On the Rock-type battlefield:
The instant Tyranitar appeared, a violent sandstorm suddenly swept across the arena, slowly covering the massive beast's enormous figure within the raging yellow sands.
At the same time, Larvitar, who was sitting on Ash's shoulder eating popcorn while watching the battle, instantly lit up with excitement the moment it saw Tyranitar appear. It began bouncing around happily.
It continuously cried out "Lar! Lar!" toward Pikachu and Treecko in excitement.
Its tiny little arms even pointed nonstop at the Pokémon that looked exactly like its mother, as though proudly showing off:
Look! Look! This is what I'll look like when I grow up! Amazing, right?!
Seeing Larvitar acting so smug and adorable, Theo could not help flicking its little forehead lightly with his finger.
"Alright, alright, we know you're amazing. Stop focusing only on eating and watch carefully. Learn something properly."
Actually, with the amount of energy Larvitar had accumulated inside its body by now, it had long since reached the conditions necessary to evolve into Pupitar.
But this little fellow was extremely greedy, playful, and food-loving.
The moment it learned that evolving into Pupitar meant entering a cocoon-like state to store energy, and that it would no longer be able to happily hug snacks while eating and playing around like it did now, it desperately suppressed its own evolution.
Theo did not force it.
Instead, he simply gave it an Everstone.
After all, the advanced energy orbs inside his system space could completely replace the cocoon-state energy accumulation Pupitar normally required during its growth period.
So he might as well let Larvitar remain in its current form and grow up happily.
Once the energy inside its body completely reached saturation, it could directly evolve into Tyranitar in a single step. There was absolutely no rush.
...
At this moment!
The semifinals of the Ever Grande Conference had already been completely filled with a suffocating atmosphere of tension.
Morrison was drenched in sweat. The hair on his forehead stuck wetly against his skin, and every breath he took carried heavy exhaustion.
His opponent was simply too powerful.
Crunch!
Stone Edge!
The attacks were so fast that their trajectories could barely be seen.
Girafarig let out a muffled cry before immediately losing the ability to battle. Arcanine was smashed head-on by enormous stones, stumbling as it collapsed onto the ground, the light completely fading from its eyes.
The Girafarig and Arcanine that had just entered the battlefield had not even managed to clearly see Tyranitar's figure inside the sandstorm before both were already defeated.
Morrison stared at the gigantic shadow looming vaguely within the storm on the battlefield, and his heart slowly sank.
The only Pokémon he had left capable of fighting was Steelix.
Grinding his teeth, Morrison placed all of his final hopes onto Steelix, whose typing restrained Rock-types.
But reality was incomparably cruel.
The difference in strength between both sides was simply far too enormous.
Steelix roared as it charged, swung its tail, and bit viciously. Every attack was executed with all its strength, yet after only several direct clashes, it was still effortlessly defeated by Tyranitar and collapsed motionless onto the ground.
The referee raised the flag high and shouted loudly across the stadium:
"Steelix is unable to battle!"
"All of Morrison's Pokémon are unable to continue fighting! The winner is contestant Alain!"
"The contestant Alain has successfully advanced to the grand finals! Tomorrow, he will face contestant Theo in the ultimate battle to determine the champion of this year's Ever Grande Conference!"
The moment those words fell, the entire stadium exploded into chaos!
Nobody had expected that the Top 16 participant from the previous Ever Grande Conference would fail to even force Alain to reveal his third Pokémon.
The moment Ash saw Morrison lowering his head in disappointment, he immediately became distressed. He rushed down from the spectator stands with loud stomping footsteps and heavily slapped Morrison on the back while loudly encouraging him:
"It's okay! You already did great! You'll definitely become even stronger next time!"
Theo also walked over with a smile, gently nodding as he gave Morrison an encouraging look.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Alain listened to the cheers erupting throughout the arena with nothing more than a calm lift of his eyes. A faint, disdainful sneer curled at the corners of his mouth, as though winning this match had merely been the casual handling of some insignificant triviality.
Right at that moment, Larvitar jumped down from Ash's shoulder.
Shaking its round little body, it ran toward the Tyranitar that had not yet been recalled from the field, carrying popcorn in its hands while excitedly trying to greet it.
But Tyranitar did not even spare it a proper glance.
It merely impatiently swung its thick tail with a loud smack, accurately knocking the popcorn out of Larvitar's claws.
Then it glanced at Larvitar with the same disgusted expression one would use toward a troublesome little brat before immediately transforming into red light and returning to Alain's Poké Ball, completely ignoring Larvitar.
Larvitar exploded on the spot!
Its tiny face puffed up angrily, and its eyes widened so much they practically turned into lanterns.
It would have been one thing if the other side simply ignored it.
But knocking away its food was absolutely unforgivable!
"Laaar!!"
Furiously stomping its short little legs, it immediately charged toward Alain, wanting to demand an explanation from Tyranitar.
Pikachu and Treecko were so frightened that they instantly rushed forward from both sides and tightly hugged it.
"Pika pika!"
You can't beat him!!
Alain glanced toward the noisy little commotion happening nearby and only coldly spat out two words:
"Boring."
After speaking, he turned around and left, his back carrying the arrogant swagger of someone completely full of himself.
Larvitar became so angry it practically started smoking.
It immediately ran over to Theo's side, tightly grabbing onto his pant leg with its tiny claws while pointing desperately at Metagross's Poké Ball hanging from Theo's waist, crying and gesturing wildly with incredibly obvious meaning:
I want Metagross!
Go beat up that arrogant Tyranitar!
Avenge my popcorn!!
Theo was thoroughly amused by its furious appearance, so he could only release Metagross to accompany the little fellow while it acted spoiled and threw a tantrum for a while.
Meanwhile, many local spectators around the stadium stopped leaving after noticing Theo appear. One after another, they gathered around excitedly, their faces flushed red as they shouted:
"We absolutely can't let that Kalos guy steal our championship!"
"That's right! Let the shiny Metagross teach him a proper lesson!"
"Exactly!!"
The crowd roared noisily with overwhelming passion. Every single person's eyes shone with anticipation.
The night passed in the blink of an eye.
The next day, the grand finals of the Ever Grande Conference officially arrived as scheduled.
The enormous battle stadium was completely packed without a single empty seat. Looking around, there were crowds of moving heads everywhere, colorful flags waving nonstop, and support banners in every imaginable color.
Across countless banners were huge words written boldly:
"THEO MUST WIN!"
"HOENN'S STRONGEST!"
The host and commentator, Ota, appeared on stage wearing an elegant and handsome black tailcoat, striding forward energetically.
His loud voice echoed throughout the entire arena through the amplified microphone:
"Everyone! Everyone! Welcome to the most exciting climax of the Ever Grande Conference!"
"The grand finals are about to begin!!"
"I know all of you can hardly wait anymore! And I'm exactly the same!"
"So enough unnecessary talk!"
"Let us welcome today's two protagonists with the hottest, loudest cheers possible — make your entrance!!"
With a loud swish, the spotlight instantly shone toward the red-side contestant entrance tunnel.
In an instant, deafening screams and cheers erupted throughout the entire stadium like crashing tidal waves, the sound nearly lifting the roof clean off the arena.
(End of Chapter)