Jessie: "Come on, twerp! Don't lose now!"
James: "We put a lot of points on you, meow!"
Meowth: "Get up, Sceptile!! GET UP!"
Nearby spectators:
"…Are those the Rocket trio?!"
"Oh, it's just them. Never mind."
Having repeatedly appeared on-screen recently,
everyone now knew them as
the incompetent but strangely wholesome Rocket trio.
Back to the Battle
No matter how Ash shouted—
Sceptile slept deeply, his twig still resting in his mouth.
Tobias smirked.
"Time to end this.
Darkrai— Dream Eater."
A crimson gleam flashed in Darkrai's eyes.
A ghostly duplicate of itself
peeled free like a shadow—
—then passed straight through Sceptile's body.
"Cha—!!"
Sceptile spasmed violently.
His pupils vanished.
The world collectively sighed.
It was over.
He took a super-effective Ice Beam.
He took a Dream Eater.
Darkrai was nearly full HP again.
No Pokémon could still stand.
No hope remained.
And then— the Screen Shifted
Suddenly—
The scene changed to a
dark, empty void.
Sceptile stood alone
in a colorless world.
His dream—
Or rather,
the dream being devoured.
If the dream vanished
Sceptile's consciousness would too.
As his mind dimmed—
A beam of light pierced the darkness.
And a voice—
"Sceptile!! Wake up!! Sceptile!!!"
Ash's voice—
the voice that had walked beside him
through countless battles—
The voice that never gave up.
Sceptile's eyes widened.
That voice—
the one he always followed.
If there was no path,
he would follow that voice.
Light swallowed the void.
Back in the Stadium
Sceptile's lifeless eyes
snapped back into focus.
He pushed off the ground and rose—
shaking off the dream shackles.
Tobias froze.
Impossible.
Darkrai's damage output was enormous—
Ice Beam + Dream Eater
should have downed three Sceptile.
Yet this one—
stood up.
"Cha…!!"
A green aura burst from Sceptile—
Overgrow activated.
He was not done.
"Amazing, Sceptile!!
Use Leaf Blade!!"
"CHA!!"
Normally, Sceptile formed a single energy blade.
But this Sceptile—
Two massive green blades unfurled from both arms—
Twin Leaf Blades.
(Ash's Sceptile is the only one in the anime
to use dual Leaf Blades.
His power is on another level.)
Sceptile blurred forward—
Neither Tobias nor Darkrai
had even begun to react.
In an instant—
SLASH!!
Leaf Blade carved across Darkrai's body.
And then—
Sceptile spun,
delivering a second, deeper strike—
SLASH!!
A two-hit god-slaying combo.
Sceptile landed lightly,
blades vanishing.
Behind him,
Darkrai froze—
—then crashed to the ground.
Unable to rise.
Sceptile — Winner!
[Ash's Sceptile vs Tobias's Darkrai:
Sceptile wins!]
A reversal from certain death.
A leap from despair to victory.
A pair of blades
that sliced through the darkness itself.
The world was stunned.
Worldwide Reaction
"No way—
Sceptile ACTUALLY killed a full-HP Darkrai?!"
"What kind of Sceptile is that?!
Is it even the same species?!"
"You've never seen this technique before!
Peak Ash moment!"
"Ash's Pokémon all share one trait—
they EXPLODE with power!"
"Sceptile just became a legend!!
Hoenn is gonna explode with Sceptile fans after this!"
Among the Champions
[Lance:
He actually won…
Another impossible reversal!]
[Caitlin:
If I had to battle that Darkrai,
my odds would be under 30%.]
[Agatha:
Even I might not handle it well.
Never thought a kid like Ash
already had the power to fight at the Elite Four level…]
[Lucian:
Darkrai was stronger than most Elite Four members…
And yet Ash still won.
Though Dark-type is very bad for me, admittedly…]
[Leon:
Once again, Ash's bond with his Pokémon
defies all logic.]
[Cynthia:
Overgrow + deep trust
Sceptile's unique dual Leaf Blade—
Ash and Sceptile elevated themselves
to an entirely different tier.]
All the Champions
marveled at their bond.
What on earth
had Ash and his Pokémon experienced—
to forge a connection
strong enough to defy despair?
Ash stared at the screen, eyes glowing.
"That's… me?
That's the future me?"
He clenched his fists.
"I want to go on more adventures too!"
Ash stared at the screen, eyes shimmering with envy.
He really wanted to meet more Pokémon one day.
Sceptile, Gible, Heracross…
All of them must be Pokémon he encounters during future journeys—
Pokémon scarcely seen in Kanto.
But he couldn't be in two places at once.
And back before the Indigo Conference even started,
Ash had already decided his next destination—
The Orange Islands.
So meeting Sceptile and the others…
would have to wait.
Cynthia smiled gently.
"Ash, it seems your future team will only grow stronger.
That Sceptile…
Its power isn't inferior to Charizard or Pikachu at all—
At this stage, it might even be stronger than Pikachu."
Everyone knew how strong Ash's Pikachu and Charizard were.
Now they could confidently add:
Sceptile — without question, a future champion-tier Pokémon.
And with the Bond Phenomenon, Greninja would likely reach the same tier.
"Yeah, Cynthia! Sceptile is so strong and cool!
I just wonder…
when future-me will finally meet him…"
A faint worry crept into Ash's chest.
The Heavenly Tally (the divine projection) showed his future—
But what if knowing the future
changed it?
What if he never met his future partners…?
Then—
[A Pokémon and its destined Trainer shall always meet.
Even with foreknowledge, destiny will not change.]
The subtitle appeared abruptly.
Ash froze—
Then grinned brightly.
This meant—
No matter what happens,
The Pokémon was meant to be his
will always find him.
Fate would not be altered.
Cora (Lorelei) blinked.
"This Heavenly Tally is oddly considerate…
It actually responds to the viewer's inner thoughts?"
Kalos Champion Diantha lifted a finger elegantly.
"Or—just a thought—
Maybe Ash is the protagonist of this world.
If Lance started shouting questions,
I doubt the Tally would answer even if he screamed himself hoarse."
Lance: "???"
So now they bullied him instead of Bruno?
Really?
Better watch out—
Or the Dragonite comes out.
Alder leaned forward with interest.
"Anyway—what will Ash's reward be?
Do you think he'll get a Treecko Egg this time?"
This victory—
defeating Darkrai—
It was, without question, the hardest battle shown so far.
The power gap between Sceptile and Darkrai was immense.
Without Ash and Sceptile's deep bond
and Sceptile's indomitable will,
this fight would've ended long ago.
Sceptile was practically paper-thin defensively—
Yet survived both Ice Beam and Dream Eater.
To Alder, that bordered on the miraculous.
Cynthia nodded.
"It won't be something simple.
Compared to the battle against my Gardevoir,
this one was on a completely different level."
In their earlier battle, Cynthia had intentionally held back—
That was the only reason
Greninja managed to activate Bond Phenomenon at all.
If she had fought seriously from the start,
Greninja likely wouldn't last a single move.
But Darkrai?
Darkrai wasn't holding back at all.
A full-power clash between Sceptile and a Mythical Pokémon—
A win was practically divine intervention.
So the reward this time would definitely surpass Greninja's Froakie reward.
Leon suddenly asked:
"By the way… does anyone know that guy, Tobias?"
A man who caught two Legendary Pokémon
should not be an unknown trainer.
Yet outside of this battle,
no one—literally no one—
had ever heard of him.
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