's really amazing!" he exclaimed with an exaggerated gesture, his tone a mix of flattery and ambiguity. "It looks like making it into the official tournament is no problem!"