February 2. Clear skies.
Bathed in the morning light, Indigo Stadium wore a layer of golden radiance.
Although the weather was still cold, it could not dampen the spectators' surging enthusiasm.
After all, today was the day of the Indigo League finals.
Everyone eagerly awaited the answer to who would get one foot into the Champions Pokémon League and have the last laugh at the Indigo League.
Wearing a fleece-lined cape, Lance stood behind the chairman's platform, looking somewhat bewildered.
Just now, the Indigo League's biggest sponsor, Golden Silph Co., had sent word that the first-place prize would be upgraded from ten Luxury Balls to one Master Ball!
This was a Master Ball, after all. Once the rare, unidentified alloy had been exhausted, these things had gone out of production!
He had never expected Silph Co. to offer such a precious Master Ball for this tournament. It made the prize the Pokémon League had prepared, [TM: Fire Pledge], seem a little underwhelming...
"Chairman, how about using that?" Lance suggested reluctantly.
"You mean the Fire God's Feather?" Old Damaranch frowned.
Even Pokémon League Headquarters only had three of those. Were they really going to give one away?
"That's right. The standard of this Indigo League has been unexpectedly high. Whichever of those two wins, it'll be a shining moment for one of our own. We should give them a little something worthwhile." Lance nodded.
As the man about to become Kanto's Champion after the two regions merged, Lance felt he ought to be a little more generous.
"What about the TM we'd originally decided on?" Old Damaranch asked curiously.
"Give that too! Give out all three [Pledge] moves at once. Those things can be manufactured anyway. There's no need to be stingy!" Lance gritted his teeth and nodded.
Damaranch glanced at