Part XLVI: Facing One's Own Strategy

Ash and Misty walked out of their respective sides and approached their starting positions for the first Wallace Cup semifinal to the cheers of the crowd. Ash smiled at his girlfriend who smiled back but he could see the determination in Misty's eyes, she was here to beat him and nothing would stop her. This was their second Contest battle and Ash was the one who had the lead between them, Misty wasn't going to hold back but neither was he. It wasn't fair to her and Ash knew that Misty would push him harder than anyone else in he had faced so far.

"Our second fight." Ash said as they reached their starting points and calling out to his girlfriend. "We should probably figure out a better way to deal with this."

"That wasn't funny the first-time babe." Misty said with a role of her eyes but she still smiled, it was at least cute of Ash to acknowledge their love like this but he was about to go down and he didn't even know it. "But this time there will be no surprises. There will be no sudden evolutions. This time I'm ready for anything Ash Ketchum."

"Oh but I like surprises." Ash said with a grin. "They make things interesting and unpredictable just as a battle should be."

"True but I also know all yours." Misty said back with her own grin. "You got Zoey by shocking her with Porygon2 and taking full control of the battle from the start but that wouldn't work on me. I also know how you're using the Wallace Cup because it's just like any other Contest for you and I know how you use Contests. Perks of dating you is that I know how you think so I know what and who's coming."

"Really well then we shall see." Ash said as he pulled out his Poke Ball impressed by the effort Misty had put into their battle but she had to back up her words to truly amaze him. "Just like last time I'm not holding back against you, I owe you to bring my best. If you want that Aqua Ribbon you will have to go through me."

"That's just what I want from you." Misty said with a wide smile, Ash was about to make her earn the Aqua Ribbon just as he should and she trusted Ash because he always brought out the best in everyone, today it was her turn. "I lost to you in a Contest once before, not again. I need to get better and this is just the start."

"Well folks, the first semifinal of the Wallace Cup is about to start." Vivian said ending their little banter and bringing their attention to the impending match. "And once again we have a great matchup for you that continues to further just how amazing this Cup has been because we have a rematch of the recent, epic, HopHopHop Town final. That was a match that was both an upset and the best match on any circuit this year so far."

The crowd cheered even louder at this. Several of them had given the crowd a show to remember and after yesterday it was expected that TV records for the Wallace Cup would be broken as the world over tuned in to see who won the prestigious Contest that had somehow outdone itself this year.

"So let's meet the first 2 coordinators in the semifinals." Vivian said as she gestured to Misty. "On this side is someone who needs no introduction. She's known as the Prodigy of Sinnoh because she is a two-time Grand Festival finalist, the two-time defending champion of the Wallace Cup, winner of 12 ribbons in 3 regions and one of the favorites to win the Ribbon Cup this year on Kanto Circuit. From Twinleaf Town in Sinnoh, it's Misty!"

The crowd went wild at this as they cheered for Misty once Vivian was done with her introduction. She was a fan favorite on the circuit and at the Wallace Cup for good reasons and many wanted to see her claim her 3rd Aqua Ribbon. However, success breeds resentment and there was a vocal minority of fans who either supported May as the hometown girl or Ash because they wanted the upset who booed Misty not that she minded. Misty was fine with the negative reaction; it kept her honest and she would silence them soon enough.

"And on the other side we have the winner of that HopHopHop Town Ribbon in his epic and shocking upset of Misty." Vivian said as she gestured to Ash. "From Pallet Town in Kanto and after his recent upsets of both Misty and Zoey yesterday, the two biggest upsets this year, he's now known on the circuit as the Upset of Kanto. Give it up for Ash!"

Ash blinked at that announcement. No one had given him a nickname until now and frankly he didn't want it. He was just here to have fun, train, bond with his Pokémon and see how well he could do. If he won he won, if he lost he lost it was as simple. The fact that he had a small fan base surprised him but they would be disappointed when he didn't compete in many more Contests unless he had Pokémon that needed experience. They just weren't his thing. They were fun and a great way of outside the box training but they weren't for him.

"Also folk, if you didn't pick already, these two are dating." Vivian said with a smile

The crowd went wild at that news. The fact that this, in their minds, was a budding rivalry between a juggernaut on the scene in Misty and the upstart of the year in Ash was one thing but them dating just added a whole new level to the match. It was big for them and they were eager to see how the second matchup between the couple faired.

"Begin!" Vivian yelled to start the match.

"Gengar, I choose you." Ash said as he hurled his Poke Ball into the air.

"Espeon, spotlight!" Misty yelled with a more flourished throw as she grinned at Ash's choice. "I knew you would chose Gengar Ash. You're using the Wallace Cup as a way to practice with, and get experience for, your new Pokémon. Gengar is the only one left so it was the logical assumption that you would go with it."

Ash's eyes went wide for a moment as the balls burst open and the seals triggered. Misty had successfully predicted his Pokémon choice because she knew him so well and had been paying attention to what he was doing. Ash hadn't told anyone he was going to use Gengar but Misty had guessed, correctly and frankly easily, who it would be and she had chosen her best Pokémon for this matchup. Gengar had advantages over Espeon but so too did Espeon over Gengar which balanced it out, sometimes having a secondary type wasn't a good thing.

Gengar's entrance just as Ash had envisioned it given the fact that he had chosen a seal to represent Gengar's nature and favorite thing to do. As soon as the ball burst a pitch-black shadow formed above Ash before a pair of red eyes and a wide, white, smile materialized in it as Gengar laughed manically from within the shadow. As the seal's effect wore off and the shadow faded, Ash's lighter colored Gengar was left smirking there floating in midair ready for battle.

The crowd gasped at that but their reaction was muted as soon as they saw Espeon's entrance. The seal itself wasn't anything much. Misty had gone with a simple heart seal that sent out a bunch of pink hearts similar to an Attract attack though the stars that burst forth from the ball at the same time were surprising to many as they weren't part of the seal but added to it well. Then Espeon herself emerged and spun in the air to land gracefully in front of Misty and mewl her challenge at Gengar. As soon as the crowd saw the bright green Pokémon they gasped.

"I don't believe it." Vivian said her own eyes wide while the judges, including Wallace, had their jaws open at the sight. "That's a shiny Espeon, that's beyond rare and right up there with Ash's Porygon2 for uniqueness. What a showing and that's after Ash revealed an odd colored Gengar. This rivalry just gets better and better."

"Then let's start this with a hit." Ash said with a grin. "Gengar Night Shade! You don't have Pinsir to block this one Misty."

"No I don't but again this is what I expected from you, it's how you battle with Gengar." Misty said as the purple and black beams shot out of Gengar's eyes, the biggest advantage of watching all of Ash's matches was that she knew his style and had made sure to study how he battled after her loss just in case. "Espeon, you won't be able to dodge that and your attacks aren't going to do much to block it so take it but trust me, that will be the only hit Ash gets on you."

Espeon did trust her trainer, it was that trust and friendship that had given her the power to evolve into an Espeon to begin with. Now, as she braced herself, it was time to trust her trainer again, she knew that Misty would bring her victory. The Night Shade attack slammed into her side and she mewled uncontrollably as the pain hit her, staggering her back a few paces as Misty lost points.

Still it wasn't nearly enough to knock her out. The ghost type attack may have hurt but it had a set damage amount which was good, if it didn't then super effective type attack would have been a problem for her.

"Quick Attack." Misty ordered and while Espeon knew it wouldn't work she again trusted that Misty knew what she was doing. "Just trust me Espeon, I know what I'm doing."

"How will that work?" Ash asked as he looked at Misty in confusion though there was a tickle in his brain at this as if he had seen it before somewhere and that he should be worried. "Gengar, stay there, that attack won't affect you."

Gengar just laughed at his foolish foe, his trainer's mate's recently evolved psychic type, as Espeon launched herself at him .She was a green blur as she shot at Gengar faster than he could have dodged, not that he would have wanted to, it wasn't going to affect him so there was no need to waste the energy needed to avoid it.

That, however, was exactly what Misty was planning on. Misty thought that she'd seen Ash had do something similar with Pikachu against Fantina's Gengar and if not it was still something he would totally do in battle so this should work. Plus her last battle with Ash had reminded her how normal type moves didn't work on ghost types so all Misty had to do was think like Ash to be able to turn a disadvantage like that into an advantage.

That was exactly what she was going to do as Espeon's other attacks were perfect for battling Gengar, so long as her assumption was correct that was. That was why she was ready to complete the combo as soon as Espeon shot through Gengar not affecting him at all and only costing her a few points that were worth the sacrifice.

"Now Psybeam! Hit Gengar from behind!" Misty ordered and before Ash or Gengar could reach Espeon flipped in the air and while upside down she shot out the peculiar ray from her orb with a grin, this was why she trusted Misty so deeply, her trainer knew what she was doing. "yes! That went just as I planned. You're amazing Espeon!"

Gengar was too close and surprised to dodge it. The ray slammed into his side as he was turning in confusing to face Espeon just before the attack hit and blasted him down in a wail of pain. Gengar slammed into the water but thanks to his light body he just bounced off wet with a spin.

Gengar was hurt from the super effective attack as Ash lost points but Misty wasn't done. She had a brief moment as Ash processed her move, well Ash-like, attack, probably trying to figure out why he knew it to finish her special combo for ghost types. She just hoped she'd judged Gengar's personality correctly because if not Ash would counter and she'd have to completely readjust her strategy.

"Attract!" Misty yelled.

"Block it with Venoshock." Ash ordered as he recovered from sudden combo Misty had sprung on him, he could figure out where he'd seen that move from before. "Best to not risk letting that move hit."

By this point Espeon had righted herself in the air and was falling to land in front of Ash. while still falling she gave Gengar a seductive wink and the hearts shot out of her eye at the still stunned Pokémon. The potential side effect of Psybeam, confusion, hadn't taken hold which was good but the force had rattled Gengar enough that he didn't have the time to get the Venoshock off. It started but before he could throw it at the hearts that had surrounded him and it was too late to stop them.

The hearts sped up as they encircled and closed on Gengar, his attack forgotten as he looked at them with wide eyes knowing what would happen when they hit. When they did, the result was, well, there wasn't one. Gengar blinked in confusion as the move went through him and didn't do anything. Both Ash and Misty were surprised by this but it was Misty who was the first to react, she'd already known what she would do when Attract hit, she could question why it had failed later.

"Shadow Ball!" Misty yelled. "Back to back Espeon. This is it."

"What is going on?" Ash asked in confusion to himself, he'd expected either Gengar to be infatuated or a more spectacular failure but nothing happened and Misty was the first to recover so Ash had to get back in the battle. "Gengar, don't question that. Psychic!"

Unfortunately Ash had taken too long to recover, Misty's aggressive attack strategy that was oddly familiar had thrown Ash more than he cared to admit. Ash had to give it to his girlfriend, she had really used all of his own tricks against him and now she had him right where she wanted and Ash was about to see how bad that hesitation had been.

"Abandon that Psychic and dodge that Shadow Ball." Ash ordered as soon as he realized that Misty had him, alas his mixed orders confused Gengar and only made it worse.

Espeon had opened her mouth and the ball of ghost type power shot out and slammed into Gengar's face while he was debating which order his trainer wanted him to follow. The force of the blast sent him backwards to skim along the surface of the water towards Misty. There was one advantage to this, the successful hit snapped Ash back to the moment and he instantly ordered what he needed to order to get back into this.

"Gengar, Night Shade!" Ash ordered hoping it would force Misty to abort while landing a hit of his own but the second Shadow Ball was already out by this point.

As Gengar got up, hovering just above the surface of the water as he dripped water back into the pool while his eyes flashed purple and black but it was too late. The second Shadow Ball had been fired seconds after the first and this one slammed into Gengar's chest and spun him around. Gengar was good, he knew it, he was also strong and durable but 3 super effective attacks in a row were too much for him. He fainted mid spin before landing on the water with a splash that engulfed him.

When the water subsided, Gengar was floating on his back on the surface his face set with a scowl and his eyes swirls. As soon as the judges saw this the Xs went off and the crowd either cheered or sat in in stunned silence at the display Misty had just shown. She had won with a little over half the time left.

"And Misty has won by Battle Off." Vivian said to the crowd. "And what a battle that was. Talk about a quick revenge that was a little reminiscent of how Ash handled Zoey yesterday. With this, Misty has now booked herself in the final of the Wallace Cup for the third year in a row. Will the trend of the last few years continue? We will know that answer soon?"

"Gengar return." Ash said recalling Gengar as he shook his head, admonishing himself for getting so lost in that battle but how could he, he'd never seen Misty employ a strategy like that, that was usually his strategy and that's when it hit Ash. "You did well Gengar, I think Misty just used my own tactics against me in that one and I was so thrown off by them that I really messed up."

"Oh I totally did." Misty said as she recalled Espeon, they would celebrate later as she was on the other side of the pool with Ash so couldn't right now before she gave her boyfriend a cheeky wink. "I think you did something similar against Fantina in your gym battle with her and I remembered how Pinsir's normal type move didn't work in HopHopHop Town. After that I was prepared and could use that to my advantage against you should you use Gengar, it's what you would have done after all. Once it worked, I knew I had you and just had to press my advantage."

"Well you definitely did that." Ash agreed impressed at Misty's strategy, it had worked perfectly, well almost perfectly. "It would have been better if Attract had worked."

"Yeah I guess Gengar is female but that didn't look like a failure of the attack, more that it didn't work at all which I don't understand." Misty admitted, that had been her one mistake but she'd been able to adapt before Ash and still win it. "I had planned to emulate how you use it with Snivy but it didn't work. Gengar is probably more powerful that Espeon at the moment but I have super effective moves that I can use, I just needed creative ways to land them and well you are the king of creativity so I just put myself in your shoes and did what you would do."

"I'm flattered." Ash said with a grin, it was clear that Misty had grown more than he realized and had begun to branch out when facing someone who wouldn't fight the way she was expecting in a Contest battle. "Let's get back and watch the next match. You can tell me more then."

"Maybe, a girl's gotta have her secrets though." Misty said as she turned and left to the cheering crowd while Ash just shook his head and walked out as well.

Ash passed Iris and gave her a reassuring smile and wished her luck in her upcoming match against May. She had a determined look on her face but relaxed a little at Ash's support as he passed. It was going to be a tough match for sure but Iris could surprise them all.

Meanwhile Misty smiled as she passed May who smiled back, they didn't need to say anything, their history in the Wallace Cup spoke for itself. Misty wanted May in the final though for more reasons than May realized.

It was time to watch the other semifinal and Misty had a feeling that this might not be as easy as some thought. Iris was a wildcard, especially if she used one of her Unova Pokémon, so May couldn't take it easy. It was going to be a good match for sure. Misty already had her revenge for HopHopHop Town, now she wanted her 3rd Aqua Ribbon. Soon she would know who would challenge her for it.


May smiled back at Misty as she passed. Her friend had just beaten Ash in impressive fashion, mimicking his own styles while looking graceful and calm at the same time despite that surprise with Attract. Over the week May watch the clip of Ash's win over Misty and saw how she'd been rattled at the end of it.

This time, Misty had taken back that control in quick revenge and was ready for the final. May just needed to reach it to face her again and this time she would beat Misty for the Aqua Ribbon. She just had to get past Iris who she knew little about in terms of style, though Iris clearly had talent, but May had her own trick ready for the battle, it would just require a different style to pull off.

Iris for her part was nervous as she waited to go out for her semifinal. She'd gotten further than she'd expected though even she knew that it was because of the draw and not her skill as a coordinator given the fact that she wasn't one.

Cilan had been an easy match, his own oddities and insistence on doing evaluations had been his downfall. Then she'd faced Georgia and that hadn't been a battle; it had been war. The quarters could have gone anyway but broke for Iris, this time.

The semis were different. Iris was the surprise of the tournament getting this far but she was about to face not only a Top Coordinator and two-time Wallace Cup finalist, but the hometown favorite in May who was one of the best coordinators in the Cup. This was going to be tough.

Thankfully Ash had smiled and wished her luck the way he always did with his friends despite his own loss to Misty. Iris knew he would have done the same for May and she held no feelings towards Ash other than friendship but it had reassured her and put her nerves at ease. She was here for fun and enjoy the experience before hunting Hoenn for dragon types to train. She was just going to go out and have some fun just as she planned when she agreed to enter the Wallace Cup. Plus she had brought in a cheeky friend for this battle that wouldn't be what May was expecting.

Iris and May walked out of their wings and to their positions as the crowd cheered their entrance to the battle stage. They'd seen a lot of epic battles so far and while May had had an easy path to the semis, Iris had had a few tough ones and after her and Georgia's brawl there were some expectations for her to give May a challenge. People were wondering how May would handle Iris and vice-versa.

"I just want to say congratulations Iris." May called out to her with a smile at her new friend, her annoyance with Iris getting through to Ash and making him realize his feelings for Misty not withstanding but May didn't hold that against Iris, she was just being herself. "You've done amazing, I don't think I could have done this, especially if my first Contest was the Wallace Cup. You should consider being a coordinator, you clearly have the talent to do well on a circuit."

"Thanks May, that means a lot." Iris said and she meant it, May's reputation preceded her so Iris would listen to her and perhaps she could try Contests in a year or two's time when she'd caught more dragon types. "I'm having a lot of fun so win or lose I'm going to enjoy this."

"Good attitude but know that I won't hold back against you." May said as she pulled out her Poke ball. "This is my city, my region, and my passion. I've failed the last two times to get the Aqua Ribbon and both times it's been Misty who's denied me it. I want Misty, I want to face her again and this time I will beat her, you're unfortunately in the way."

"I don't expect you to go easy on me so I'll make this as hard as possible." Iris said as she removed the Poke Ball from her sleeve, the one useful aspect of her stupid getup. "If you want' Misty then you're going to have to beat me first. So let's get this started May. It's your turn to prevent an upset."

"Alright ladies calm down, banter time is over, it's time for the second semifinal." Vivian said good naturedly before raising an arm to Iris's side. "And folks, we have a good one for you. First up, the surprise coordinator of the Wallace Cup with two impressive victories under her belt that left us amazed despite this being her debut. From the Village of Dragons in faraway Unova, it's Iris."

Iris got a good number of cheers from the fans, especially those who wanted an upset or weren't from Petalburg City and had no loyalty to May. Iris was the underdog, the person who shouldn't be here but was because of two wins that had been epic battles. Those wins had shown that a Contest battle didn't have to be just about grace but power and strength as well, exemplified by her battle with Georgia.

"And on the other side it's the coordinator that many of you all know well." Vivian said as she gestured to May, raising her voice to be heard over the din of the crowd. "The hometown girl, the Princess of Hoenn who won the last Sinnoh Grand Festival and became a Top Coordinator. However, she's never won the Wallace Cup but has come up just short each of the last two years and is seeking a third chance at the Aqua Ribbon, this time it's in her hometown. Give your hometown cheers to May."

This time the crowd went wild and why not, May was the local hero and they wanted her to win not just over Iris but the entire Wallace Cup and Iris could respect that, it didn't intimidate her in the slightest. May had been so close in the past so many wanted her to come out on top this time, especially given the fact that she was from the host city. Iris didn't care about any of that, she was going to do her best to upset May.

"Begin!" Vivian yelled.

"Emolga, you're up!" Iris said throwing out her Poke Ball.

"Doublade, on stage!" May said throwing out her own Poke Ball.

"What's that Pokémon?" Iris asked confused, she'd never heard of that Pokémon before. "You didn't mention it this week May."

Emolga was the first out when she burst forth in a thunderstorm seal to glide and hover in front of Iris. Iris had sent Altaria home briefly for an evaluation and brought back her cheeky, mischievous, and tricky Emolga for this battle. The electric and flying type Pokémon was a handful and May wouldn't know what hit her when Emolga got into action. Of course then May's Pokémon appeared and Iris's confusion deepened.

May's seal created a sheet of wood that was instantly cut apart by a pair of swords as if it was made of paper. That alone surprised Iris. Then she saw the Pokémon hovering in the air before her when the wood fell away.

It was one of the oddest Pokémon Iris had ever seen. There was no other way to describe it, it was a floating pair of sheathed swords in brown sheathes with crescent hilts and an eye in the center of each hilt. It seemed to be on a shield at its back. The last thing was a pair of streamers coming from the base of the handle in a purple color with a ping, frayed end that seemed to look like hands. Iris had to pull out her pokedex and scan it just to figure out what it was.

"Insufficient data." The pokedex chimed with a beeping sound shocking Iris, it didn't know what this Pokémon was.

"Um I agree with Iris, what is that Pokémon?" Vivian asked staring at it. "I don't think one has ever been used in a Contest before

"Doublade is a second stage ghost and steel type from Kalos." May said with a grin at the surprise, it was what she was going for. "I was saving it for the right moment and this is it. I knew that you would go with either a dragon or a Unova, or both, so I wanted something that could surprise you Iris. Meet my second catch from Kalos and the only one that I could really use in the Wallace Cup as the other two are either bad with water or don't have the move set for it. Though I will say that wasn't the type of Pokémon I was expecting Iris."

"No one expects my Emolga when she gets going." Iris said with a grin. "I am surprised with the Doublade but surprise alone won't win. Emolga, Attract. Remind everyone why Ash's Snivy isn't the only one who is a master of feminine charms."

"Aerial Ace." May countered as Emolga winked and sent out her favorite move at the bizarre thing in front of her, she would fry Iris later for having her use her Attract on it as it was an injustice to her beauty.

Doublade drew its swords, an odd sight as it seemed to do so with some psychic ability and shot forward at the hearts at full speed. May didn't seem to be phased by them and she showed that as the hearts passed clean through and did nothing to Doublade, though it took points from Iris. It was the exact same reaction as had happened earlier when Misty had tried to use Espeon's Attract on Ash's Gengar.

Emolga was just as surprised as she tried to fly away but Aerial Ace didn't miss and she was slashed with it hard sending her tumbling away only to right herself as she glided away. She glared at the other Pokémon before ranting at it for daring mess her fur up. Now it was personal.

"How?" Iris asked her eyes wide at the move's failure. "Does it not have a gender."

"Honestly I don't know whether a Doublade has a gender but I don't think so." May said with a shrug. "But that's not why Attract failed. Isn't Attract a normal type move?"

"Yeah it…" Iris said before she face palmed at the realization. "Is. Dang, that means it doesn't work because Doublade is a ghost type, I should have realized that when Espeon's didn't work on Gengar earlier. Well, with the other moves Emolga knows, that leaves me with only one option. Discharge!"

"Emolga!" Emolga yelled as she discharged all her electricity with as much power as she could, she was going to take this thing down now, no one rejected her Attract.

May grimaced as Doublade took the hit and electric type moves were some of the few that at least maintained their damage potential against her Doublade, this battle was going to be tougher than she expected given Emolga's attack. Plus Doublade's ability meant all hits landed. Still, May knew she had this, she just needed to get the attacks off as she lost points, she had the advantage with the first hit and could outlast Emolga. Doublade was a high risk, high reward choice but it was her only Kalos choice she could use.

"Doublade, Night Slash!" May ordered.

"Dodge it Emolga and use Discharge again." Iris called, this was now going to be a battle of dodging and using Discharge while hoping that Emolga didn't feint and she won on points. "Show May and Doublade who is the queen of the skies."

"There's no use dodging Iris." May said shaking her head, she may as well tell Iris what the battle was going to be, it was only fair. "Not against my Doublade."

"Huh?" Iris asked confused by May's statement. "How so?"

Before May could explain, Doublade lunged forward and slashed its swords into Emolga again. She wailed as she was sent to the water but she extended her arms and glided along the surface with her wings before flipping up sent out another Discharge that landed and caused damage and points from May. She'd lost almost half now but Iris had lost more than half thanks to the failed Attract.

"I know Doublade's ability and it's, absolutely terrible pun not intended, a double-bladed sword." May said wincing at the pun as Doublade shook off the attack and floated up to glare, at least that's what it looked like, at Emolga. "It's called No Guard and it ensures that all Doublade's attacks land but the cost is that all attacks aimed at it land as well. The only reason why Attract didn't work at all is typing."

"Oh." Iris said her eyes wide as Vivian gasped and rattled off commentary at that for the crowd, it was not a tactic that May was known for and the battle had suddenly shifted from a Contest battle to something closer to a normal battle. "I see. Yeah that's an interesting ability for sure. Well then, looks like this just became a battle of endurance and stamina because Emolga and I can go for days."

"Good, cos so can we." May said with a grin as she got into it, it was time to showcase a new style anyway and Doublade allowed May to do that. "Doublade, Shadow Sneak."

"Emolga, we can't dodge but neither can it." Iris ordered. "Discharge! Show that you are stronger and more resilient than it"

"Emolga, emo, emo, Emolga, emo." Emolga chittered angrily at Iris as she built up the Discharge and Iris knew that she was going to get it later from her temperamental Pokémon.

"I know I'm sorry, I don't choose your opponents though." Iris said to her Pokémon as she flew past her. "Plus I didn't know that May would use a Pokémon with that ability."

That was all they got out as Doublade's shadow extended, got behind Emolga and slammed into her back. She showed great resilience as she rolled with the hit and didn't go down, though she lost altitude in the process, but she was clearly nearing her limit. Still, she got the Discharge off and Doublade too was damaged keeping the score roughly the same with the difference being the failed Attract.

"Finish this with Iron Head." May ordered knowing that Emolga had at best 2 more hits to take but so did Doublade so it was now down to the wire. "There's not much left in this battle, hold in there Doublade."

"Discharge!" Iris ordered; she'd have liked to use Volt Switch but the nature of the battle made it impossible. "I know you can hold out Emolga."

Emolga built the electricity as Doublade sheathed its swords charged at her as fast as it could. It looked like it could be close but in the end it wasn't. Doublade slammed into Emolga and sent her tumbling back and towards Iris before she got her attack got off. The good sign was that Doublade was sparking and clearly paralyzed giving Iris an advantage if the paralysis was triggered and confirming that Emolga's ability was Static.

The bad sign was that Emolga wasn't recovering, she'd gone limp after the hit. A second later she slammed into the platform before Iris and rolled to Iris's feet. Iris sighed and looked down to see Emolga on her side, her wing lying over her body and her eyes swirls. The Xs went off and the battle was over.

"And May has won with a Battle Off with a minute and a half to go and has advanced to her third straight Wallace Cup final." Vivian said to the cheering crowd. "That was closer than most of us probably thought thanks to the interesting ability that Doublade has. It was a great match but that is just what we have come to expect from Iris."

"Emolga return." Iris said with a smile recalling her Pokémon and knowing that once Emolga was healed she'd burst out, give Iris a peace of her mind, and then fry her for this battle not that Iris didn't at least slightly deserve it. "You did well girl, that wasn't a foe we'd faced before so we knew little going in and you held your own really well. We were one hit away from victory and with your ability triggering we had a great shot. You will get stronger, I promise."

"Probably." May called out as she recalled Doublade and thanked it for the win. "That was well done Iris. That paralysis had me and if Emolga hadn't fainted and the paralysis kicked in on the next move, you would have won. I had about two more hits to take in that matchup so if Emolga had lasted, you would have had me. We should do this again with other Pokémon who don't limit how the battle can be because of their abilities/ I'd like to see more of your skills."

"Thanks May, I'd like that." Iris said with a smile. "You should probably head back and wait; Misty and Ash will want to congratulate you and you need to get ready for the final. I need to get this thing off me and you know how long that will take."

"Be as quick as possible." May said with a laugh. "The final is coming up and you won't want to miss it, trust me. Misty and I are about to put on a show."

"I know, good luck." Iris said before she turned and walked out, smiling at herself for her success.

Iris had come into the Wallace Cup with no experience and the intention to just have some fun in her first Contest. It had been better than she could have ever expected. She'd had a great time, shown off Seadra, beaten Cilan which was fun and taken down Georgia fair and square to reach the semifinals against the odds. She had even given a Top Coordinator a run for her money with Emolga against a Pokémon she'd never seen before.

All in all it was a good showing for her, maybe she'd have to check a few more Contests out while she and Cilan traveled Hoenn and see how they were outside the special circumstances of Wallace Cup. First though, she had to get out of this monstrosity and watch her new and old friends face off in the final.

May for her part walked away to the cheers of the crowd as Vivian gave her closing words and a short break began before the final. She wanted to get back to the waiting room and see Misty as they got ready for their third straight Wallace Cup final matchup.

This time, however, May had no intention of losing. Misty wasn't going to get her like she did last year when she'd rekindled May's love for Ash. Even knowing that Misty had beaten her to Ash didn't faze May. There would be nothing that Misty could do to get the upper hand. Today May won the Aqua Ribbon at last.


"And there you have it!" Vivian said as May and Iris left the stage while Ash and Misty watched the TV from the waiting room enjoying the interesting match between May and Iris, it had been a good match and closer than expected though Doublade's ability had ensured that. "The final is set and for the third year in a row Misty, the Prodigy of Sinnoh, will face off against May, the Princess of Hoenn. We are one match away from awarding the Aqua Ribbon. We will now take a short break for lunch. When we return, the final of the Wallace Cup!"

Misty and Ash were the only ones in the waiting room watching though May would be there momentarily while Iris was probably already changing out of her formal clothes, something Ash would do after congratulating May. After that he'd leave the girls alone to get ready. He couldn't wait to watch the final.

Misty knew that now was the time, it was perfect. She had a break where she and May could be alone before they faced off in the Wallace Cup final. This was the moment Misty was waiting for. It was time to confront her third rival.