Chapter 221:
"The Sand Attack hit Larvitar right in the face! Its accuracy dropped!"
"Larvitar used Bite, but it couldn't get a hold of Eevee!"
"What's that Eevee doing now? It lands a Swift! Larvitar's getting frustrated—it's using Retaliate! Oh, but Eevee dodged it!"
"Captivate! Eevee used Captivate! Just look at those eyes… hard to believe this is the same Eevee that just used Sand Attack and taunted Larvitar into a rage!"
"Eevee's talking again! Larvitar's seeing red! Its energy is spiking—amazing! It's even learned a new move!"
"What a shame… it still couldn't hit Hayashi Kaede's Eevee."
"And Eevee finishes with Return! That move packs real power, fueled by their bond! Larvitar's down for the count! You can truly see the high friendship between Eevee and Hayashi Kaede!"
...
Accompanied by Kondō Satoshi's commentary, the audience's perception of the Eevee on the field began to shift.
Cute Eevee? Yeah, right...
As expected…This trainer doesn't have a single ordinary Pokémon.
That Eevee… it actually provoked Larvitar into a complete frenzy...
...
On the field, Hayashi Kaede nodded to the opposing trainer. After a moment of mutual understanding tinged with regret, he picked up Little Nine—who'd only lost a few tufts of fur—and returned to the contestants' area. He gently tugged its ear and asked, "How did it feel?"
"Eevee, Eevee~" (It was fun~ Hehe, it was so clueless~)
Little Nine was still replaying the battle in its head, a playful smile lingering on its face.
Seeing this, Hayashi Kaede could only shake his head with a wry smile. "And you say you weren't up to any mischief…"
Today, he felt as though he'd gotten to know this Eevee—the same one who once led its friends on a 'running away from home' adventure—all over again.
Little Nine stopped talking, hopped out of his arms, and went to find its friends.
After the quarter-finals came the audience challenge segment.
Watching the matches so far, some trainers in the crowd who hadn't entered the main tournament were itching to give it a try, thinking, "I could do that too."
They began issuing challenges to the top four contestants.
Interestingly, the other three top trainers each received several challengers.
Hayashi Kaede, however, had none.
Probably because everyone feared he'd pull another unexpected trick.
After all the earlier matches, it was clear to everyone that, within the rules, the remaining trainers were the most exceptional young talents in Nagisuna City.
Hayashi Kaede was quite content with the peace and quiet. As he listened to the crowd's chatter, his gaze drifted toward Jirachi nearby.
So far, Jirachi had been awake for two and a half days.
The problem of how to keep it active remained unsolved.
Jirachi required an enormous amount of energy just to stay in this world.
After giving Jirachi the Rare Candies, Hayashi Kaede had already thought of one Pokémon that might hold the answer:
Victini, said to possess infinite energy.
But where could he find one?
The Victini he remembered from his knowledge was far away—thousands of miles distant—and trapped within a seal.
And while Victini's "infinite energy" was legendary, Hayashi Kaede believed it represented a specific principle or law, written into its very existence.
Jirachi's wish-granting ability was one such law. Victini's infinite energy was likely another.
He recalled the events of "Victini and the Black/White Hero", where the king had built sealing pillars around Victini to concentrate its power and stabilize the Dragon Force.
He couldn't be sure which principle would supersede the other.
Or rather, without testing, no one could know whether the fundamental rule bestowed upon Victini by Arceus was "stronger" than the energy rule governing Jirachi's existence.
Unless it was tested, of course.
Naturally, if one could summon Arceus itself for help, awakening Jirachi would probably be trivial.
But…
The moment the thought of calling upon Arceus crossed Hayashi Kaede's mind, he couldn't help but chuckle at himself.
Victini seemed like a far more plausible hope.
So—how to summon it?
Hayashi Kaede quickly thought of one method: a wish.
If Jirachi could summon Rayquaza, then perhaps Victini could also be summoned through a wish.
The Victini from the movie, as he recalled, had a particular fondness for macarons.
If he wanted to ask for its help, he should prepare some macarons first.
With that thought in mind,
Hayashi Kaede looked at Jirachi and called out, "Jirachi?"
"Jirachi?"
Jirachi, pulled from its focus on the matches, tilted its head in confusion. "Jirachi?" (What is it?)
"It's like this—on the evening of the fifth day, I'd like to ask for your help to make a wish."
"Okay, okay~! What are we wishing for?" Jirachi's eyes sparkled with curiosity.
"Let's talk about it when the fifth day comes," Hayashi Kaede said with a small smile, keeping the details to himself.
There were simply too many uncertainties. He couldn't guarantee Victini would appear, or that it would agree to help provide energy for Jirachi is possible, or that such energy would truly allow Jirachi to live normally.
As he pondered this, the sound of a bell pulled him back to the present.
He looked up—the audience challenge segment had ended.
It was time for the semi-finals.
Four contestants remained.
The other trainers' representative Pokémon were all around level 37 in energy.
A Breloom, a Swellow, and an Electivire.
Facing opponents of this level was a bit awkward.
They weren't strong enough to train Blaziken or Alolan Vulpix, but using Eevee against them didn't seem right either.
In the end, Hayashi Kaede had no choice but to send out Blaziken and take them down one by one.
Semi-final 1: Swellow vs. Blaziken.
Winner: Blaziken.
Semi-final 2: Electivire vs. Breloom.
Winner: Breloom.
Then came the final match.
As the audience had hoped, Breloom faced off against the Fire-type Blaziken.
Against Blaziken, Breloom's Poison Powder and Leech Seed were practically useless.
A single Flamethrower burned away most of the spores.
When Breloom tried to close in with Fighting-type moves, it found that while Blaziken's technique was slightly rough, its raw strength was overwhelming.
Combined with Fire Punch and Blaze Kick, Breloom couldn't last long.
The final champion was, naturally, Blaziken.
The direct, hard-hitting match was immensely satisfying for the audience to watch.
"So good! That's how you deal with a Breloom! Show it what happens when it plays dirty!"
"Don't get me wrong—if during its match with Swampert, Breloom had fought head-on like this or used Bullet Seed, I wouldn't have thought its style was so annoying."
Next came the post-tournament interview.
This part was inevitable.
And, of course, the first to be interviewed was the champion himself.
At that moment, nearly everyone's eyes in the arena were fixed on Hayashi Kaede.