The day after the semifinals.
According to tournament rules, the contestants and their Pokémon were given a day to rest.
This was as far as Baimu's memories of the Pokémon anime went. He had never gotten around to watching the upcoming decisive battle between Ash and Leon in the original story.
"Will all the old friends show up?"
He was very curious about Ash's choices.
Gengar, Dragonite, and the others were undoubtedly among the best Pokémon Ash had trained in recent years. They might often get beaten up, but their opponents had been Gym Leaders, Elite Four members, and even Champions!
Surely that was better than losing to a rookie Trainer's Snivy!
Of course, Pikachu had been affected by Zekrom at the time and couldn't use its moves properly, essentially being sick. Bringing that up all the time to mock it would inevitably seem like forced hate.
But Ash's Charizard had genuinely been knocked unconscious by a rookie Trainer's Chikorita because it got too full of itself.
So while they had appeared late, in a sense, Ash's current lineup was his strongest yet. There really were not many Pokémon that could replace them.
"Forget it. It's all the same."
Baimu did not dwell on it.
Of all Ash's Pokémon, Pikachu was undoubtedly the only one worth being wary of.
The others would not be much stronger than Leon's team, and would most likely be weaker. All Baimu needed to do was proceed steadily.
With the match tomorrow, there naturally would be no training today.
Even Ash understood that, so early in the morning, he and his companions vanished together. Apparently, they had gone out to relax and clear their heads.
If Baimu remembered correctly, Ash and the others should run into that group of Nickit from long ago again.
Those