Misty and her three sisters had invested enormous manpower and resources into organizing this competition for one reason:
To promote Cerulean Gym.
To increase the reputation and prestige of the Cerulean Water-Type Gym.
If this event devolved into a low-quality farce, not only would it fail to raise the Gym's status, it would instead turn Cerulean Gym into a joke among the people and Trainers of Kanto.
That was absolutely not the outcome they wanted.
Because of that, the First Round elimination standards had intentionally been made extremely strict.
Only by eliminating the weaker contestants early could the later rounds—the Advancement Round, Semi-Finals, and Finals—maintain a high overall standard.
Only then could the competition truly be considered a success.
—
The contest continued.
One contestant stepped down.
Another stepped onto the stage.
Since Gary had drawn contestant number 9, after more than twenty minutes of competition, it was finally his turn.
"Gary, good luck~!"
"Gary-kun, do your best~!"
"Gary Gary you're the strongest! Gary Gary you're the best! Fighting~!"
"Gary, don't get eliminated in the first round," Ash said with a grin while patting Gary's shoulder.
"Relax. This young master came prepared."
"Just watch my Magikarp's perfect performance."
Gary waved casually, his confidence overflowing as he swaggered toward the contestant entrance corridor.
Under the guidance of the staff member, he arrived at the launch station and confidently placed his Poké Ball into the blue launch slot.
At the exact same moment, the electronic announcer echoed throughout the arena.
—
"Next, please welcome Contestant Number 9's Water-Type Pokémon, Magikarp!"
"Gulu~!"
Beneath the brilliantly illuminated Water Cube arena, the underwater gate slowly opened.
An orange-red Magikarp with a golden dorsal fin resembling a royal crown swam out energetically.
—
Although this Cerulean Water-Type Pokémon Beauty Contest had become wildly popular throughout Kanto thanks to Ash's involvement…
At its core, it was still only a city-level competition.
Its overall scale and budget remained limited.
And because all participating Trainers came from Kanto, the variety of Water-Type Pokémon was naturally limited as well.
Thus, despite only eight contestants having performed so far—
Magikarp had already appeared four separate times.
Half the performances had been Magikarp.
Combined with the fact that Trainers themselves did not appear during the first three rounds, meaning Pokémon couldn't benefit much from Trainer popularity…
The audience reaction upon seeing yet another Magikarp was honestly pretty cold.
In fact—
It was extremely lukewarm.
But very quickly—
The crowd's eyes widened.
Then thunderous applause erupted throughout the arena.
—
SWOOSH!
At first, Gary's Magikarp swam around stupidly with a blank, absent-minded look in its eyes.
It intentionally acted dumb and unimpressive, lowering the audience's expectations to rock bottom.
Then suddenly—
Its eyes snapped open wide like bronze bells.
A sharp flash of spirit burst from its gaze.
The next second, its tail whipped powerfully.
Like a rocket launching into the sky, Magikarp exploded upward from the bottom of the Water Cube arena.
WHOOSH!
It soared high into the air.
Then—
Like a professional Olympic high-diving athlete, Magikarp performed three and a half elegant spins midair before plunging beautifully into the water below with a perfect splash.
PLOP!
—
The previous four Magikarp performances had already lowered audience expectations considerably.
Then Gary and his Magikarp had deliberately lowered those expectations even further at the start with their clumsy "bad performance."
Only to suddenly erupt with an explosive aerial diving performance.
The contrast hit the audience like lightning.
Viewed on its own, the showcase might not have seemed overwhelmingly stunning.
But because expectations had first been crushed before being instantly overturned—
The performance impact became absolutely incredible.
The entire audience was stunned speechless.
For several long seconds, nobody could even react.
—
"Contestant Number 9's Pokémon Magikarp has completed its showcase."
"Audience judges, please begin voting."
Only after the arena's referee robot announced the voting phase did the audience finally snap back to reality.
Then—
Thunderous applause exploded through the venue.
The crowd cheered wildly while hurriedly pressing the "√ Approval" button on their voting devices during the remaining minute.
—
"One minute voting period complete."
"Contestant Number 9 — Magikarp."
"Final vote count: 4,674 votes."
"Successfully reached advancement threshold."
"Advancement successful."
The electronic voice emotionlessly announced the results.
"Yes!!"
At the entrance corridor, Gary clenched his fists and shouted excitedly.
After retrieving his Poké Ball from the launch slot, he happily returned toward the contestant waiting hall.
"Gary, congratulations on advancing."
"Gary-kun, congrats~!"
"Nice job, Gary~"
Seeing Gary's smug expression, Ash didn't rain on his parade and instead offered sincere praise.
Because of Ash's influence, many Trainers had entered the competition.
And because of Ash's influence, a huge number of contestants had brought Magikarp specifically.
The First Round required an eighty percent approval rate to advance—
At least four thousand approval votes.
Before Gary's turn, eight contestants had already performed.
But only one contestant had successfully advanced.
The previous Magikarp contestants had almost all been eliminated.
Gary was the very first Trainer to use a Magikarp and still successfully qualify.
Without question—
Gary and his Magikarp had performed extremely well.
But at the same time…
Their performance had dramatically raised the standard for all future Magikarp contestants.
The remaining Magikarp Trainers were about to have a very difficult time.
—
The competition continued.
Another twenty-plus minutes passed.
After seven more contestants finished their performances, it was finally time for contestant number 16—
Clarissa.
"Clarissa, good luck! ×3"
"Clarissa, you and Valor need to do your best."
"Show everyone what you've got."
"I believe you two will definitely succeed."
When it was finally Clarissa's turn, Ash immediately encouraged her warmly.
After all—
The Pokémon she was using belonged to him.
It was his Shiny Magikarp, Valor.
And Ash had absolute confidence in Valor's appearance.
Unlike Shiny Feebas, whose already unusual appearance became even stranger due to its shiny coloration…
Shiny Magikarp was completely different.
Its entire body shimmered with golden scales like polished gold and glazed jade.
It truly looked like the king of all Magikarp—
A Magikarp among kings.
No matter how one looked at it, Valor was absolutely one of the championship favorites of this Water-Type Pokémon Beauty Contest.
It was the greatest rival standing before every contestant hoping to place in the competition.
Including Ash's own Feebas.
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T/N:
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