[Steven Stone: Everyone, what are your thoughts this time?]
[Lance: Ash loses this one.]
[Diantha: Oh? And why is that?]
[Lance: Are you Bruno? You can't figure this out?]
[Bruno: ?????]
Enough.
Why was he suddenly the world's official insult word?
When did "Bruno" become equivalent to "idiot"?!
Beside him, Diantha's lips twitched.
Fine.
FINE.
If not for this Heavenly Tally, she would never have known Lance was this petty.
She teased him ONE time—
and the man held a grudge like his life depended on it!
[Brandon: I'd like to hear your reasoning, Lance.]
Brandon actually didn't want to agree with him.
Because if Pikachu lost again…
Then, as the only man ever beaten by Pikachu's god-slaying feat,
His humiliation would become eternal.
But Lance was Lance—
Champion of Johto, renowned investigator, sharp-eyed, and perceptive.
If Lance had noticed something, it was worth hearing.
[Lance: Since you all insist, I won't drag it out.
From the previous special tally, we learned Pikachu is unable to use Electric-type moves.]
[Lance: And this Latios battle clearly happens before that special tally.
Which means… Pikachu must suffer extremely severe—and irreversible—damage in this fight.]
[Lance: So severe that afterwards, Pikachu loses the ability to use Electric attacks…
and even his stamina becomes drastically worse.]
The moment he said it, every Champion froze—
Then began mentally connecting the two tallies.
In seconds, realization dawned.
This…
Actually made a frightening amount of sense.
[Diantha: Then why can't it be that Pikachu paid a heavy price—but still won against Latios?]
[Lance: See? See?! Classic nitpicker behavior!]
[Diantha: ### SAY THAT AGAIN AND I'LL END YOU]
[Lance: AHEM—Anyway, why can't Pikachu win against Latios…
I'll let Professor Oak explain.]
Yes—
He backed down.
No—
It absolutely was not because Diantha and her Gardevoir were staring at him like predators.
Definitely not.
He simply didn't want to "damage working relationships."
That's his story and he's sticking to it.
[Professor Oak: First, let me explain Latios.]
Latios—
The legendary Eon Pokémon.
A mythical being said to sense the hearts of humans—
able to distinguish good from evil,
bonding only with the pure and just.
Latios disliked unnecessary fighting…
But would battle fiercely to protect those he acknowledged.
When its twin wings fold back,
its flight speed surpasses a jet fighter—
an overwhelming level of power.
[Professor Oak: …And most importantly—Latios is Dragon/Psychic-type. Pikachu… is an Electric-type.]
After hearing the explanation, the entire world fell silent.
Then—
"Wait… compared to Regice, Latios is on a whole other level!!"
Indeed—
For Pikachu, Latios was an entirely different beast.
Not only was Latios a rarer Legendary,
he had TWO huge advantages that Regice didn't:
• Dragon typing naturally resists Electric moves.
• He can fly freely and move faster than jets.
Pikachu was fast—
But against a supersonic dragon?
No contest.
Now, everyone understood why Lance was so certain Pikachu would lose.
In the first tally, Pikachu only barely beat Regice after crazy bursts of power.
But now?
No home-field advantage.
No weird miracles.
No emotional explosion.
How could Pikachu defeat a flying super-speed Legendary Dragon?
"Man… Ash-bro, it's not that we don't support you…
But those odds? They ain't good."
"It's not that our hearts aren't loyal—
It's that the opponent is too gods-tier!"
"To avoid another total wipeout, I'm betting just half. 300 points. Locking it in."
"Same here. Half."
All around the world, people nodded.
Yes, they believed Pikachu would lose—
But no one dared go all-in anymore.
Points were too precious.
Better to hedge risks than lose everything again.
[Cynthia: About this Darkrai guy… why haven't I ever heard of him?
Who uses a Legendary and is still a total nobody?]
[Steven Stone: The world is big. There are plenty of hidden masters we haven't met.]
[Wallace: Oh, absolutely!
Like Steven here—after the World Championships, he's planning to give me the Champion title and retire to dig for rocks all day!
This guy!! Literally only wants to look at stones!!]
[Steven: AHEM—It's not "looking at stones," it's archaeology! ARCH-AE-O-LO-GY!!]
[Diantha: Enough—who are you all betting on?]
[Leon: Ash!]
[Alder: Ash!]
[Lance: ???????]
Have you all GONE MAD?
After all that logical explanation?!
You're still betting on Ash??
Are you donating your points to charity?!
[Leon: I don't know if Ash can win—
But I love his refusal to give up.
And Pikachu… always has unlimited potential.
So I'm gambling on that.]
[Alder: Hahaha! Heroic spirits think alike!]
Meanwhile, aboard a private jet—
Giovanni snorted coldly.
Fools.
All these Champions—ruled by emotion.
That was why they would never achieve true greatness.
The obvious choice was Darkrai's trainer—
The mysterious man named Tobias.
He, Giovanni, would go all-in on Tobias.
As for his earlier thoughts about non-Legendary Pokémon defeating gods?
That was about his own Beedrill.
He was absolutely convinced his Beedrill could slay gods.
But Pikachu?
Pikachu was… a miracle.
A statistical error.
And losing to a Snivy afterward proved it.
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