Host: "Dracovish is out! Milotic claims another opponent! Contestant Cynthia has turned the tide!"
Thundering applause rang through the entire stadium.
Milotic truly was a Pokémon with an exaggeratedly high level of stamina, having fought Dragonite, Lucario, and Dracovish back-to-back, and successfully taking down two Dragon-type Pokémon in Dragonite and Dracovish.
It could well be called a dragon killer!
The Team Rocket trio gazed down from above, the hands holding their selfie sticks stiffening.
"So strong! Cynthia really lives up to being the Sinnoh Champion!"
"Meowth is worried about the little brat..."
"Are we going back to the way things used to be?"
The Team Rocket trio had passively participated in almost all of Ash's League conferences, witnessing him fail to even make the finals and then gradually climb the rankings in later years.
Kalos and Alola could be called his best-performing tournaments, with him winning the conference in one and directly becoming the Regional Champion in the other.
Everything had been getting better!
But...
Were they heading back to the past once again now?
Over at Professor Oak's Laboratory, the Pokémon looked worried, Professor Oak and Delia were still relatively calm, and Tracey only felt it was a pity.
Inside the stadium, Ash struggled to understand.
Why?
Why had Milotic appeared from a higher vantage point than Dracovish, and why hadn't he seen the opponent's movement at all?
"Of course it was Bounce, you idiot."
Spotting Ash's bewildered expression on the close-up screen, Baimu knew at a glance that he hadn't figured out the reason for his defeat.
Things like obstructed lines of sight were always a two-way street; Milotic couldn't see Dracovish, which simultaneously meant Dracovish couldn't see Milotic either.
And Bounce was a move Milotic had mastered back during its Feebas days; because it had no attack