At the same time Vivian announced the start of the match, the numbers on the scoreboard at the side of the field changed.
5:00...
4:59...
4:58...
The time continued to count down. At the same time, Harley gave his orders right away.
First, he told Banette to use Screech. Then, he told Cacturne to use Bullet Seed. The two moves were fired one after another toward Bulbasaur and Beautifly.
Because May was a bit slow to speak, Harley attacked first. she could only defend.
However, the special training from last night worked at this moment.
The Pokémon had been hit for a long time during training. Now, they truly knew how to avoid such attacks. Facing this combination move, the two Pokémon moved away calmly. Harley's plan failed instantly.
But that was not all. After moving away from the attack, Bulbasaur grew two vines from its bulb. Very quickly, it reached out to grab the feet of Cacturne and Banette.
Harley told them to move, but the Vine Whip was too fast. His two Pokémon had only just started to move when the vines already caught them!
May did not give them a chance to get free. Beautifly used Silver Wind. The strong wind hit them and did a lot of damage!
It did not end there. After the Silver Wind, May told Bulbasaur to spin Cacturne and Banette like toys. Then, it suddenly threw them. While the two Pokémon were spinning in the air, Beautifly used Silver Wind again. It blew directly onto them!
Because of this strong wind, the two Pokémon suddenly spun faster. Finally, they hit the ground very hard!
The crowd cheered. The audience loved the beautiful moves. Even the judges liked what they saw.
The yellow bar for Harley's points suddenly dropped a lot. This meant May was winning the battle!
"Alright!" In the stands, Misty cheered. She was happy for her friend. "If things keep going like this, it's only a matter of time before she beats Harley!"
Caroline was May's mother. She was also happy, but she was confused. She asked, "How does it feel like May became so powerful in just one night?"
Next to her, Max quickly told her about Natsui training May last night. Caroline heard this and looked at Natsui with thanks. She said, "Natsui, thank you so much. Thank you for looking after May."
"It was nothing." There were many people between them, so Natsui leaned forward and waved his hand. "You're welcome. May is a very talented person. All of this came from her own hard work. I only helped her a little bit."
Misty listened to the two adults talk about May. She felt something in her heart. She looked like she was thinking very seriously about something.
The battle in the arena continued. Time slowly passed. Less than 4 minutes remained.
Cacturne and Banette tried to get up from the ground. They were maybe too dizzy from spinning. They were still light-headed and moved back and forth on the stage. They could not even see where their opponents were.
Natsui had taught May a rule. She learned to keep attacking when an opponent is weak.
Harley was shouting loudly to try and wake up Cacturne and Banette. At that moment, May's next attack arrived.
Many petals suddenly flew through the air. They fell on Banette and Cacturne. The Petal Dance hit them. They took damage, and more of Harley's yellow bar on the screen disappeared!
Now, everything was going very well for May.
However, it was not exactly because May's Pokémon were much stronger than Harley's Pokémon.
It was because her attacks came one after another. They were connected very well.
If Harley wanted to fix this, he had to stop May's rhythm once. But May played so well today. She did not make any mistakes!
Harley had no way to stop her. He could only watch as his Pokémon were hit again and again.
Of course, Harley also tried to attack back. For example, Cacturne finally finished the Petal Dance. Harley quickly told it to use Pin Missile. It shot many sharp needles to hit the petals. It actually stopped the petals for a short time!
The needles hit the petals and turned them into small pieces. The pieces fell slowly from the sky.
But this only worked for a short time.
Cacturne was a cactus with many needles, but it could not shoot down every single petal.
While Cacturne was busy with the petals, May's final attack arrived.
Bulbasaur used Razor Leaf, and Beautifly used Silver Wind. The leaves moved faster because of the wind. The wind became stronger because of the leaves. The two moves joined in the air. Very quickly, they both hit Cacturne and Banette!
Cacturne and Banette could not stop such an attack. They fell backward. They could not fight anymore.
Harley's face turned white and then red. He stood there for a long time. He could not believe he lost!
But even if he was sad, Vivian's voice came through the microphone in the arena.
"Contestant Harley's points have reached zero! Contestant May successfully moves on to the next round!"
The audience clapped loudly.
"That's great!!!"
Ash, Misty, and the others also clapped and celebrated. The opponent was Harley, so they felt happy to see him lose fairly.
While the people around him were cheering, Natsui looked at the time on the scoreboard.
The match ended when the clock showed 2 minutes and 27 seconds.
Natsui did not remember how long it took May to beat Harley in the story he knew. But it was probably not this fast. It was definitely not as easy as today.
It looked like his training was very good!
He felt a little bit of pride in his heart.
He thought that if he stopped traveling one day, he could open a school to train new trainers. It seemed like a good business idea!
On the stage, May was celebrating with her two Pokémon. Harley looked very angry after he put his Pokémon back in their balls. Finally, he looked at May with a mean face and then left.
This was not like a private fight with Natsui. Everyone was watching. He had to accept the result even if he did not want to.
After celebrating, May took her two Pokémon off the stage. She went backstage to rest.
Winning was good, but the competition had more matches today.
The first round ended. The players in the Top 16 would soon be matched again. They would choose the Top 8 and Top 4. The champion would also be decided today. The schedule was very busy and fast.
This meant May had no time to meet her friends. She had to use her time to get ready for the next fight.
After May left, other pairs of players went on stage. This included Drew and Robert. These two played very well. They both beat their opponents easily to enter the next round.
More than an hour later, May went on the stage again. Her opponent was a large man named Anthony.
Natsui had not talked to this person. But Ash and the others had helped him. On the day of the first part of the contest, they got back his Ribbon from Team Rocket. They became friends then.
But this did not matter to May. She had not helped with that. She had only met Anthony a few times. Even if they were friends, they had to focus on the match. They were just people who knew each other a little bit.
There was not much to say about this match.
Anthony was about as strong as Harley. He was around the Top 8 level. But he had bad luck. In this match, he fought May while she was playing very well.
May had just beaten Harley easily. She stayed in that state. She fought very well in this battle too. She used Combusken and Bulbasaur to beat Anthony's Swalot and Pinsir.
Even though she won, Anthony had some good moments. He had Pinsir hide inside Swalot's mouth. It was a special plan that caused May a lot of trouble.
Luckily, May stayed strong. When Pinsir left Swalot's mouth, she took the chance. She beat them both at once!
The time left for this match was 0 minutes and 37 seconds.
This was a very close match. May's point bar had dropped by almost half. This battle was not easy.
But a win was a win. May moved into the Top 8.
For a new trainer, this was a very good result. This Grand Festival was very big. May's current record was better than the record Ash got when he first went to the Indigo Plateau Conference!
Because of this, May was successful. It was worth celebrating.
Also, unlike Ash, she was still in the contest. She could still try to win the championship!
When May left the stage, it was time for Drew and Robert to fight. They both beat their opponents and moved to the Top 8.
Now, the competition became even harder.
Anyone in the Top 8 was a strong person. The next match list was very important. It would decide who became the champion.
If a player was matched with someone a bit weaker, they might go to the finals. But if they were unlucky and fought someone like Robert, they would probably lose right there.
Everyone looked at the large screen.
The players and the audience were all very nervous. They waited for the answer.
The pictures on the big screen spun. Soon, the matches for the Top 8 appeared!
Natsui and the others saw May right away. Her opponent was Drew!
Everyone except Natsui was very shocked by this!
They knew they would eventually have to fight each other as fewer people remained. But they did not expect it to happen now. It was a surprise. Also, she had just fought Harley and now had to fight Drew. Every person she disliked was fighting her!
Only Natsui thought to himself that this was the same group as in the story he knew. He sighed. It was an important battle that had to happen.
Gary was Ash's rival. In the same way, Drew was May's rival. Their meeting was like it was planned. They could not avoid it.
May was not with them, so they did not know how she felt. But they could imagine it was difficult for her.
The wait was not long. After a short rest, the Top 8 matches started.
The only good news was that May's battle was not first. This gave her more time to let her Pokémon rest. May could also think of a plan.
But this time was very short. After a few minutes, the first pair finished their match. May went on the stage.
Through the big screen, people saw May's face. She looked more serious than in any match before. Even from far away, they could feel she was under pressure.
Her high energy from before was gone. Now, her face was very serious and her lips were closed tight.
"Gulp." Max swallowed because he was nervous. He said, "I feel like my sister is so tense. I've never seen such an expression on her face before..."
"That's only natural." Natsui replied. "After all, she's facing Drew. Drew's performance has always been a step ahead of May's. Facing such an opponent in such a setting, it would be strange if she wasn't nervous."
Vivian gave a signal. May and Drew released their Pokémon at the same time.
For this battle, May sent out Skitty and Combusken. Drew sent out Roselia and Flygon.
Natsui looked worried when he saw this.
He did not know what May was thinking. She did not use Bulbasaur and Beautifly. Skitty and Combusken were not weak against Drew's Pokémon, but they were not the best choice. Bulbasaur and Beautifly had trained together last night. They worked together better.
This was not about how strong they were. It was about how well they understood each other. Bulbasaur and Beautifly could do better moves together.
Did May have a different plan?
Or were Bulbasaur and Beautifly too tired to fight?
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