"Ladies and gentlemen, the Pokémon Contest's Saffron City Contest has finally reached its last match! With the Saffron City Ribbon on the line, the two contestants who have fought their way through round after round to battle on this final stage are—May and Fairy Jessie Bian! Now, let's welcome them to the stage!"
As Lilian introduced them, May and Jessie took the stage once more to the cheers of the audience.
Everyone had seen May's and Jessie's performances in this contest. After defeating their first opponents, both had performed better and better, and their brilliant displays had naturally won over the audience, resulting in the thunderous applause now filling the hall.
For Jessie in particular, this might have been one of the few shining moments when she received people's recognition. She could not help holding her head high and waving to the audience all around her with a broad smile.
She looked as pleased with herself as could be.
But when she turned to her opponent with a smile and discovered that it was the girl who had traveled with the twerp in the Hoenn Region, she suddenly got a terrible shock!
Wait!
Why is it this girl?!
Precisely because Jessie was as careless as ever, even though they were competing on the same stage and had appeared one after another, she had never checked who the other contestants were. Thus, it was only now, when May stood before her, that she received such a shock.
Seeing her reaction, James and Meowth in the stands both sighed.
"Jessie's finally figured out who her opponent is, meow."
"Exactly." James spread his hands. "That girl isn't easy to handle. Jessie won't have an easy time beating her."
"She isn't the one I'm worried about, meow." Meowth looked toward the audience as though