♛ 𝔽𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝔹𝕪 𝔻𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕪 (𝔸𝕞𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕘) ♛

Chapter 31: FESTIVAL OF CHAMPIONS

Chapter 31: Festival of Champions

"Yo. Looks like I'll be seeing you in the main event, Green," Ash greeted his rival with a smug grin.

The raven-haired boy was now healing his Pokémon at the PokéCentre, accompanied by Misty, Blue and Gary.

"Ah, nice! You made it, Red!" Gary sarcastically exclaimed while exaggerating his expression.

"I'm glad you didn't disappoint me with how weak you are!"

"Your words and face don't match at all, jerk," Ash shot back, taken aback at the juxtaposition of his rival.

Then, Gary extended his hand.

"Anyways, congratulations on passing the Preliminaries," he said with a genuine smile.

Misty and Blue watched with surprise as they were not used to seeing Gary in this light. The latter gave a soft smile towards the green-eyed boy.

Ash was taken aback once more but still extended his hand towards his.

"Ah, oh, right."

And the atmosphere got ruined when Gary slapped his hand away.

"As if," the orange-haired Trainer said.

"Ugh! Damn jerk…" Ash groaned, chiding himself for believing for a second that Gary had changed.

"I saw you out there," Gary started with a severe look.

"You might have won in the end but that doesn't excuse how messy you did it."

Ash twitched in annoyance at his pseudo-brother's words.

"Y'know, I wonder how I put up with you sometimes…" he muttered in his breath.

The raven-haired Trainer then pointed at his rival accusingly.

"You were in the Prelims until just now as well! It's not like you won the entire thing with just one Pokémon," Ash replied to Gary's words.

But Gary merely smirked.

"It's natural talent, Red," the orange-haired boy stated with confidence.

"For the entire Preliminaries…"

"No one has ever seen my team other than Arcanine."

Ash widened his red eyes, shocked at his statement. While he was struggling with close calls, his rival had blasted through the Prelims with only one Pokémon.

"W- what is he saying?!" Misty cried out.

"To never use another Pokémon in battle… That means he never had to switch Pokémon to win."

'To win in such a way… There can't be that much of a difference in our skills…' Misty thought in astonishment at what she heard.

The orange-haired boy only had a years' worth of experience and yet, his performance exceeded that of even that of a Gym Leader's.

'To breeze past the Preliminaries like it was nothing…'

'His skills may even be already that of an Elite Four!'

With the conclusion of Ash's match, the 12 Trainers attending the main event was decided.

"Looks like that's it. Our opponents for the main event have been decided," Lorelei commented.

"Quite the line-up we have this time. What's more, that Red kid made it," Bruno said.

"Not only him, but that Green is also one to watch out for," Lorelei replied.