Wally had lost the match. By rights, his hopes had fallen through, and he had failed to show his uncle his strength. To everyone's surprise, however, his uncle began to applaud.
"That was a wonderful battle," his uncle told Wally with a smile. "I saw how hard you worked. You only lost because your opponent was too strong."
Hearing his uncle actually say that stirred something in Wally. His eyes shone as he looked at his uncle with hope, waiting for what he would say next.
Meeting Wally's gaze, his uncle nodded with satisfaction. "You have my permission. You can challenge Gyms and fulfill your dream."
"Yay!"
Wally jumped up in excitement. Shy as he was, only news that made him this happy could make him so lively in front of everyone.
Meanwhile, Combusken had returned to Xia You.
"Well done."
Xia You stroked its head in encouragement, then looked up at Wally in the distance. Seeing the brilliant smile on his face now that he had finally gotten his wish, he turned and shrugged at Misty.
"All right, it's time we left, too."
The two of them took Combusken into the crowd and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Only then did Wally recover from his delighted surprise. He was about to exchange a few polite words with Xia You, only to discover that the older boy was already nowhere to be seen.
He did not dwell on it, though, and continued basking in his joy.
After leaving the open-air battlefield, Xia You and Misty were about to stroll around the park some more when a voice suddenly came from behind them.
"Please wait!"
It was a woman's voice, full of energy. At first, Xia You did not realize she was speaking to him. Only when footsteps sounded