[Good morning to all our friends here at the venue and watching on TV!]
[Welcome to the final match of the Ace Tournament! Today's showdown features Wallace from Sootopolis City in the Hoenn Region, and Sato from Shadownight Town in the Johto Region!]
[After two weeks, the Ace Tournament has finally reached its grand finale.]
[And who will ultimately stand atop the champion's podium and receive the championship trophy? Let's wait and see!]
"…"
Sato and Wallace sat side by side in the waiting room, quietly listening to the impassioned commentary blaring through the speakers.
"Hey hey, Sato-kun! Our final match is really something, we even got professional commentators!"
Sato glanced at Wallace, who showed no sign of nervousness at all, and made it clear he didn't feel like talking.
"Sato-kun, are you nervous? Afraid of losing too badly? Don't worry, I'll be gentle~"
Wallace draped his arm around Sato's shoulders, saying it with a completely serious face.
Right at that moment, the broadcast camera switched to their room, as if to show how the two contestants were feeling before the match.
[Haha… Looks like the two finalists are really close friends!]
Sato slowly cracked his neck, only to see the big screen showing Wallace holding him with a dreamy expression on his face.
"…"
---
In the living room of Shadownight Gym's backyard.
Mark pointed angrily at the TV, ignoring the sparkling gossipy eyes of the other Gym trainees, and shouted loudly, "Joseph! Joseph! Come look, someone's rebelling!"
He yelled for quite a while with no response, and the camera had already cut away, but Mark continued muttering and complaining.
"Where is Joseph? Not even watching the finals?"
"The Breeders Association needed something from him. He left early and said he'd be watching the match over there," Sia chimed in just in time, stopping Mark from running off to find him.
---
In the audience stands, Ryoko, Phoebe, and the others all looked visibly annoyed. Even at the finals, Wallace was still goofing around like this.
Looking at Sato's dumbfounded face, they could only offer a moment of silence -three seconds- for their friend.
Meanwhile, in the room where President Charles Goodshow was seated, Lance, the newly promoted Elite Four member from the Kanto Region, was also present.
"I heard from Clair that you and young Sato are pretty close?"
"Yes, President! We trained together at Mt. Silver for a while. When my Charizard reached Ace level, Sato helped out," Lance replied with a smile.
Now that he was an Elite Four, his schedule had been packed, but he still made time to watch the finals and keep his promise.
"Good! You're all excellent young Trainers. The future of the League rests in your hands." Charles Goodshow, out of habit, began one of his motivational speeches, and the other League representatives all nodded in agreement.
Lance grinned without a hint of humility, then turned his attention back to the center of the battlefield.
By now, Sato and Wallace had already stepped onto their command platforms and were listening carefully as the referee explained the rules.
The final battle… was about to begin!
---
"…Do either side have any questions?" the referee asked after reading out the rules.
"No." "All good~"
"Then, both Trainers, please send out your first Pokémon!"
"Pelipper, take the stage!"
"Zoroark, Prepare for battle."
A flash of red light, and both Trainers' first Pokémon entered the field.
On Sato's side, Zoroark appeared without taking on the form of any teammate, choosing to reveal its true appearance right from the start.
As soon as Pelipper entered the field, dark clouds began gathering in the sky, and within moments, light rain started to fall, clearly trending toward heavier rainfall.
This was obviously an exceptionally rare Pelipper with the Ability Drizzle.
And if Sato was right, this Pelipper had surely learned another specific move… it was a perfect weather setter!
"Battle start!"
"Pelipper, U-turn!"
"Zoroark, Pursuit."
U-turn, a Bug-type move that allows the user to strike and then immediately switch out, without consuming the Trainer's manual switch turn.
Pursuit, a Dark-type move that doubles in power if the opponent is about to switch out!
More importantly, from the moment Zoroark appeared, both Pelipper and Wallace were inevitably affected by its Illusion tactic.
So, the U-turn only hit one of Zoroark's illusions. Neither Pelipper nor Wallace realized it, so the move was still deemed successful!
The next moment, just as Pelipper turned into a glowing green orb and tried to fly back into its Poké Ball, Zoroark suddenly leapt out from the opposite side.
Wham!
A double-powered Pursuit landed!
"PEEEELIP!"
The glowing green orb let out a sharp cry, but since Pursuit's base power wasn't high, it couldn't score a one-hit KO. Pelipper still managed to return to its Poké Ball!
First tactical clash: Sato takes the lead!
Wallace frowned at Pelipper's Poké Ball, then smiled faintly and put it away. He pulled out another Poké Ball and said, "You really can't let your guard down at all! Gorebyss, Supersonic!"
Wallace's second Pokémon appeared. It was Gorebyss, known for its ability to counter Illusion-based moves.
Under rainy conditions, Gorebyss's Speed was instantly doubled.
Even though the battlefield was a standard one, Wallace still sent it out; clearly, this was another flying fish!
"Zoroark, U-turn."
The next second, Sato gave his command. He grinned at Wallace, who had just blinked, thinking to himself, 'I won't lose on tactics.'
"Zoruuuuu~"
Zoroark let out a low growl. This time, it turned into a glowing green orb and charged straight toward the newly released Gorebyss.
At the same time, Gorebyss had already launched Supersonic. Although it locked on to Zoroark's position, the two were less than two meters apart.
Whoosh~
Zoroark sped past Gorebyss's location, its momentum completely unhindered.
It missed!
Sato instinctively clenched his fist. Gorebyss's Speed and evasion were even more terrifying than he had imagined. Even at such close range, it still managed to dodge the attack.
And thinking about Gorebyss's slender, flexible body, it was probably born with incredible evasion capabilities.
Fortunately, Sato had trained Zoroark on how to handle a missed U-turn.
Zoroark, still in the form of a glowing green orb, suddenly dropped to the ground and slammed downward. Using the rebound force, it completed the U-turn and successfully returned to its Poké Ball!
From the start of the match to Zoroark's return to its ball, not even a full minute had passed.
Yet the intensity of the battle had already exceeded everyone's expectations. Adrenaline was spiking; not a single spectator dared to blink, afraid to miss a single second of the action.
Sato, who had plenty of experience dealing with high-speed Pokémon thanks to Sharpedo, didn't hesitate at all in choosing his next move.
"Gengar… Trick Room."
The rain poured down harder than ever…