Chapter 373:
"Darkrai! It's the Legendary Nightmare God, Darkrai!! Oh my goodness! Contestant Tobias's second Pokémon is actually another Legendary Pokémon!"
"Marowak was hit by Dark Void! It fell asleep! It's unable to battle...."
"Gourgeist has also fallen asleep... This is too difficult. Contestant Fiona's Pokémon can't find any chance to counterattack within Darkrai's nightmare!"
After Darkrai appeared, the match basically held no suspense.
Contestant Fiona, being older, was very pragmatic.
Or perhaps, as a Ghost-type trainer, she never intended to fight for the win in the first place.
After Gourgeist fell asleep, she directly chose to forfeit.
For her, her initial idea was simply to see what other Pokémon Tobias had. If there was hope of winning, she'd continue; if not, she wouldn't struggle pointlessly.
Reaching the Top 4 of the Pokémon League Conference was already a very impressive achievement.
After their match concluded, the Pokémon League Conference reached its most critical moment.
The Finals—the battle for the championship!
Tobias walked to the contestants' seating area, his gaze seemingly calm, but the corner of his eye glanced towards Hayashi Kaede.
His match had just ended, and there would be a rest period to allow his Pokémon to recover.
He wanted to see if Kaede would show any surprise or similar expression upon learning about his second Pokémon.
But even after Kaede looked over, Tobias didn't see any surprise on his face, only a bit of curiosity.
*'So confident, huh?'*
Tobias clenched his fist.
He always thought he was confident enough.
But he didn't expect Kaede to be even more confident than him!
*'We will just wait and see who wins the final match!'*
...
A mere half-hour rest period felt like an eternity, fueling endless speculation among everyone present.
Who would ultimately claim the championship?
Having witnessed the overwhelming power of Serperior's Leaf Storm, most spectators initially felt the scales were heavily tipped in Hayashi Kaede's favor.
After all, a Contrary Serperior, if its Leaf Storm couldn't be interrupted, the only chance to defeat it was to withstand the storm until it ended.
But in the previous match, Serperior used two Leaf Storms of such massive scale without even seeming winded.
Who knew how many Leaf Storms it could actually unleash??
Leaf Storms growing stronger each time—what would they become in the end?
And that was just Serperior. Contestant Hayashi Kaede had so many other Pokémon.
But then Tobias revealed a Darkrai.
This undoubtedly made the match outcome shrouded in mystery once again.
At this moment, countless people sat in front of their TVs, anxiously waiting for these thirty minutes to pass.
*Tick, tock.*
Finally, accompanied by a exciting BGM, the already impatient audience felt their hearts stir!
It's about to begin!
The announcer flew onto the field at this moment.
"Alright, the rest period is over! The final match of this Pokémon League Conference—the Championship Finals—begins now! Both contestants, please take the field!"
His voice acted like a fuse.
The audience stands immediately erupted with cheers of support for both contestants.
However, those supporting Hayashi Kaede constituted the vast majority.
After all, Kaede was a local of the Eastova League, while Tobias was from outside.
If someone was to win the championship, of course, they hoped Kaede would take it.
"Brother Kaede, go for it! I've already boasted that you'll definitely win the championship!"
"If you win the championship, I'll go to your breeding house every day next year, give me a 50% discount! Brother Kaede!"
"Person above, you want both the credit and the reward...."
The audience stands and fan groups were in an uproar.
At this moment, the unique cohesion around Hayashi Kaede was on full display.
The two contestants in the seating area stood up simultaneously upon the announcement and walked towards the battlefield together.
However, when they reached the point where they needed to go to their respective sides of the field,
Tobias's steps paused. Then, he uttered his first sentence during the entire Pokémon League Conference, aside from giving commands to his Pokémon.
"You are strong..."
"Huh?" Kaede turned back, puzzled.
"But I will defeat you!" Tobias proudly tossed his head and walked towards his side of the battlefield.
"That's weird. He wasn't this dramatic when I watched the anime before,"
Kaede shook his head.
His impression of Tobias leaned towards being like Paul.
Although the anime didn't explicitly show Tobias's personality traits, his "vibe" was similar to Paul's.
Both had that "strong and aloof" vibe!
But speaking of which, Kaede was also quite curious about Tobias's Pokémon aside from Latios and Darkrai.
What else could there be?
"Come on, let me see."
As he stepped onto the field, a Poké Ball appeared in Kaede's hand.
"Field selection— It is Grassy Field! Both contestants, please send out your first Pokémon!"
After both contestants were on the field, the announcer, looking formal with his suit straightened, spoke in a serious tone.
Red light flashed.
Both seemed aloof, neither calling out their Pokémon's name.
But after the Pokémon appeared, it made all the spectators present stunned for a moment.
Because this time, neither chose their usual style for selecting their lead Pokémon.
Tobias chose Darkrai, while Kaede chose... Gardevoir?
"Gardevoir?"
Tobias was taken aback, then his eyes immediately turned grave.
Although this Gardevoir had only appeared twice, in his mind, among all of Kaede's Pokémon, this Gardevoir was actually the most mysterious.
The other Pokémon, more or less, used moves in the matches that mostly revealed their true strength.
Like Alolan Ninetales and Serperior; although the strength they displayed was very high, in his opinion, that was probably their limit.
That's why Tobias believed Kaede was actually someone who liked to show off.
He could have won in simpler ways, but he insisted on using so many flashy moves!
But this Gardevoir... he couldn't see through it at all.
It had only appeared twice.
The first time, it demonstrated exceptional energy control, restraining hundreds of exploding Sludge Bomb projectiles.
The second time, it used Psychic to forcefully prevent Hatterene from using any moves.
This indicated that this shiny Gardevoir had never used its full power.
And often, unknown strength is the most terrifying.
*'But so what? We are invincible, Darkrai...'*
"Use Dark Void!"
Tobias waved his right hand, for the first time since participating in the Pokémon League Conference, a desire for victory appearing in his eyes!