After the semifinals ended, all the competitors were given a day to rest.
That night, at Brendan's dorm in the Competitors' Village, two boys arrived as promised.
"That's the situation. To battle our teacher, I need you guys to help me analyze things." Brendan chuckled as he looked at his buddies.
These were the buddies who had slept in the bunks above him for an entire school year!
"Honestly, there isn't much we can help you with." Dressed in a well-fitted black tuxedo, Kimarō had hurried over straight after finishing a Pokémon Contest.
"Our teacher personally taught us most of what we know. I think if you want to win, you'll at least have to catch him off guard. Do you have an ace he doesn't know about?" Wally leaned against the windowsill in a white shirt, his wispy green bangs stirring gently in the night breeze.
Brendan's eyes shone as he nodded slightly. "Actually, I really do have aces our teacher doesn't know about."
Brendan laid out a row of Poké Balls: Pelipper, Swampert, Rhyperior, Manectric, Metagross, and Dragonite.
Wally drew in a sharp breath. "You're abandoning your Steel-type offense setup for a rain team?"
"Pelipper sets the weather, Swampert provides the main damage, Manectric covers the gaps, and Metagross rounds out the defensive core... this could work!" Kimarō's eyes lit up too.
"Over my last hundred battles, I've repeatedly honed Pelipper and Manectric. They're my hidden aces, a surprise prepared especially for our teacher." Brendan smiled slightly.
"Tsk, tsk... you really are a model student." Kimarō couldn't help shaking his head.
"Of course! A student who doesn't want to knock his teacher flat isn't a good student!" Brendan declared righteously.
"To keep my tactical goals under wraps, I barely even talked during dinner yesterday."
"Uh... you've got the