Victory Achieved! Eevee's First Ribbon!

The Pokémon sent out by Rahali was still Cacturne; he chose not to make a substitution.

Perhaps he had extreme confidence in Cacturne.

"Battle begin!"

With a command from Miss Liliana, the Contest battle commenced immediately.

"Cacturne, use Leech Seed!"

Rahali seemed to have simulated the flow of the finals long ago.

Right from the start, without a single shred of hesitation, he ordered Cacturne to deploy Leech Seed.

"Leech Seed, huh?"

Toshi smiled indifferently.

The Leech Seed move works by launching a seed to implant itself inside the opponent's body, gradually draining the target's vitality.

It could be described as a rather shameless move.

"Eevee, use Dig!"

"Vee!"

Just as the Leech Seed approached, Eevee swiftly dug a hole and burrowed underground.

The Leech Seed missed its mark, causing Rahali's performance points to drop rapidly.

"I anticipated this move! Cacturne, use Missile Needle at that tunnel!"

Rahali issued his command.

Cacturne leaped into the air.

Aimed right at the tunnel excavated by Eevee, it fired a barrage of Missile Needles straight down.

"Eevee, escape the tunnel and use Quick Attack!"

The ground rumbled.

Under the influx of the Missile Needles, Eevee's excavation speed actually accelerated.

Eevee darted out from the ground, closely followed by the pursuing Missile Needles.

Toshi's performance points decreased slightly.

Yet, the moment Eevee employed Quick Attack to evade the Missile Needle assault, Rahali's performance points plummeted sharply in tandem.

"Your strategy is utterly ineffective against me! Eevee is no match for Cacturne!"

Rahali was brimming with confidence.

Toshi couldn't be bothered to pay attention to Rahali. "Sunny Day!"

Upon Toshi's command, Eevee gathered its energy and executed Sunny Day.

"Oh? Sunny Day? Hahaha... You must have forgotten that my Cacturne is a Grass-type Pokémon, right?"

For a Cacturne possessing the Grass type, battling under harsh sunlight was as comfortable as a fish returning to water.

Because the move Eevee utilized provided an advantage to the opponent, Toshi's performance points dropped precipitously.

Naturally, this stemmed from the fact that everyone was unaware Eevee possessed the Chlorophyll Ability.

They all assumed Eevee was handing the opponent an advantage on a silver platter.

Beneath the blazing sun, a faint green glow emanated from Eevee's body.

Clearly, Eevee's speed had increased a notch.

Cacturne found it rather strenuous trying to keep up.

"Eevee, Weather Ball!"

Indeed, this was Toshi's objective.

It was also one of the two trump cards Toshi had prepared for the finals.

Under the harsh sunlight, Weather Ball's type transformed into Fire, and the fiery sphere possessed a perfect type-advantage against Cacturne.

"What?!"

Upon witnessing the blazing-red Weather Ball, Rahali was utterly shocked.

So Toshi's goal had been this all along?

The judges' panel that had just deducted points from Toshi suddenly realized their own ignorance.

Unfortunately, once points were deducted, they could not be added back.

They had no choice but to deduct an equivalent amount of performance points from Rahali as well.

As the Weather Ball descended, Rahali panicked.

"Cacturne, use Nature Power to defend!"

Seeing that Cacturne could no longer dodge, Rahali had no choice but to opt for a head-on collision.

Within this indoor battle arena, Nature Power manifested as Tri Attack.

Boom—!

High in the air, the two energy waves collided.

It sparked a considerable commotion.

"Huh? This is... Eevee?"

While the explosion echoed in the air, Eevee actually sprinted rapidly toward Cacturne.

What on earth was it doing?

Rahali wore a baffled expression.

Could it be that it wanted to engage Cacturne in close-quarters combat?

Hmph! Ridiculous!

Rahali sneered coldly, believing Toshi had lost his mind.

"Cacturne, Spiky Shield!"

When it came to melee combat, Rahali had absolute confidence in Cacturne.

Although Cacturne's offensive stats were balanced, when Rahali was raising Cacturne, he had leaned more toward physical attack training.

"Right now, Eevee, Attract!"

Toshi snapped his fingers.

This was the second trump card prepared for the finals.

Attract!

Although both the Fire-type Weather Ball under Sunny Day and the Attract move had been utilized during the first round's exhibition performance, those were performances, not actual combat.

Rahali fundamentally failed to grasp the distinction between a performance and real battle.

"Vee~~"

Eevee arrived right before Cacturne and abruptly began to act coquettishly.

One had to admit, Eevee's ability to act cute was truly formidable.

Every single audience member in the venue was captivated by Eevee.

Let alone a male Cacturne?

Cacturne could be seen drooling as it groveled before Eevee, bowing submissively.

Even... calling it submissive was an understatement; it was merely acting like an absolute simp.

"Cacturne! What on earth are you doing?!"

Rahali panicked, letting out an enraged roar.

However, Cacturne paid him zero attention. It was far too busy playing the role of a desperate simp; how could it possibly spare a moment for the starry-eyed owner standing behind it?

"Vee!"

Eevee began issuing commands, instructing Cacturne to beat the living daylights out of itself.

Cacturne nodded, more than happy to oblige, and then unleashed Spiky Shield, smashing it heavily against its own face.

Witnessing this, Eevee couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Seeing Eevee laugh, Cacturne pummeled itself with even greater enthusiasm.

Before long, Cacturne was bruised and battered all over.

Above, on the massive screen, Rahali's performance points hit rock bottom at zero!

"Hahaha... Is this the fate of a simp? To give your all and end up with nothing."

In the stands, every single spectator grinned from ear to ear, unable to close their mouths.

"Bro, do you still want to join the Eevee Fan Club?" The spectator who had previously scolded others as despicable looked toward his companion who had been eager to join the Eevee Fan Club earlier.

"Holy crap?"

Just as he turned around, he discovered that this guy had already gotten cozy with a young lady from the Eevee Fan Club?

"Uh... I'm despicable too! Oh wait, no! I want to simp too... No, wait! I want to join the Eevee Fan Club too!!!"

"Count me in!"

"Plus one!"

"..."

Cheerful laughter echoed through the stands, and amidst the roaring amusement, Liliana announced the outcome of the battle.

"Contestant Rahali's performance points have reached zero. Congratulations to our Contestant Toshi and his Eevee for claiming victory."

As Liliana declared the match results, thunderous cheers erupted across the venue once more.

Nearly in unison, the crowd chanted: Toshi! Eevee!

The cries echoed in an endless loop.

Before long, the award ceremony commenced.

The ultimate victor of the Rantao City Pokémon Contest in the Lanhai Province: Toshi!

Responsible for presenting the award was Duan Meng, the President of the Pokémon Association, who was finally about to clock out and call it a day.

"Toshi, your battle performance was magnificent. I really appreciate your style."

Duan Meng said as she presented the award to Toshi.

"Thank you, President Duan."

Toshi accepted the Ribbon medal with an expressionless face.

It was a blue Ribbon medal.

"Toshi, if you have the chance some other day, we could grab a meal together~"

Duan Meng leaned in close and whispered to Toshi.

These words were heard by Toshi alone.

Otherwise, the venue would likely have erupted into another wave of intense gasps of astonishment.

"Huh?"

Toshi looked slightly taken aback.

The President of the Rantao City Pokémon Association was actually asking him out for a meal?

There was definitely something fishy going on!

... (To be continued...)