Chapter 300: Dee Dee Duo vs. Midnight Snack Duo

The scene changed again.

The silhouette of Snowpoint City emerged through the swirling wind and snow.

With the Grand Festival about to begin in this city, Hina had finally gained full control over her upgraded Power of Viridian and traveled to Snowpoint City together with Mom and Dad.

Dawn took a deep breath, spread her arms wide, and shouted with all her strength:

"Snowpoint City! We’re here—ACHOO!!!"

"Mom, are you okay?"

Hina hurried over from behind and pulled a scarf out of her backpack.

"No problem, no problem!"

Dawn took the scarf and wrapped it around her neck three times.

"A measly twenty degrees below zero is nothing to a Top Coordinator!"

Asher followed behind them wearing a short-sleeved floral shirt, beach shorts, and flip-flops. He was even sipping an iced coconut drink.

"Wifey, if you can’t handle it, stop pretending. I brought you a down jacket."

"Hubby, are you seriously not cold?"

Dawn turned around to stare at him.

"Cold?"

Asher took another sip.

"Coldness is a state of mind. If I refuse to admit I’m cold, then the cold can’t touch me."

"Then why can’t I learn how to do that?"

"These things take time. Come on, put your down jacket on first."

While Asher was helping Dawn into her jacket, Piplup poked its head out of Dawn’s backpack.

Then—

It launched itself straight into a roadside snowbank and began rolling around like crazy.

"Piplup!"

Shaymin poked its nose out from Hina’s arms and sniffed the air.

"Hina, Shaymin thinks the air here could freeze the Power of Viridian solid."

"Shaymin, you can go back into your Poké Ball first."

"No! Shaymin wants to see the snow!"

"Shaymin needs to take a beautiful picture in the snow so that when Shaymin goes back to the Gracidea flower fields, Shaymin can show off to everyone!"

Shaymin jumped down from Hina’s head.

Its four tiny legs sank into the snow.

It had just struck what it personally considered an extremely adorable pose when a gust of wind swept past.

Shaymin was instantly blown over and started rolling across the snow.

Eventually, it crashed straight into Piplup.

The two Pokémon merged into one enormous snowball and began rolling down the long slope.

"Piplup!"

"Miiiii!"

Asher walked up beside Hina and watched them roll away.

"Oh. With a slope that steep, they should be able to roll all the way to the registration area."

"Dad, we need to chase them!!!"

"No rush. Just send your Quaquaval."

Quaquaval pushed up its sunglasses.

Its webbed foot lightly kicked against the snow and the entire duck began sliding down the slope in a moonwalk.

It was moving twice as fast as the snowball.

Then—

Quaquaval launched itself into the air and delivered a single kick.

The giant snowball stopped dead.

It cracked apart.

Piplup and Shaymin crawled out from inside, covered from head to toe in snow, both of their eyes spinning like spirals.

At the entrance to the registration area, the contestants who had arrived early to scout the venue stared blankly as a sunglasses-wearing duck came moonwalking down the hill.

"...Is that Quaquaval skiing?"

"That was a moonwalk just now, wasn’t it? I’m not imagining things, right?"

"Master Ducky! That’s Master Ducky!"

"Master Ducky is competing in the Grand Festival too!"

"What?! Master Ducky is entering?! Then is there even any point in us registering?!"

Suddenly, a familiar voice erupted from the crowd.

"Hmph! So what if Master Ducky is here?!"

"On the magnificent stage of Pokémon Contests, victory cannot be decided by a single duck!"

Everyone turned in unison.

Ursula stood atop the steps outside the registration area, holding a folding fan.

Four large words were written across it: VICTOR: URSULA

Andodo stood beside her wearing a matching mother-daughter outfit.

She held an identical folding fan.

Across hers were the words: VICTOR: ANDODO

Mother and daughter snapped open their fans at the same time.

Stepped forward at the same time.

And spoke at the same time.

"Starting today, the glory of Sinnoh’s number-one Coordinator family shall officially change hands!"

Dawn came running over, panting heavily.

The moment she looked up and saw Ursula and Andodo, her eyes lit up.

"Ursula! You’re here too!"

Ursula snapped her fan shut and pointed it straight at Dawn.

"Dawn! It’s been a long time!"

"I’m glad to see you’ve been well, but that changes nothing!"

"I came here this time with one goal—defeating you!"

Andodo snapped her own fan shut and pointed it at Hina.

"Hina! Same here!"

"This time, I absolutely won’t lose to you again!"

With a folding fan pointed directly at her, Hina instinctively waved both hands.

"U-Um..."

"Why are you two carrying those fans...?"

Ursula snapped hers open with a flourish, covering half her face.

Only her eyes remained visible, burning with fighting spirit.

"This is the medal of Sinnoh’s number-one Coordinator family!"

"Every crease in this fan represents the blood, sweat, and tears I’ve poured into Pokémon Contests!"

Andodo opened hers just as dramatically.

"And every crease also represents all the midnight snacks I ate during late-night training!"

Ursula turned her head.

"Andodo."

"You didn’t need to add that."

"But Mom, I think it makes us sound cooler."

"It makes us sound like we’re the duo that eats midnight snacks before competitions."

"But didn’t we already agree we’re having ramen tonight?"

"Be quiet!"

[VIP Chat Group]

[Iono]: Hahahaha! Ursula and Andodo are hilarious! If they’re eating midnight snacks before the competition, why not call them the Midnight Snack Duo?

[Mallow]: If Ursula’s side is the Midnight Snack Duo, shouldn’t Dawn and Hina be the Dee Dee Duo?

[Dawn]: D-Dee Dee?! Why Dee Dee?!

[Mallow]: Because it’s D.D.—Dawn and Daughter! You’re competing together as mother and daughter, so it fits perfectly!

[Leona]: Um... Dawn actually got called "Dee Dee" when she was little, so she doesn’t really like people calling her that.

[Mallow]: Ah! Sorry! I didn’t know about that.

[Dawn]: ...It’s fine. It doesn’t really bother me anymore. I’m used to it by now.

The video continued playing.

The registration process wasn’t complicated.

Once the staff had recorded everyone’s information, they handed over several booklets.

"There have been a few adjustments to the rules for this year’s Grand Festival. Please make sure to read them carefully."

Dawn took two copies and casually shoved one into Hina’s hands.

"Mom’s going to the training grounds to familiarize herself with the environment. Read this yourself, okay?"

"Mom isn’t coming with me?"

"How can opponents train together?!"

"What if we see all of each other’s secret strategies?"

"All right, Mom’s off to train!"

Before Hina could even nod—Dawn plunged headfirst into the snowstorm and disappeared into the white cityscape.

Hina looked down at the booklet in her hands.

"But..."

"The training grounds aren’t in that direction..."

Shaymin poked its head out of her backpack.

"Shaymin noticed Hina’s dad went that way just now."

"Maybe Hina’s mom went to look for him?"

"Oh."

"So that’s what happened."

Hina nodded.

Just then—

A Poké Ball at her waist suddenly opened.

A flash of red light appeared, and Eevee landed in the pristine white snow.

"Vee, vee~"

Hina picked Eevee up.

"Eevee, what’s wrong?"

Eevee rubbed the tip of its nose against Hina’s chin.

But its eyes remained fixed firmly on a hill to the north.

Its four little legs paddled eagerly through the air.

Hina followed its gaze.

Then she gently rubbed Eevee’s head.

"All right."

"We can go take a look over there."

"But we can’t go too far, okay?"

...

TL: I’m so sorry. Mallow explanation doesn’t work in English at all, so I did my best to make sense of the original joke by creating a completely new explanation.