I caught a Pokémon

Sukisa, the president of the Pokémon Fan Club.

And... Miss Joey.

Of course, Nurse Joy may not be the Nurse Joy of Hoenn, but rather the Golden Nurse Joy, but probably no one except Brock can really tell which one they are.

But no matter what, seeing familiar faces still made Xiaoyao breathe a sigh of relief.

Putting aside Miss Joy, having participated in so many competitions, Yao is already familiar with the styles of Conkenstein and Sukizo, which allows her to give more targeted performances. If it were other unfamiliar judges, she wouldn't be able to grasp their preferences and tastes.

Unfortunately, this matter also has its advantages and disadvantages.

Familiar judges can make contestants less nervous, but because they have performed in front of them and have met them frequently, the judges also know the contestants very well and have seen too many of their performance styles. So if there is nothing particularly amazing or original, it is actually difficult for them to give high scores.

It's a double-edged sword, I suppose.

After the three judges were introduced, and with Lillian once again stirring up the audience's enthusiasm, the first round of judging finally began amidst cheers!

But to everyone's surprise, Harry was the first to perform on stage!

"I see, no wonder I didn't see him in the lounge." Xia You shook her head. "It's not that he didn't want to come and cause trouble, but that he didn't have time."

Harry's unique outfit immediately drew attention and cheers from the audience upon his appearance.

Deafening applause resounded throughout the venue.

You could actually feel it from the atmosphere. Compared to the Hoenn region's conventions, the audience at this Golden Glow Convention was much more enthusiastic. It seemed that people really enjoyed the performance. Of course, it might also be related to Lillian's excellent ability to create a lively atmosphere. In any case, Harry, as the first to appear, received cheers and applause from the entire audience, which shows how enthusiastic people were.

As Harry walked to the center of the stage, he released his partner Pokémon.

Unsurprisingly, even after moving to a new region, he still used the same Pokémon, Cactus Sedum.

It has to be said that although this guy has character issues and is always targeting Xiaoyao, he is quite capable and intelligent. His stage performances are almost flawless. When the performance started, with his cooperation with the Dream Song Cactus, he really presented a great show for the audience in the Kanto region!

Especially the final closing segment, which used spiked arms to pierce the cotton spores floating on the stage, creating a cool ending!

This earned him an extremely high score in the first round of review!

Chapter 822 Golden Gathering

Harry's unexpectedly outstanding performance undoubtedly put some pressure on Xiaoyao.

However, sometimes pressure can be a driving force. Seeing your opponent perform like that can stimulate your own potential and unleash even greater strength.

Harry's performance was a great start to the Golden Glow Contest. After he left the stage, the other contestants took turns performing, but perhaps influenced by Harry's performance, they didn't perform very well and their scores were generally low.

This was something that Xiaozhi and his friends never expected. No one thought that Harry would lead the entire race!

Although it's only the first round of review, it's clear that Harry is coming in strong and has made ample preparations for this conference.

The contestants enter the stage, perform, and then leave.

As time slowly passed, the atmosphere of the Golden Gathering reached its peak. Of course, with more and more contestants performing, the first round of the competition was already more than halfway over, and there were fewer and fewer contestants who had not yet taken the stage.

Whether it was good luck or bad luck, Xiaoyao was scheduled to appear last this time. Although this gave her more time to prepare, seeing the various performances of the other contestants naturally made her more and more nervous.

Fortunately, Xiaoyao had already built up her mental defenses, and with Xia You by her side, although she was still a little nervous, this was normal and wouldn't have any impact on her.

In this atmosphere, as another contestant left the stage, a purple-haired woman wearing a red dress and butterfly glasses walked onto the stage.

Although Lillian introduced her as Fairy Jessie Bian, Xia You recognized her at a glance as Team Rocket's Jessie!

I didn't expect Musashi to join in the fun too...

Although I was a little surprised at first, it wasn't so strange when I thought about Musashi's personality.

As for… stopping her?

Xia You wasn't one to meddle in other people's business. Besides, he had a good impression of the Team Rocket trio. He just wanted to watch Jessie's performance for fun and see what kind of mess Jessie could make.

When the performance began, Musashi released her Pokémon.

However, when the Poké Ball was opened, it wasn't Jessie's own Pokémon that appeared, but Kojiro's Spiny Cactus!

This spiky cactus was captured by Kojiro in the forest near Kazna City in Hoenn, and it accompanied Team Rocket for a long time.

It looks like a round cactus, or a green jack-o'-lantern, and is less than half a meter tall. It has a golden flower on its head like a crown, a pair of thick arms, and sharp spines on its body. Although it looks silly and doesn't seem that powerful, its evolved form is Harry's signature Pokémon - Dreamy Cactus!

Actually, Xia You didn't know much about Pokémon, but he still had a good eye. Just from the appearance of the Spiny Cactus, he could guess its general abilities.

After releasing the spiky cactus, Musashi and it stared at each other.

Just as people were wondering what kind of spectacular action this duo would perform, the human and the Pokémon started running towards each other and eventually hugged each other.

The audience was completely stunned.

They really didn't expect it to be such a simple action!

Moreover, just as its name suggests, the thorns on the spiny cactus look extremely sharp, yet Musashi picked it up so naturally, actually enduring those sharp thorns!

This is truly an unprecedented performance style...

Just one glance was enough to make one feel unbearable pain for Musashi, and one wondered what her purpose was in doing so.

But just as people were wondering, Lillian, the host, suddenly burst into tears and shouted loudly.

"It's so touching!" Lillian exclaimed excitedly. "This is love! It's love and peace! That poignant and heart-wrenching romantic embrace worked!"

Hearing her say this, the audience suddenly realized that such a hug was not as superficial as it seemed, but was full of meaning and significance!

In an instant, people imagined all sorts of scenarios, and like Lillian, they were moved to tears and deeply touched, especially when the spotlight shone on Musashi and the spiky cactus, which added to the atmosphere!

Even May and Ash seemed to feel the bond between people and Pokémon after hearing Lillian's explanation, and they clenched their fists in emotion.

It seems that Xia You was the only one in the entire room who remained expressionless.

He really didn't understand. All he did was get pricked by the thorns of a prickly cactus and be unable to move. Why did these people make such a big deal out of it?

Even when I looked at the three referees, I found that they were smiling and clapping!

This was something Xia You couldn't understand.

After all, in his opinion, whether it was Lillian, Conkenstein, Sukizo, or even Miss Joey, they were all extremely professional and should have been able to see Musashi's predicament. So why were they like this instead?

Suddenly, Xia You realized where the problem lay.

I also realized why I was so reluctant to participate in the Grand Assembly.

In terms of his style of doing things, he is undoubtedly rational, and this personality makes him invincible in Pokémon battles. He can not only avoid revealing his weaknesses, but also find his opponent's loopholes as quickly as possible, thus winning the battle.

But in the Grand Contest, what's needed is sensitivity, the ability to feel beauty in the cooperation between the trainer and the Pokémon, to feel that visible yet indescribable ambiguity, and this is undoubtedly what I lack most.

Presumably, it was precisely for this reason that Conkenstein, Susagi, Nurse Joy, Lillian, the audience, and even May and Ash, truly felt something from Jessie's seemingly flawed freeze-frame performance.

Therefore, Musashi's unintentional performance actually achieved unexpected success!

Could it be that she really is a genius, one in a million?

Musashi's performance was not over yet.

Perhaps she had adapted to, or endured, the sharp spines on the cactus, and began her next move.

In the midst of the embrace, the Spiny Cactus used a missile, and these launched needles, precisely guided by the Spiny Cactus, flew into the air and collided. With a violent explosion, a sky full of blazing rainbow-colored light fell like stars, enveloping Musashi and the Spiny Cactus. Musashi truly looked like a fairy descending to earth, just like her stage name!

A gasp of amazement rippled through the audience.

"That's amazing..."

I could hear Xiaoyao's murmured praises from beside me.

Xia You turned her head and saw that the girl was looking intently at the screen. She exclaimed in surprise, "It seems that not only Harry, but this person... is also a formidable opponent!"

Xia You: ...

Clearly, May didn't recognize Fairy Jessie Bian's true identity and genuinely mistook her for an extremely powerful Coordinator!

But Xia You hesitated for a moment and still didn't tell her the truth.

After all, given the Rockets' trio's level, even if we don't expose them, they'll eventually give themselves away. So why bother?

Now let's let Xiaoyao experience some pressure.

Perhaps this pressure will bring out her potential!

As expected, Musashi also completed her first round of review with an extremely high score, which was even higher than Harry's score, the first to go up, and she got the highest score of the whole round!

Xia You looked up at the ceiling.

Well, this result was somewhat unexpected, yet also quite reasonable.

When Musashi gets serious, he really is amazing!

However, a small incident occurred when Musashi left the stage.

Perhaps because he had been attacked by spikes at close range twice, Musashi was frozen in place and could not move. In the end, Lillian called the medical staff up and had them carry Musashi away on a stretcher!

Of course, such an accident did not change the outcome; instead, it allowed the audience to see Musashi's seriousness and dedication.

This made the applause and cheers even more enthusiastic!

After Musashi left the stage, the last contestant of the first round of judging finally appeared – Haruka.

"Keep it up." In the players' lounge, Xia You turned to Xiao Yao and encouraged her, "I believe you can do it. Just perform as well as you have in your training."

"Don't worry, I'll do my best!"

With a sweet smile, Xiao Yao stood up, clearing her mind of all distractions, and strode confidently toward the contestants' passage.

Before long, Xiaoyao appeared on the stage.

Seeing the relaxed and confident look on her face through the big screen, Xia You also perked up and prepared to see Xiao Yao's training results.

To be honest, Xia You himself knew that his travel companion, Xiao Yao, was indeed somewhat irresponsible for not knowing what Pokémon she would use to compete or what the stage arrangement would be. Especially last night, knowing that Xiao Yao was about to compete, he still abandoned her to go on a date and have fun, which made him seem even less reliable.

But there was nothing he could do about it. After all, it was rare for him and Natsume to have time together, so how could they be so close yet avoid each other? He could only make it up to Haruka during their future trips.

Fortunately, Xiaoyao is a sensible girl and didn't mind at all, but even so, it made Xia You feel even more embarrassed.

That's why he took such good care of Xiaoyao and was so busy with her.

At this point, after Lillian briefly introduced Haruka's name and background, Haruka's performance officially began.

Although she brought Squirtle with her, May didn't risk trying a new style during the first round of review. Instead, she threw out a Poké Ball and sent out her Merach.

This also shows that she really wanted Squirtle to accept and integrate into such competitive performances as soon as possible, which is why she brought it with her. Xia You couldn't help but sigh that she had really grown a lot compared to before.

After Combustion spins and lands steadily in the center of the stage, May takes off and throws her headband. Combustion immediately uses Flame Vortex followed by Sky Punch, using the rising hot air to blow the headband high into the air. Combustion then jumps into the vortex and leaps high into the air, using Sky Punch to hit the unfolded headband back onto May's head.

Finally, Haruka and Mighty Chicken jumped to the center of the stage at the same time for a magnificent finale.

With that, Xiaoyao's performance came to a complete end.

After watching it, Xia You touched her chin and felt that although Xiao Yao's performance looked technically and fast, and did show the charm of the strong chicken itself, it was more cool than gorgeous, giving people a very monotonous feeling.

Although he understood that Combusken is a Fire/Fighting type Pokémon and doesn't follow the flashy route but rather the cool route, it was still obvious that May's performance still had a strong Ash-esque style.

It's not that this style is bad, it's just that it's simply cool but lacks depth, making it difficult to get high scores, and it won't be so smooth for Xiaoyao's future growth.

Fortunately, this cool performance was still loved by the audience, and even the three judges gave it a high score.

Seeing this, Xia You also made a mental estimate.

Xiaoyao's score wasn't the highest, but it surpassed most people's, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, she should advance to the next round.

Just as he expected, shortly after Xiaoyao's performance ended, the list of eight contestants advancing to the next round was announced on the big screen.

Xiaoyao, with the second-to-last ranking, narrowly made it into the next round.

As for Musashi and Harry, they took the top two spots and also advanced successfully.

This result is also good news for Xiaoyao, as it means that she has taken a big step forward and is no longer at the bottom of the rankings. Instead, she has stepped up a level and become a brand new seventh place!

Those who didn't advance were naturally eliminated with regret, but for Xiaoyao and others who made it to the next round, there was no time to be happy, as they would soon be back on the field to compete again.

Similar to the rules in the Hoenn region, the second round of the Kanto region's Grand Contest is also a Grand Battle. However, as mentioned before, in the Kanto region's Grand Contest, you can use two different Pokémon in the first and second rounds!

In this way, one Pokémon can focus on stage performance, while the other can focus on stage battles, resulting in a better overall effect and a significantly increased level of intensity.

This is a scene that the audience is happy to see.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's continue." Lillian walked to the center of the stage with a smile and pointed to the big screen. "But before that, let's take a look at the first round of group assignments for the second round of the competitive battles!"

Chapter 823 Xiaoyao's Growth

On the screen, the group assignments for the eight contestants were displayed to the audience.