The sky was clear and cloudless, and the warm sunlight shone down, illuminating the entire Pummelo Stadium.
As the ten o'clock bell chimed, the stadium announcer's passionate voice echoed across the field.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for your patience! Welcome to the new season of the Orange League Winner's Cup! I am your host for this match. I believe many of you in the audience, like myself, have a keen interest in this highlight battle and have arrived early. And after a long, anxious wait, we have finally reached this exciting moment!"
Just like at the Indigo Conference, the Orange League also had an announcer to warm up the crowd. With just a few simple words, he quickly got the audience's emotions running high.
After speaking a few more eloquent lines and seeing that the time was right, the announcer said seriously, "Alright, let's get back to the main event and focus our attention on the field. First, let's give the warmest applause and cheers to welcome the Orange League Head Trainer, and our undefeated pride—Challenger Drake!"
A man in a black vest, with bare arms and a resolute and brave expression, slowly walked out of the contestant's tunnel.
As soon as he appeared, the spectator stands erupted in cheers. The sound grew louder and louder, forming a wave of noise that made one's scalp tingle.
After the crowd's enthusiasm had cooled slightly, the announcer shouted again, "And now, let's welcome the champion of the Indigo League Conference—Challenger Natsui!"
In the contestant's tunnel, hearing the announcer call his name, Natsui took a deep breath, stood up from his seat, and said softly, "It's our turn to go on."
As soon as he finished speaking, Haunter poked its head out of the shadow at his feet, floated to his side, and said with a grin, "I've been waiting for this! These people have been hyping that guy up so much. I'd like to see who between us will have the last laugh!"
One human and one Pokémon, under the watchful eyes of thousands, walked out of the stone-built contestant's tunnel and onto the field.
And as soon as Natsui appeared, he was also met with huge cheers.
Although the sound was less than half of what Drake had received, it was clear that the audience of the Orange League still showed considerable respect for this Indigo League champion.
Of course, among theing crowd, there was an old man in his fifties who, after seeing Natsui on the big screen, couldn't help but stare, his mouth wide open, looking as if he had seen a ghost.
Needless to say, this person was, of course, the stall owner who had made a bet with Natsui yesterday.
"How can it be him!?"
The stall owner would never have dreamed that the young man he had made a bet with yesterday was Drake's opponent today.
He subconsciously rubbed his eyes, his mind a whirlwind of thoughts, in a state of utter confusion.
On the field, following the match procedure, Natsui and Drake walked to the center of the battlefield and shook hands as a sign of friendship.
At the same time, both were sizing up their opponent.
Drake had a tall and sturdy build. Although he was about the same height as Natsui, he was clearly more muscular. And due to years of being exposed to the sun of the Orange Archipelago, his skin had a healthy bronze tan, which made his whole demeanor look even more heroic.
Looking down, Natsui also noticed a necklace made of a Poké Ball hanging around Drake's neck. He figured that must be his ace Pokémon—Dragonite.
On the other side, Drake was also sizing up Natsui. He spoke first, "Welcome to our Orange Archipelago. Ever since I heard the news that you were going to challenge for the Winner's Cup, I've been looking forward to battling you."
"Me too!"
At that moment, although they couldn't hear what the two contestants were saying, from the commentary box, the announcer, watching this scene, said excitedly, "What a historic meeting! The strongest contestant of the Orange League meets the strongest contestant of the Indigo Conference! Who will be the final winner of this match? Let's wait and see!"
Drake's fans held up signs and cheered loudly. In their hearts, they had already decided that this would be an evenly matched battle, but the final victor would undoubtedly be Drake.
Only the female spectators of the Orange League, who were seeing Natsui for the first time, although they also wanted to support Drake like their friends and family, couldn't help but think that this man named Natsui was really handsome…
Maybe we should give him a little encouragement…?
Just then, after a brief exchange, Natsui and Drake each returned to their respective trainer's boxes.
In this match, as the one being challenged, Drake was on the red side, while Natsui stood on the green side.
As the referee raised the flags, signaling the start of the match, Drake was the first to take out a Poké Ball and throw it onto the field.
"Go, Ditto!"
As the blue light faded, a Pokémon with a light purple body, a pair of small eyes, and a soft, elastic body that looked like a blob of slime, appeared before Natsui.
"There it is!" the announcer shouted. "It's Drake's Ditto! In past matches, Drake has defeated many contestants with it. Facing such a powerful Ditto, how will Natsui respond!?"
So it really is Ditto…
Natsui looked at the Pokémon in front of him. Just as he had expected, Drake hadn't changed his established strategy and had still sent out Ditto.
And as for how to deal with this Pokémon, Natsui had thought about it all night and already had a counter-strategy.
Ditto can instantly copy an opponent's cellular structure, reorganizing its own cells to take on the exact same appearance and abilities.
It could be said that whoever faced it would get to experience a "me vs. me" scenario.
Normally, dealing with such a Pokémon would be difficult for anyone. But Natsui currently had two Pokémon that were completely unafraid of its imitation.
The first of these, of course, was Haunter.
Even if Ditto transformed into Haunter and their abilities became the same, Haunter had lived for over two thousand years. Whether in terms of combat or other abilities, it could easily defeat Ditto.
Just its signature strange wind, which wasn't even a Pokémon move, was something Ditto could never imitate.
As for the other one…
Throwing out a Poké Ball, Natsui said calmly, "The first round is up to you. Go, Gyarados!"
"ROOOAR!!"
As the blue light faded, the enormous Gyarados appeared, and its sheer presence immediately gave the audience, both in the stadium and watching on TV, a taste of what true power was.
The roar it emitted directly drowned out the cheers of the more than twenty thousand spectators in the stadium!
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