Rain of Light

"Beautifly, Silver Wind!"

A strong gust of turbid wind, mixed with white powdery scales, blew over. Finch's eyes showed confusion— what can Silver Wind without the powdery scales…..

"Do you really think this can threaten Raichu?"

Raichu let out a cry, controlling the Electric Terrain. As Silver Wind descended, all the powdery scales were stripped away, leaving only the strong gust of wind. Raichu easily withstood it by planting its Iron Tail into the ground, without even budging. Without the cutting property of the powdery scales, Beautifly's massive gust of wind wasn't destructive enough to harm Raichu.

"Heh…found the angle."

Terrance glanced at Beautifly and made a gesture.

Finch felt uneasy at this cryptic action, though he couldn't pinpoint why. He prepared to have Raichu intercept Beautifly with Thunder Wave for a final strike. However, Beautifly, floating in the air, suddenly spat out a mass of white silk once again mixed with the Silver Wind.

By this point, after having his move countered, Terrance's appeal points had started to fall behind.

Fans of Terrance grew anxious.

"What's he doing?"

Finch looked up. A combo move of String Shot and Silver Wind?

Wouldn't that neutralize the powdery scales' effect?

Interfered by String Shot, how could the powdery scales retain their cutting property? They would long be worn away by the silk threads… and indeed, the mass of white silk caught in Silver Wind was immediately shredded into countless fragments, just like at the start of the performance, fluttering down like snowflakes.

"I see."

Watching the sudden turn of events, Wallace smiled knowingly, looking amused as his gaze fell on Raichu, curious to see how it would respond.

How would it deal with these harmless yet vision-blocking silk fragments?

Compared to powdery scales, these silk threads were much larger in size, and...

But in battle, Finch and Raichu clearly didn't think that far ahead. Facing a similar situation, Raichu manipulated the Electric Terrain. Compared to repelling Stun Spore or powdery scales, it took more effort, but the silk threads were still not being drawn in.

"Damn it," Finch wished he could slap himself. The silk fragments are completely different from dust. His instincts were too ingrained—after having used electrostatic field to counter Stun Spore and powdery scales, lowering Terrance's appeal points, Finch had unconsciously tried the same approach. But silk threads were far harder to repel than dust.

Seeing the silk fragments closing in on Raichu, Finch quickly commanded Raichu to blast away the obstacles with Volt Tackle. But immediately after, Raichu, who had a clear view of the battlefield, heard the sharp sound of "whoosh"—and a dozen Air Cutters, shaped like wind blades, shot through the air, coming at it from outside of its line of sight.

"A mere trick."

Finch calmly said. Even though Raichu was eliminating the silk threads, it still had enough time to counter the Air Cutters.

But as the sharp blades descended, Raichu suddenly covered its eyes and cried out: "What's wrong, Raichu?! Quickly use Thunderbolt to block them!"

Raichu, upon hearing the command, tried to focus on the target, but as soon as its gaze fell on the Air Cutters, its eyes were once again unluckily struck by a beam of light. The ten or so Air Cutters intersected with each other, and Raichu's gaze fell exactly where Beautifly had calculated the effect of "Bright Powder" to be most intense. Faced with this situation, Raichu, relying on its memory, began to unleash golden lightning wildly towards the Air Cutters, sweeping back and forth across them.

This scene, as seen by the audience, showed Raichu amidst Electric Terrain, facing over a dozen wind blades, each emitting a magical light like the sun, descending like a rain of swords.

The originally ordinary Air Cutters, after being infused with an unknown type of powder by Beautifly, shimmered and emitted an extremely dazzling and blinding light. Under the calculated angles of Beautifly's ten or so wind blades, Raichu fell into a momentary daze upon looking at them, missing the perfect chance to lock onto its target.

"So beautiful!"

A little girl in the audience clapped her hands. From the spectators' perspective, the Air Cutters mixed with Bright Powder looked incredibly beautiful, making the appearance of the blades more distinct. Their sparkling appearance, combined with the sheer number of them, made it seem as though a rain of light was descending from the sky.

While the audience and judges admired the breathtaking display, to Raichu, this was a challenging and tricky attack. The dazzling light disoriented Raichu, causing it to panic. Though it managed to hit and destroy a few Air Cutters with its haphazard Thunderbolt, several others managed to slip through, striking Raichu one after another with a brilliant light!

Boom!

As the Air Cutters carrying Bright Powder struck Raichu, the power contained within them erupted all at once. The Bright Powder was blown away, scattering into the air, creating a breathtaking display that sparkled from afar.

This attack drew cheers from the crowd.

The judges also nodded in approval.

Finch, however, was in shock as he watched Raichu's appeal points plummet. He called out to Raichu, but as Raichu tried to stand, the Electric Terrain vanished as it lost control of it. Suddenly, a thin and straight silk thread shot through the air, wrapping around Raichu's tail. A green light surged, and Raichu's expression changed to one of shock and fear.

"Shake off the String Shot!"

As Raichu's stamina was drained by Giga Drain, Finch became anxious—his pace had completely fallen apart. At the last moment, Raichu mustered its willpower to harden its tail into iron, severing the thread's absorption. But just then, a gentle breeze blew through, stirring up the remnants of Stun Spore left behind by the Electric Terrain. Under Beautifly's controlled air currents, Raichu inhaled the spores, and Finch's face turned grim, realizing there was no chance of recovery.

Having absorbed the Stun Spore, it took just one more Silver Wind from Beautifly to clear Raichu's remaining appeal points.

With that, Terrance advanced to the semifinals.

"So that was Bright Powder! Terrance's Beautifly had been carrying that peculiar powder, and he used it at the perfect moment."

"Yeah, mixed into those highly concentrated Air Cutters, there was no way Raichu could absorb the Bright Powder quickly enough. If it was earlier, Raichu could have ignored the effect of Bright Powder."

"Come to think of it, in one of Terrance's earlier performances, he used Silver Powder, didn't he?"

The judges nodded in succession, acknowledging that Beautifly's choice of the two types of powders was spot on in terms of utilizing the items.

"I remember that Hani's Tangrowth also carried a Miracle Seed, which was likely the key reason for the abundant life force in the vegetation of its Grassy Terrain."

"A Miracle Seed?! Isn't that something that only ancient trees over a hundred years old can produce under very specific conditions..."

...

...

"I lost." Finch's expression was complex as he exhaled deeply, taking a long time to come to terms with his defeat.

Did he lose because of the "Bright Powder"? He consoled himself with that thought.

But when Finch sees Beautifly's next battle, he would realize that Beautifly hadn't even shown its full strength yet.

Terrance had used the Bright Powder simply because he didn't want to reveal all his strength too early.

After some polite exchanges, the two of them left the stage.

From the audience, someone mumbled at some point, "What kind of battle was that?"

He was a Trainer, who clapped enthusiastically like everyone else after the match, but then turned to his two companions and said, "It was really amazing! But I couldn't follow all of the commentary. There are so many parts I don't understand. If I were battling up there, I wouldn't even know how I lost. Throughout the whole match, aside from the obvious moves, the rest just..."

His companions reassured him, "Don't worry! There will be a more detailed breakdown on the relevant websites afterward."

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