The 158th day since leaving the Orange Islands, cloudy.
The clouds in the sky resembled layers of piled cotton wool, blocking part of the sunlight. It was quite pleasant weather.
Today was the highly anticipated Semifinals of the Silver Conference. The schedule was tight, with one match in the morning and one in the afternoon, and the contestants were all familiar faces.
Yu Hai got up early and had breakfast with his Pokémon gathered around the dining table.
After breakfast, he carefully straightened his clothes and covered his face before heading toward the stadium stands. He casually found an empty seat, sat down, and looked straight at the battlefield.
Ash and Ai were entering the field. These two longtime rivals had finally met head-on in the arena.
Cheers rose wave after wave around the stadium, all welcoming the two of them onto the field.
Facing Ai's fully evolved Starters, every one of them looked imposing and radiated a powerful presence.
On Ash's side, however, everyone was surprised to see that he had sent out Starters that had yet to evolve.
The little ones were certainly adorable, their tiny bodies like babies. But compared with Ai's fully evolved Pokémon, the gap in both level and size was obvious at a glance. The difference was simply too great—beating Ai would be difficult.
When the battle whistle sounded, Ash's unevolved Starters fought desperately, but the disparity in strength was simply too great.
In the end, with Dragonite and Gengar putting on outstanding performances, Ai simply steamrolled the opposition, leaving Ash's baby team in shambles.
With a whistle from the referee, Ai was declared the winner of the match and successfully advanced to the finals.
Watching the one-sided battle, Yu Hai could not help but shake his head with a wry smile. He silently