In the matches that followed, Sam never encountered another truly powerful opponent and advanced smoothly all the way to the finals.
"I didn't expect to meet you in the finals, Misty."
Sam genuinely hadn't expected that his final opponent would be Misty.
Misty had truly gone all out for Mystic Water. She even used a Pokémon left to her by her parents—a Poliwrath with Gym-level mid-tier strength and the ability Swift Swim.
A Poliwrath at that level was considered one of the strongest Pokémon in the entire competition. Despite several close calls along the way, Misty successfully fought her way into the finals.
By the time she reached the final match, Misty's tension was completely gone.
Making it this far meant she had already achieved her goal.
Compared to the championship itself, she cared far more about second place—because Mystic Water was the prize she wanted most.
The final match became, in essence, an exhibition battle.
One Trainer wanted to win.
The other wanted to lose.
Sam and Misty understood each other perfectly and put on an intense, spectacular performance for the audience. The battle looked fierce and dramatic, but in truth, the outcome had already been decided.
"Poliwrath has lost its ability to battle! Gengar is the winner!"
"And with that, the champion of this S.S. Anne Cup is decided—Sam!"
"Now, please welcome contestant Sam to the stage to receive his award!"
Amid thunderous applause and cheers, Sam walked onto the stage.
In the audience, Ash looked at Sam with undisguised envy.
"When will I get to stand up there and accept a trophy like that?" Ash muttered.
"Don't worry, Ash," Brock said reassuringly.
"As long as you keep working hard, I believe your time will come soon."
"Yeah!"
On the podium, Sam held the trophy in one hand and the prize in the other.
The moment he clearly saw what the prize was, his mind went blank with excitement.
He had never imagined that the grand prize of this competition would be a Mega Evolution Stone—
—and not just any Mega Stone.
It was Gengar's Mega Stone.
Sam delivered his acceptance speech almost absent-mindedly. His thoughts were completely focused on the Mega Stone in his hand.
---
"Kou jie jie!"
Back in the suite, Gengar excitedly hovered around Sam, clearly sensing the powerful energy radiating from the Mega Stone. It instinctively knew—this stone could make it far stronger.
Sam had always been generous toward his Pokémon.
After examining the Mega Stone for a moment, he tossed it to Gengar without hesitation.
Gengar caught it happily, laughed loudly, and immediately rushed into the training room, clutching the Mega Stone. It seemed determined to absorb its power as quickly as possible.
Watching the unusually motivated Gengar, Sam smiled and shook his head.
This Mega Stone must be incredibly important—otherwise, Gengar would never voluntarily head into the training room instead of fooling around.
With Gengar's Mega Stone secured, Sam only needed one more thing now: a Key Stone.
Mega Evolution could only be achieved when both the Key Stone and the Mega Stone were present—neither could be missing.
As for the bond between Trainer and Pokémon, Sam wasn't worried in the slightest.
Anything produced by the system was guaranteed to be top-tier. With favorability already maxed out, their bond was naturally at its peak.
---
With the prize in hand, Sam's purpose aboard the S.S. Anne was nearly complete.
Now, it was time to think about leaving.
Although competitions had been held daily, Sam never let his guard down. Over the past few days, he noticed many unfamiliar faces appearing on the ship.
Sam had an excellent memory.
He was certain these people had not been aboard when the voyage began.
Seeing so many new faces, Sam immediately understood—Team Rocket's operation was about to begin.
He briefly considered reporting the situation to the Pokémon League, but ultimately abandoned the idea.
Even though Sam knew Team Rocket would act, the League didn't believe they would dare attack the S.S. Anne. With so many wealthy and influential passengers aboard, Team Rocket should have had no reason to provoke that many powerful people at once.
In the past, Sam would have thought the same.
After all, if those wealthy passengers united, the pressure would be immense—even Giovanni wouldn't want to offend them.
But things were different now.
With Mewtwo, Giovanni no longer needed to hide his ambitions.
What he needed now was money—massive amounts of it.
And when it came to money, who had more than the passengers aboard the S.S. Anne?
The attack on the S.S. Anne wasn't just a robbery.
It was a signal.
Giovanni was done hiding in the shadows. He intended to openly challenge the Pokémon League.
"Has Mewtwo already been successfully cloned…?" Sam murmured to himself.
Aside from that possibility, Sam couldn't think of a single reason why Giovanni—normally so cautious—would suddenly become this bold.
------------Author---------------
Thank you NARTER-501,
George Simon, RebelRob_94,
Domnick Dawson and terrance smith for supporting me!
Weekly goal, top 100 i will drop 4 Chapters maybe even more.
If you want to support me or read 40 chapters in advance, check out:
👉 patreon.com/Master_fic
Believe me, as a broke student, money is a great motivator.
Thankyou for your support!