The semi-finals came next, and Dawn turned out to be going up against Zoey – whose Buizel was ready and raring to go, clapping his paws together before launching into an Aqua Jet as soon as time began.
Dawn's own choice had been for Chimchar, and the Fire-type was caught off guard by the rapid attack. Dawn wasn't, though, and she called for Chimchar to use Flame Wheel as Buizel came back for a second attack. They chained it into a Fire Spin a moment later, and the one-two combination of moves knocked Buizel out of his Aqua Jet attack while leaving a complex spiral of flames curling around Chimchar for a moment before it dissipated.
"Interesting," Cynthia said.
"That sounds like you've spotted something," Max said. "Haven't you been watching her train?"
"Yes, but seeing it all come together like this is different," Cynthia replied, as Zoey told Buizel to try a Water Gun. "Combining Flame Wheel and Fire Spin like that might be defensive, but it's a defensive combination that tears apart the momentum of incoming attacks and looks good… it means that now Buizel and Zoey are the ones who are trying to work out how to get around Chimchar's advantage, even though Chimchar is the one who's got type disadvantage."
Max nodded, following that.
"I guess… it would be different if this was a regular battle, right?" he asked.
"Yes – a little," Cynthia judged. "What do you think, Ash?"
Ash frowned, making sure he was following.
"I think… in a battle, it would still be a good trick," he answered. "But Buizel and Zoey would have more options about how they tried to get through it, and they could try and tire Chimchar out. That would mean doing the same thing a lot for a long time, though, and Contests don't usually think that's a good thing."
"Water Gun!" Zoey said. "And Sonic Boom!"
Buizel used Water Gun, then flicked his tails at it to give the water a sudden burst of speed. The combination knocked Chimchar out of his Flame Wheel-Fire Spin defensive combination, and Zoey pointed. "Now, close in! Aqua Jet!"
"Fire Spin – now!" Dawn countered, and Chimchar whirled into a Fire Spin attack as he recovered. He didn't quite get it right, but he didn't get it wrong either, and what Zoey had meant as a high-speed blitz with a shower of spray around Buizel turned into something that was almost a collaborative display of mist curling like smoke.
A display that hid both Pokémon, from the audience and from one another.
"Water Gun up, and Swift!" Zoey ordered.
"Flame Wheel, cartwheel!" Dawn retaliated.
Buizel's Swift stars whipped through the stream of his Water Gun, carrying the water with them as they curved around to attack Chimchar. Chimchar had regained his footing, though, and he jumped into a forwards roll before Flame Wheel rolling around the arena and forcing the Swift stars to chase him.
Dawn called for a Fire Spin without Chimchar leaving his Flame Wheel, and once more the combination resulted in several whirling streams of fire spreading out in all directions. They didn't intercept all the Swift Stars, but they got a lot of them, and that did good things for Dawn's points situation.
"Ooh," Koraidon said, impressed.
"So Zoey did work out a trick," Cynthia said. "But Dawn had something else available, and as you can see she's remembered that if your opponent has a solution that doesn't mean your original trick stops working. It just means you can't rely solely on the original trick…"
Chimchar had a difficult Contest, but the combination of the visual spectacle of his defensive trick and how hard it was for Buizel to pin him down helped out a lot. Dawn finally had him reverse his Flame Wheel direction at the same time as he went in for an attack on Buizel, knocking the Water-type into the air, then use a Fire Spin attack straight up before Buizel could use Aqua Jet or his tails to get out of the way – and that did it, giving him the extra bit of offensive style that carried him over the line on points.
May, by contrast, used Espeon for her semi-final round, and the Coordinator she was drawn against was a Water-type specialist called Kyle who used a Vaporeon.
The two ex-Eevee immediately began trading attacks back and forth, and if there was one thing that stood out about the resultant battle it was that practically nothing happened the same way twice. Vaporeon used her mobility both in and out of the pool to attack from strange directions, mixing up Water Pulse attacks with Ice Beam and Shadow Ball and the occasional close-in pounce to use Iron Tail, while Espeon and May worked like a well-oiled machine as the Psychic-type dodged and deflected and counterattacked.
One minute Espeon's gem glowed as he slapped at a Water Pulse, splitting it into a thousand droplets that hung in the air overhead, then Vaporeon froze them with Ice Beam to make it rain shards of ice down on Espeon. But by the time that had happened Espeon was using Swift, giving himself a route out of the barrage, then Bouncing into the air and firing down a Shadow Ball.
Vaporeon matched it, Shadow Ball to Shadow Ball, and the smoky explosion filled the area for a moment – then Espeon landed, gemstone lit up with a reddish energy, and lifted a big slab of water from the pool into the air so it shimmered in the sunlight and threw shifting rainbow patterns across him.
On and on it went, back and forth and back again, and Max leaned back in his seat slightly.
"I recognize a lot of those tricks," he said. "Or things like them. May's not using him today, but she spent a lot of time training Manaphy to make sure he could keep himself safe… and, sure, she's training him the way a Coordinator does, but that just means he's got style."
"There is that," Cynthia said. "I assume that means that Manaphy is a hydrokinetic?"
"He knows Acid Armour, too," Max agreed. "And Espeon was learning how to be Psychic with Ralts – and me, though I'm terrible at telekinesis – so really Vaporeon is a good match-up for him."
He shaded his eyes. "Vaporeon is really making a fight of it, though."
"Signal Beam!" Kyle called, producing a ripple of surprise through the crowd, and Vaporeon sprang up out of the pool with her ruff glowing with a pale green light.
"Solarbeam trick!" May retorted, and Espeon's gem blazed. He snatched up some of the water that was all over the arena by now, and some of the water from the pool, and brought it in front of him like a shield – then, just as Vaporeon fired, he changed the shape of the water.
Twisting it into a kind of tube, shaped like a C and with the open end towards Vaporeon.
The Signal Beam shot into one end of the tube, reflected around inside with a series of rainbow-light flashes, and came right back out the other end to hit Vaporeon.
"Doubles move?" Ash asked.
"Just what I was going to say," Cynthia complimented him. "Ivysaur's, at a guess."
"You're not wrong," Max agreed, then began applauding as Kyle lost the last of his points. "I wonder if that's one they can still use now, she never actually got the chance for Espeon and Ivysaur to do doubles yet…"
The final Battle Round of the Wallace Cup was between Dawn and May, and – through what might or might not have been a coincidence – both Coordinators sent out their respective Electric-types.
Dawn had her Pachirisu, who was raring to go and to show off with her use of Rollout, while May's Pikachu had a chef's outfit all made up and that turned out to mean Scald.
More than anything else, the Battle Round was dynamic. Pachirisu's Rollout meant she barely even slowed down, curving around to attack or skipping off the pool in a series of little jolts that sent sparks fizzing along the surface, while May's Pikachu had Quick Attack and Iron Tail to go with the spectacle she could wring out of a stream of hot water that sent wisps of steam rising into the air.
The crowd was captivated immediately, and Ash noticed that Wallace was leaning forward in his seat from the judging table… but he was distracted, because he was wondering something else.
"Do you think that trick Chimchar used is something you could do?" he asked Pikachu. "Or, other Pokémon too, I guess… it didn't really seem to rely on it being Chimchar specifically, or being Flame Wheel and Fire Spin."
"Maybe it is," Pikachu said, considering, then jumped in the air and used Iron Tail. He did a forward flip, spinning over four times before landing, then considered.
"It's a bit hard to see where to aim," he reported. "But not impossible, and I guess that it could get better with training…"
"Plus you don't have to spin that way," Ash pointed out. "You could go another way, too… I guess the spin isn't even necessary, but it probably is important so that there's extra movement in the move combination."
"I bet I could do something with it, too," Latias said. "I can spin on my axis quite easily…"
"Yeah, and Mystical Fire is probably a good match for it," Ash said, thinking out loud. "It's not really something for everyone, but there's a lot of potential here… what do you think, Zorua?"
"I think Pachirisu is having fun," Zorua replied, pointing, and Ash looked out at the battle round again.
Pachirisu had added a new twist to her Rollout routine, now, switching to bouncing along and using Discharge with each bounce. There was a little cloud of sparks out from each impact, and even though Cosplay-chu wasn't in danger from the Discharges it did add a nice bit of visual variety and stopped her from losing points for repetition.
"I love when a final round is like this," Azelf said, from very nearby.
"Huh?" Ash asked, looking around. "Where are you?"
"Don't worry, little brother," Azelf said. "I'm astrally projecting! That means that my mind is here, but my body isn't, and because my mind isn't visible then you can't see me."
Ash frowned, focusing, then spotted Azelf – hovering just over Latias's back.
"I guess it makes sense, you're not the only invisible Pokémon watching the Battle Round," he said.
"Not quite invisible, but close enough," Azelf said, glancing over. "Oh, cool, you can see me, wonder how that works. Anyway, it's great when there's so much determination and willpower on display – take it from someone who can feel it, it's amazing!"
"Ash has a habit of being able to see things nobody else can," Latias contributed, then gasped along with everyone else as Cosplay-chu's Iron Tail clashed with Pachirisu's Rollout.
Both Pokémon used electric attacks at the same time, Thunder Wave and Discharge adding to the spectacle, then Cosplay-chu used Scald and the Water move shorted out the whole of the electrical current.
When the resultant dramatic explosion cleared up, only one Electric-type was left standing.
"Marvellous!" Wallace told Dawn, shaking her hand. "Simply marvellous! I've never seen someone in their first year come so close to winning my Cup, and I dearly hope you attend next time!"
"I hope so too," Dawn agreed. "It was a lot of fun and a massive challenge – and next time I'll be ready for your whole team, May!"
May laughed. "I don't doubt it, Dawn," she said. "I'll be looking forward to it."
Wallace gave her the Ribbon, then raised her hand, and the crowd cheered.
"So cool…" Riolu mumbled, as the two Coordinators met back up with their friends. "I didn't even know Pokémon moves could do half those things!"
He glanced at Ash. "Do you think that's part of being a strong Pokémon?"
"I think it has to be," Ash answered, after some thought. "Or being able to be creative, anyway… the more you can do unusual things, the harder it is for someone else to plan for what you can do. It's making their job harder and it doesn't really have any downsides except effort."
"Though there's a lot of effort involved," Dawn admitted. "Phew! I think everyone on my team needs a rest after that."
"But Samurott didn't do anything," Riolu asked, slightly confused.
"She's been fielding questions from you for the last several days," Pikachu pointed out, not unkindly. "It might not be the same as an intense Contest round but I think it tires her out anyway…"
AN:
And that's the Wallace Cup.
Canon Dawn won this, but Canon Dawn didn't win the Solaceon Contest so it evens out.