Manalo Stadium.
Cheers and applause rang out without end.
The rain was still falling.
But only Pikachu remained standing in the water on the field.
"Swampert is unable to battle. Pikachu wins!"
"They won! Despite an overwhelming type disadvantage, Ash and Pikachu used the rain to claim victory!"
Wallace fell silent for a moment, then recalled Swampert.
He looked at Ash, an incredibly complicated expression crossing his face before finally giving way to a soft laugh.
"You used my rain to defeat my ace."
The score stood at 5-3.
Although Wallace still had his final Pokémon, Milotic,
the match was already all but lost.
Milotic and Pikachu fought a fierce battle in the rain, after which Ash brought out Ash's Pikachu Z...
"This is 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt, even stronger than Million Volt!"
Just as Lorelei and the others had predicted.
Milotic simply couldn't withstand 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt.
With Milotic unable to battle, Ash had claimed victory in the first round of the Master League Main Event.
Ash entered the 1-0 group.
That might have surprised quite a few people.
Defeating Wallace also meant that Ash reaching the Top 8 was far from impossible.
"All eight matches of round one have concluded!"
"That leaves eight competitors each in the 0-1 and 1-0 groups!"
"Coming up next is the draw for round two!"
Based on the 1-0 and 0-1 groups,
the matchups soon appeared on the big screen.
[1-0 winners' group] Li Wei vs Leon Red vs Steven Blue vs Cynthia Mustard vs Ash [0-1 losers' group] Iris vs Lance Professor Kukui vs Diantha Lorelei vs Wallace Raihan vs Roland
After their Top 8 match in last year's Master League, Li Wei and Leon had been drawn against each other once again.
Compared with last year,
Li Wei was more