Hau'oli City, Horizon Gym.
Today's featured matchup was actually Ash vs. Kahili.
Although Ash had battled Kahili twice before,
those had been Gym battles, not proper tournament matches, and both had been one-on-one.
This time was different.
In the Master League's Points Tournament, each Trainer chose three Pokémon from a team of six.
And both sides would be using their main Pokémon.
Kiawe, Lillie, Lana, and the others
were just as eager as Dayou and his friends at the Theme Park to find out which Pokémon Ash would use.
"I really want to see Ash's Greninja!"
But Ash had kept it a secret from them all along.
Until he took the stage, they had no idea which Pokémon he would send out.
Li Wei figured Kahili probably wouldn't send out Pelipper. That would just hand Pikachu a free win.
In rainy weather, a single Thunder from Pikachu could knock Pelipper straight out.
Giving Pikachu rain to work with
was probably not something Kahili would do.
Amid applause and cheers,
Ash emerged first from the Competitor Tunnel on the left.
Blue, who was at the Indigo Plateau Conference,
was watching the scene on his phone too.
"Oh, it's Ash!"
With nothing else to do, Professor Oak had also come to the Indigo Plateau to watch Red, Blue, and the others compete in person.
Lance rubbed his chin. "This is Ash's first appearance today, isn't it?"
Blue nodded. "That's right."
"If he loses..."
Blue didn't finish his sentence,
but everyone knew it would be hell...
Especially Akin, who had experienced that hell himself.
Akin was already trembling involuntarily.
Having competed in the Master League last year,
Akin had very sensibly opted out this year.
Akin had already realized
that this kind of tournament just wasn't for him.
Official matches imposed far too