"What's that…?" Ash thought.
"I think it's from Paldea." Goh said.
"Hey Crobat, let's stay in for now. I'm sure that thing must know some Ice-type moves. But…"
"Dragon Dance!"
"Acrobatics!"
Crobat proved itself to be very quick and prevented Baxcalibur from beginning its surprisingly graceful dancing. Baxcalibur was a powerful pseudo-legendary Pokemon, one of the few that could keep pace with the legendary dogs of the Johto region, as described in Blackthorn lore.
Baxcalibur was able to catch Crobat at a pretty close range before firing an Ice Shard. The Poison/Flying-type was caught off-guard by the priority move, and it was hurt pretty badly.
"It's much stronger than even… my Mamoswine…" Dawn thought.
"Glaceon… we've kind of slacked off lately." May thought as well.
Crobat was able to continue its fighting, as Jira had it use Roost, while Stephen commanded another Ice Shard. The bat was significantly less affected while on the ground, protecting its wings and relaxing. After that, Crobat took its flight.
"Heat Wave!" Jira shouted.
"Glaive Rush!" Stephen responded.
"…"
"…"
"No… way…" Jira thought. "That thing is charging with no hesitation…"
"Crobat! Fly away!"
Crobat suddenly took its flight as Baxcalibur momentarily stopped its Glaive Rush while its orange aura was still surrounding it. Stephen smirked.
"One more Heat Wave!"
Crobat tried to once again release hot waves towards its opponent, which barely took any damage. Baxcalibur suddenly found the right angle and caught Crobat off-guard, sending it flying straight into the stadium's roof.
"Crobat is unable to battle! Baxcalibur wins!"
"And Stephen, ladies and gentlemen, is trying to make a comeback now! It's 4-4 as the battle between Galar and Johto is reaching its climax here!" the announcer said.
"Return, Crobat. You were great out there." Jira said. "Hey Stephen… is that?"
"Yes." he smirked. "That's Thermal Exchange. "You see, my Pokemon is not affected by Fire-type moves that well. And on top of that… you've now given it two attack boosts."
"Oh no." Ash and Jira thought at the same time.
"Baxcalibur surely seems like a powerful threat! It's powered up as it and Meganium are facing Jira's sleeping Gengar and his last Pokemon! Stephen doesn't seem to give up!"
"Looks like… it's time for you to set the stage, buddy." Jira smiled. "Weavile! Show them what you're made of!"
As Jira's ace appeared on the battlefield, it felt ready and willing to take on one of his Ice-type brethen. Weavile and Baxcalibur were proeficient users of freezing moves.
"Baxcalibur! Earthquake!" Stephen started.
"Weavile, try to jump high! Get on the other side of the stage!" Jira responded.
Baxcalibur shaked upon the entire stage as Weavile did its best to jump, performing a leap that could have amazed everyone in Pokemon Contests, as May, Dawn and Serena were all blown away. But this battle wasn't a contest – Jira felt he was destined to once again battle his friend he helped for two years now.
Weavile succesfully dodged Earthquake and was now facing Baxcalibur from behind. It charged forward and succesfully hit it with a Knock Off, dealing some damage.
"Weavile…" Ash thought.
"Low Kick!"
"Glaive Rush!"
"Thank you, Weavile. You found me back then. I thought you were one of those… malicious Pokemon I kept hearing about."
"Hmm… let's take advantage of that move," Jira said, "it looks like it leaves Baxcalibur open to attacks…"
"Ice Shard!" both shouted.
"I haven't really faced Dark-type Pokemon besides Weavile in such a long time, but my thoughts still remained that they aren't really Pokemon for me to train. I had a Scraggy and that was kind of it…"
"Triple Axel!"
"Dragon Dance!"
"But you and Latios are gold. You have all of my respect… I love you. Jira trains both of you so well. You treated my Pikachu just like Glaceon and Sylveon did, after all. Both of them love my buddy, together with Buneary…"
Weavile and Baxcalibur were both facing each other, feeling like they were ready to go for a finishing move.
"Weavile! Triple Axel!"
"Glaive Rush!" Baxcalibur heard its orders and charged towards Weavile one final time. The attacks collided and produced a massive explosion, at the end of which…
...it turned out that Weavile succesfully dodged the core of Glaive Rush and hit it with its third hit. Baxcalibur collapsed, revealing Glaive Rush's double-edged nature, and fainted.
"Baxcalibur is unable to battle! Weavile wins!"
"Return, Baxcalibur. Thank you."
"Weavile, return as well." Jira surprisingly said.
"What? You plan to…" Stephen spoke.
"Yeah."
"Gengar! Come on out!"
"Meganium! Let's go!" Stephen said, sending his starter Pokemon, his ace, one final time, facing his sleeping opponent. Gengar took a Sleep Powder earlier, and Jira was trying to employ a riskier strategy. He calculated that Meganium might be a very strong Pokemon in close range, and knocking out Latios was kind of a decent proof of that. After all, Gengar resisted Grass-type moves and was immune to Body Slam.
"Gengar. Try to listen to me." Jira spoke.
Gengar was still fast asleep, as Stephen had Meganium use Giga Drain. Meganium started to recover its health by hitting Gengar with three Giga Drains one after the other. Gengar was still sleeping…
"Gengar. Please…"
"One more Giga Drain!"
Meganium began to… stumble? It seemed like it couldn't use the move as purple aura surrounded it.
"That's…" Stephen thought.
"Yeah." Jira smirked. "Cursed Body."
"Looks like it still works even when it's fast asleep…" Stephen said. "But I'll still take advantage of your Gengar. Meganium, use-"
"Sludge Bomb!"
Stephen could not finish his phrase as a flurry of poisonous bombs were flying towards the Grass-type Pokemon. Gengar was finally back as it started hearing his trainer's strong words. Meganium was seriously hit and all the Giga Drain effort was gone.
"That's… unexpected." Stephen smirked.
"Grab Gengar with your vines!"
"Gengar, let Meganium do it." Jira said.
As Meganium held Gengar, it dragged it close as it was preparing a Razor Leaf. Gengar responded with Dazzling Gleam as its Fairy-type energy surrounded the vines and were dealing continous damage to Meganium.
Nevertheless, the Grass-type Pokemon managed to endure and shot its Razor Leaf at point blank, causing a big explosion.
But that wasn't enough to hit Gengar, as Jira had it use Shadow Ball. Stephen smiled as Meganium countered with one more Razor Leaf, knocking Gengar down to its last drop of energy.
"Gengar! Let's try to end it now. Charge up a Shadow Ball!"
"Meganium! One more Razor Leaf! Let's charge it up as well!"
"We're gonna see…"
"Jira and Stephen…"
"Put their all…"
"GO!" they shouted.
"…"
"…"
"What happened…?" Misty thought.
The dust settled, and Meganium and Gengar both collapsed to the ground. Moments of silence were covering the stadium. The referee, standing on top of Aegislash, began to speak…
"Meganium and Gengar are both unable to-"
"...me…"
Meganium was heavily, heavily weakened, but it got up with its last drop of strength. Gengar remained motionless on the ground.
"Gengar is unable to battle! Meganium wins!"
"Oh! It looks like we're gonna have quite the climax!" the announcer spoke. "It's now 5-5!"
"Jira! You can't lose now, idiot!" Ash thought.
"Return, Gengar. You've impressed me." Jira said. "So it comes down to these two, eh?"
"…"
"What's… wrong?"
"No…"
"What do you mean?"
"Thank you, Meganium…" Stephen spoke softly. Meganium felt like it couldn't do it anymore. It was tumbling with no armor to back it up…
"Weavile! Let's get them!" Jira shouted.
"Wait? Why does Meganium do nothing there?"
"...me…"
"I got you since you were such a small Chikorita. I have you for ten years now… you've done so well. You're my best friend and this is all I can… do for you. You've taken out a legendary Pokemon…"
"Idiot!" Jira shouted. "Why are you giving up?!"
"Jira…" Stephen said. "I… I can't do it anymore."
"Why is that?"
"I know my Meganium's limits…"
"No, you don't. Tell Meganium to hit my Weavile."
"…"
"…"
"Razor Leaf!"
Meganium, after about 5 seconds of puffing and huffing, tried to unleash its grass-type move. But its body was not listening anymore. Meganium collapsed to the ground before barely making an eye contact with the referee to let it know it could still fight.
"Giga Drain! Let's recover some health!" Stephen said in desperation.
As Meganium tried to use its move to perken up… that purple aura struck again. Cursed Body was still there. There was no point for Stephen to had Meganium use Body Slam, as it was barely getting up at this point.
"Then let's bet it all on this… Sleep Powder." Stephen spoke very softly.
Meganium was able to release very weak powders as it tried to redirect them towards Weavile. The attack missed badly and made the Grass-type Pokemon… put itself to sleep.
"Look… I've tried, Jira…" Stephen said.
Jira spoke no words… and had Weavile finish it off with Low Kick. Weavile did its final shot.
"Meganium…"
"Meganium is unable to battle. Weavile wins! That means the victory goes to Jira of Postwick Town!"
"…"
"…"
Stephen did not pick up the pokeball, and instead walked forward towards Meganium and Weavile. He picked up Meganium as it woke up inside his arms.
"Thank you…" he spoke with tears in his eyes. "…"
"Stephen." Jira said. "You're… strong."
"Jira. Why did you do that? Why didn't you finish me off?"
"I wanted to know something… it looks like you're not giving up that easily, after all."
"What do you mean?"
"When I told you to hit Weavile, you did your best. That's what matters. You must meet Ash Ketchum."
"Jira…"
"I know him. He's my friend."
Ash and his friends were applauding from the stands as Ash himself was feeling ready for the final battle against Jira. Two years in the making, the battle would determine the winner of the Galarian Summit Tournament!