Chapter 364:
Red light flickered slightly, and a Pokémon with a strawberry on its head, red eyes, a body composed of red cream, small hands, and a somewhat dazed expression appeared on a wooden plank.
Its small stature, only 0.3m tall, looked milky and incredibly cute.
But the moment this Pokémon appeared on the field, the entire audience, and even all the viewers watching on TV, were momentarily stunned.
Then, an eerie silence fell.
It wasn't until Alcremie's soft call, "Alcremie?" slowly reached everyone's ears through the various sound systems that people finally snapped out of it.
"Alcremie?"
Someone was dumbfounded.
"He send out Alcremie? Isn't this usually the helpful assistant for bakers and pastry chefs?"
"You've got to be kidding me. The Alcremie at Brother Kaede's place might make delicious cakes, but this is a battle stage, and the Pokémon League Conference at that...."
"Al... Alcremie! Oh my goodness, did Contestant Hayashi Kaede grab the wrong Poké Ball? He actually sent out an Alcremie?" Even the usually steady announcer couldn't help but blurt out upon seeing Alcremie.
"Let's turn our perspective to Contestant Hayashi Kaede. Good heavens, he isn't recalling Alcremie! Judging by his expression, there's no panic either. That means Alcremie is the Pokémon he intentionally sent out!?"
This move even stunned Kazephyr, Kaito, and Rosaline in the highest audience seats, their eyes uniformly filled with confusion.
"What is this kid doing?" Kaito couldn't help but say. "Bringing out an Alcremie for this match? What moves can it even rely on?"
Kazephyr, not understanding the intent, remained silent, only slightly frowning.
"Does he want to showcase all his Pokémon once?" Rosaline suggested from the side.
"Unlikely. If that were the case, he'd have more Pokémon than just these." Kaito shook his head.
Both he and Kazephyr had visited the breeding house.
They knew what other Pokémon were there.
Indeedee siblings, twenty Pidgeot, Butterfree, Primarina...
"Let's watch," Kazephyr said softly at this point.
...
"Alcremie?"
Down below, Sally was also stunned when she saw Alcremie. She shook her head, hearing the faint noises from the audience, rubbed her eyes, and upon confirming it was indeed Alcremie, her face—usually so controlled during livestreams in front of millions of fans—instantly broke composure.
*Are you kidding me?*
*Is he serious? Sending out Alcremie?*
The match had already started, but neither side launched an attack. Togekiss, like its trainer, stared dumbfounded at the Alcremie below.
It didn't know how to proceed.
Alcremie, meanwhile, looked around with novelty.
The dense planks blocked its view. It turned its small body, looking around, finally realizing it couldn't even see its opponent by looking up.
It ultimately used its Aura power to detect Togekiss in the sky.
"Good girl, fight on your own. Just use that move." For this match, Kaede didn't have much to command.
Although he didn't know why the opposing Togekiss wasn't attacking.
( •̀ .̫ •́ ) : "Alcremie!" (Mhmm!)
Alcremie waved its little hands, expression serious, and with a flick of its wrist, a mysterious fluctuation emanated from its body.
Then, under everyone's gaze, a pair of ethereal wings, appearing as crystalline colors, slowly materialized on its body.
Propelled by these wings, Alcremie slowly rose into the air.
"???"
But this scene left everyone present utterly bewildered.
It flew?
It's flying!?
Judging by the way the move was used, it should be Fairy Wind.
But is Fairy Wind a move Alcremie should be able to use?
"Fairy... Fairy Wind? Alcremie used Fairy Wind?"
The commentator was also stunned.
He felt today was the day with the most unbelievable events in his commentating career.
No, no...
That's not right. He should say Hayashi Kaede was the most outrageous contestant he'd encountered in his commentating career.
He always brought some strange, inexplicable feelings.
Every Pokémon always delivered some bewildering action.
Despite the instant astonishment, his brain quickly whirred into action.
After the shock, a spark of inspiration seemed to flash in his mind. "No, no, no, not Fairy Wind! It's Metronome! Just now, Contestant Hayashi Kaede's Alcremie used Metronome!"
He came back to his senses, manipulating the central large screen, which quickly replayed the earlier scene.
"Everyone can see from the replay that before Alcremie used Fairy Wind, it waved its little hand, and then the wings grew on its sides."
As his words fell, the audience in the stands finally understood, and the initial surprise faded from their eyes.
"Metronome..."
"You scared me! I thought it really used Fairy Wind!"
Compared to Fairy Wind, the explanation of Metronome was clearly more acceptable to them.
Because Alcremie could naturally learn Metronome.
"But why? Why use Alcremie? Does Contestant Hayashi Kaede intend to win relying on Alcremie's Metronome?" someone guessed.
"How is that possible? The move Metronome randomly selects a move from all possible moves. The probability of selecting a powerful move from so many is almost zero. Getting Fairy Wind is already quite lucky."
Speculations ran rampant in the audience above.
On the battlefield, Alcremie had finally seen its opponent: a Pokémon flying in the sky, several times larger than itself.
Seeing that Kaede showed no intention of giving commands, Sally didn't dare to act immediately either.
But staying at a stalemate like this wasn't productive.
*'Is he letting me have a turn because I'm a girl?'*
For some inexplicable reason, this thought popped into Sally's mind.
Because bringing Alcremie to a stage like this seemed inappropriate no matter how you looked at it.
And this situation wasn't the first time she'd encountered it.
During her travels, she often faced challenges from fans who, during battles, would hold back for various reasons, or even intentionally lose to please her.
But Kaede's behavior earlier didn't seem like that kind of guy.
Unable to figure it out immediately, Sally stopped overthinking.
She directly issued a command to Togekiss, "Togekiss, use Echoed Voice... I guess."
Thinking she might as well try to knock out Alcremie with the relatively low-power Echoed Voice.
"Alcremie, battles here aren't turn-based. You can use Metronome directly."
On his side, Kaede, watching Alcremie in the sky just vigilantly staring at the opponent without moving, couldn't help but offer a reminder.
It was this reminder.
Alcremie nodded seriously.
Immediately after, it waved its finger.
In that instant, the world seemed to lose its color. Dark, ink-like thunderclouds gathered in the sky, howling, accompanied by thick, python-like lightning interwoven with fire, flickering within.
Thunder?
No, Thunder doesn't manifest like this.
This is...