In the end, Gary's Magikarp was eliminated in the second-round advancement matches of the Cerulean Water-Type Pokémon Beauty Contest.
Out of the four friends who had entered the competition together—
Gary became the first one eliminated.
"…Sigh. Gary got knocked out."
Green let out a disappointed sigh after seeing the final results.
Beside her, Misty and Clarissa also looked somewhat dejected.
Ironically, the one who looked least affected was Gary himself.
After returning to the contestant waiting hall with Magikarp's Poké Ball in hand, there wasn't even the slightest trace of frustration on his face.
"Why's everyone making such gloomy expressions?"
"It's just elimination. What's the big deal?"
"I came here mainly to have fun anyway. Participation was always the most important thing."
"You guys weren't seriously expecting me to use a Magikarp to compete for the championship, right?"
"If that's the case, then your expectations for me are way too harsh."
"And besides…"
"There were over a hundred contestants using Magikarp in this competition."
"But aside from Ash's 'Golden Fish,' I was the only other contestant whose Magikarp successfully advanced past the first round."
"That's already an extremely impressive result."
"Both Magikarp and I proved ourselves."
"And even though my Magikarp's appearance isn't particularly outstanding, when it comes to strength, my Magikarp is seriously powerful."
Gary cheerfully comforted everyone instead.
"You little…"
Ash laughed helplessly.
"Come on, stop looking so depressed."
"My competition may be over, but yours hasn't ended yet."
"So from now on, all of you better give it your all."
"I'm looking forward to seeing you standing on the winners' podium."
Gary grinned.
"Don't worry!"
"We'll work hard for your share too!"
Ash replied energetically while pumping his fist.
The competition naturally didn't stop just because Gary had been eliminated.
As soon as Group Nine's match ended, the next group immediately began.
Clarissa was in Group 13.
Misty was in Group 16.
As the competition continued, the two girls soon took the stage one after another.
The Pokémon Clarissa used was Ash's Magikarp.
As a shiny Pokémon covered in dazzling golden scales, it barely needed to perform any special talents at all.
It simply swam gracefully through the Water Cube pool once—
And immediately earned a perfect score of 5000 votes.
Meanwhile, Misty's Marill also possessed extremely high appeal.
Combined with her careful nurturing, Marill only needed to act cute on stage for a short while before easily earning over 4900 votes.
She successfully advanced to the next round as first place in her group.
…
The competition continued.
Compared to yesterday's elimination round, today's advancement round had only 120 contestants total, making the pace significantly faster.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, the second-round advancement matches officially concluded.
Out of the original 120 contestants, only 40 ultimately advanced after the group PK battles.
Following the drawing for the semifinal performance order and a short intermission of roughly ten minutes—
The third-round semifinals officially began.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Dear audience members both here at the venue and watching from television screens everywhere!"
"We are the guides of love and dreams!"
"The witnesses of beauty and brilliance!"
"The three elder sisters of the Cerulean Gym Sisters—Daisy! Violet! And Lily!!"
"WAAAAAHHHHH—!!"
The moment the three beautiful bikini-clad girls stepped onto the stage, thunderous cheers immediately erupted throughout the arena.
"After an entire day of competition yesterday and another intense morning of battles today, the first elimination round and second advancement round of the Cerulean Water-Type Pokémon Beauty Contest have officially concluded!"
"After two rounds of intense competition, the original 646 contestants have now been reduced to only 40!"
"However…"
"The upcoming third-round semifinals will be even more brutal."
"This round will no longer use advancement thresholds or group-first-place advancement rules."
"The semifinal format…"
"Will instead have all contestants competing directly against one another for the final spots in the championship match!"
"The 40 contestants will now take the stage one after another according to their draw order."
"Afterward, all 5,000 audience judges will cast their votes."
"Once every contestant has completed their showcase and all votes have been counted, the contestants will be ranked according to their final scores."
"Regardless of vote count differences, only the Top 10 contestants will advance to the finals!"
"The remaining thirty contestants will all be eliminated!"
"So to all forty semifinalists…"
"Please give it everything you've got!"
"Show the audience the full charm of the Pokémon you carefully raised!"
"Because every single vote matters!"
"One extra vote may increase your chances of reaching the finals."
"And one fewer vote may increase your risk of elimination."
"So contestants—give it your all!!"
The clear, beautiful voices of Daisy, Violet, and Lily instantly ignited the emotions of the entire audience.
The cheers inside the stadium surged wave after wave without stopping.
"In this round, each Pokémon will still have only one minute for their showcase."
"However, unlike previous rounds…"
"Contestants are now permitted to use moves!"
"That concludes all the rules for the third-round semifinals."
"I hereby announce—"
"The semifinals of the Cerulean Water-Type Pokémon Beauty Contest officially begin!!"
Following the sisters' declaration, the semifinal round officially commenced.
Backstage in the contestant waiting hall, all forty remaining contestants became visibly fired up.
…
Because in this round, every contestant besides oneself was now a direct competitor—
The atmosphere inside the waiting hall became significantly more tense than during the earlier rounds.
Since Gary had already been eliminated in the advancement round, only Ash, Misty, and Clarissa remained in the competition.
The performance order for the semifinals had already been announced before the intermission ended.
In this round:
Ash had drawn contestant number 24.
Clarissa had drawn contestant number 16.
Misty had drawn contestant number 5.
The competition began—
And before long, it was already Misty's turn to take the stage.
Amid encouragement from Ash, Gary, Green, and Clarissa—
And under the nervous gazes of the other contestants in the waiting hall—
Misty headed toward the stage together with Marill.
At this point in the competition, all contestants already knew that she was the Cerulean Gym Leader and one of the organizers of the Water-Type Pokémon Beauty Contest.
At first, after learning that one of the organizers was also competing, many contestants had felt surprised and secretly questioned whether the competition would truly be fair.
But after witnessing Marill's outstanding performances in the first two rounds—
Where it consistently earned over 4900 votes on average—
All doubts completely disappeared.
What remained was only admiration.
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