In the hotel.
"Do you know how worried I was? How could you sneak out without a word? And during work hours!"
The woman in professional attire scolded Liuqia with frustration, "There are already so many reporters at the entrance publicly, who knows how many cameras are hidden!"
"But I already finished filming today's scenes, and I managed to shake them off well."
Liuqia felt a bit wronged; she just missed the stage of the Gorgeous Competition too much, so she sneaked out to take a quick look.
"Better safe than sorry!"
The manager was infuriated, but seeing the girl in front of her with tears in her eyes, she softened her tone, "Once we've wrapped up this film, let's take a good break and travel around the world for the Gorgeous Competitions, okay?"
"Okay..."
Liuqia gently nodded, covering her mouth, feeling terribly sad.
The manager, seeing her like this, felt overwhelmed and could only comfort her, "Alright, go freshen up, and then go back to rest. If your eyes are swollen tomorrow, you won't be able to apply makeup."
"Okay."
Liuqia turned and left, not heading to the restroom but instead re-disguised herself, took a detour in the park behind the hotel, and found Baimu watching videos with Mawile, "Solved it!"
"Solved... really solved it?"
Baimu looked up slightly, startled by her red eyes and nose, and Mawile also looked at her with concern.
"Of course, crying is just a basic skill for an actress," Liuqia replied with a smile, "Piece of cake!"
Baimu found it hard to distinguish how real the tears were and could only nod to show understanding.
After the situation of sneaking out was uncovered, he advised Liuqia to go back soon to avoid her manager or family getting worried and possibly reporting to the police.
If they came looking and found Liuqia with a stranger, they might mistake him for a kidnapper and arrest him.
Hearing this, she thought it was quite possible and quietly snuck back to the hotel.
Baimu initially didn't want to follow, but Liuqia insisted on teaching him Gorgeous Competition skills, and he couldn't refuse her kindness, so he followed along.
He didn't expect to encounter such a drama.
However, he took it seriously, while Mawile didn't, still looking worried.
Perhaps due to spending a long time with the empathetic Chansey, Mawile had become more sensitive to human emotional changes and felt that Liuqia wasn't merely superficially sad as she claimed.
"Chiiidoo~"
Mawile approached the girl, trying to comfort her with its voice.
Liuqia and Baimu were both a bit taken aback, the latter surprised by Mawile's reaction, as such behaviors were rare for it, not because Mawile was heartless, but rather it didn't know how to comfort others.
Unexpectedly, in just half a month, it had changed so much.
And looking at Mawile's sympathetic and worried eyes, Liuqia seemed to have her worries exposed, her smile becoming a bit forced before gradually fading away.
She wore a troubled expression, crouched down, and hugged Mawile.
"...Thank you for being so understanding."
Liuqia was indeed very young, yet the slightly weathered expression didn't seem out of place on her.
She stood up and said, "After I finish this movie, I might retire."
"Retire from?"
"End my acting career and focus on being a Coordinator Trainer!"
Facing Baimu's confusion, Liuqia smiled, "To others, my decision might seem foolish, as I'm really popular right now, my popularity is particularly high. But this is not the life I want."
She sat to the side and slowly began to recount her past.
Since her childhood, Liuqia had always idolized her uncle Mikoli, so at the age of ten, she decisively became a Coordinator Trainer and started participating in Gorgeous Competitions.
Thanks to Mikoli's guidance and her sweet and lovely appearance, Liuqia and Altaria gained considerable popularity from their debut.
It was also at this time that an agency approached her, hoping to make her and Altaria into superstars of the Gorgeous Competition, the idols of the Hoenn Region's Gorgeous Competitions.
The sincerity of the agency and the interesting plan convinced Liuqia to agree. Over the years, the agency did not exploit her, but continuously used various resources to boost her popularity.
Unfortunately, in the agency's subsequent packaging plan, the Gorgeous Competition was just a part, as they aimed for Liuqia to target Carlos Champion Caluni as her future goal.
This led to Liuqia's life gradually being overtaken by the acting career.
After finishing one play, she was about to start another, attending Gorgeous Competitions less frequently, and Altaria's appearances were also becoming fewer, to the point she wasn't even a top Coordinator Trainer and hadn't won any of the major Gorgeous events.
After many repetitive struggles,
She discussed with Altaria and finally realized this was not the life she wanted, thus deciding to retire from the entertainment industry and pay the penalty to become free.
She'd start anew and focus on competing in the Gorgeous Competitions with Altaria again.
The words she told Baimu had actually been in her mind for a long time.
Everyone is a genius, others have more time to prepare, and if you don't, you can only hope for good luck. But hoping for luck is the most unreliable thing; for something certain, you shouldn't rely on it to happen.
"Do you think my idea is correct?"
Liuqia turned to ask.
"If you think you should do it, then it's right." Baimu couldn't answer such a subjective question, what's right?
Is becoming famous synonymous with correctness? Is being a nobody a mistake?
He believed the root of the matter depended on her choice; if everything ends in failure, yet she remains satisfied, how could it be straightforwardly labeled as wrong?
"I think so too."
Liuqia smiled, showing eight white teeth, a smile more sincere than before.
Mawile, seeing her smile, finally put its worries aside.
——
Liuqia had this characteristic of sticking to her word.
For instance, since she said she would teach Baimu Gorgeous Competition skills, no matter what happened, she would continue teaching.
In a somewhat secluded open space.
She asked, "How much do you know about the Gorgeous Competition?"
"The process, rules, and such. For example, the first assessment scores Pokémon on appearance and techniques used, and Trainers with higher scores can advance to the next round. The second assessment is a battle round, where the more gorgeous the move, the more the opponent's score is reduced, or directly knocking them out could lead to a win."
Baimu explained all he knew.
"Correct!"
Liuqia laughed, "It seems you've done your homework, which saves us a lot of trouble."
She raised her hand and opened a Pokeball.
Bang!
"Tili~"
With a crisp bird call, a large bird, seemingly covered in clouds, appeared on the field with long blue feathers.
Baimu opened the Illustrated Guide and registered Altaria in it.
"This is my partner Altaria. Next, it will show you some skills from the Gorgeous Competition."
Liuqia suddenly raised her hand, striking a pose that looked somewhat stylish, her aura transforming sharply, appearing confident and dazzling.